Ariana DeBose to lead THE BAKER'S WIFE at Classic Stage Company- Page 4

[Ensemble1728379893]

Posted: 10/31/25 at 9:00am

I was there last night. There were some seats empty.

I would agree with the general consensus that it is a charming, lovely evening of a very slight musical. The townspeople are adorable and DeBose and Bakula are very good.  Bakula is still way too attractive for the plot to make sense. 

I think it is worth it just to hear Judy Kuhn and see what Sally Murphy is capable of doing with a small role. Both display a masterclass in musical theatre acting. 

I would be shocked if this transferred, but....

[Melissa25]

Posted: 10/31/25 at 12:13pm

WiCkEDrOcKS: I’ll just keep hoping for something that hits me the way their brilliant PASSION did.

Hey Classic Stage —It is not too early to do another revival of Passion.  I second the comment above and have my fingers crossed we see it soon.

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/31/25 at 6:54pm

The score sounds mostly great, but there are moments when it’s begging for a trumpet and French horn for more oomph and a greater sense of longing.

Which is how I also felt about DeBose’s voice on the two big numbers.

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/31/25 at 11:23pm

Ensemble1728379893 said: "I was there last night. There were some seats empty.

I would agree with the general consensus that it is a charming, lovely evening of a very slight musical. The townspeople are adorable and DeBose and Bakula are very good. Bakula is still way too attractive for the plot to make sense.."

Although I'm sure the dynamic changes some with an older than usual Genevieve, despite Scott Bakula still looking great, surely the fact that he's in his 70s still means that Genevieve being tempted by a young man makes some sense?  (But there's always been some problem with this--in the original production Topol still looked pretty great, and apparently wanted to show it by "improvising" things like taking off his shirt which didn't help the troubled production...)

I don't mean that it's impossible to have a relationship with someone in their 70s when you're in your 30s, but the point is Genevieve feels that she;s missed out on something in life and no matter how hot her 70something year old husband is, he would obviously be in a very different stage of his life than she would.

 

Updated On: 10/31/25 at 11:23 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/1/25 at 11:40am

Believing that Ariana could fall for Bakula and then fall for the young man and then go back to Bakula is not the issue here. That was all very believable to me.

The age gaps also weren't significant in the original:
- Topol was 41
- Carole Demas was 36
- Paul Sorvino was 37
- Patti LuPone was 27

Updated On: 11/1/25 at 11:40 AM

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 11/1/25 at 11:47am

Transfer is still very much in consideration. Waiting to hear about a specific closing.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/1/25 at 11:54am

Falsettolands said: "Transfer is still very much in consideration. Waiting to hear about a specific closing."

JUST IN TIME, I assume? This staging feels so specific to a thrust... the alternative being a Shubert playhouse, and there are no specifics when aiming for that type of house.

I don't really see it being a bonanza on Broadway, and I don't know that it gets raves from critics at CSC.

Updated On: 11/1/25 at 11:54 AM

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 11/1/25 at 12:11pm

Without getting too much into it, the idea is more “Baker’s Wife FINALLY makes it to Broadway” rather than “This will make zillions of dollars.”

it’s quietly understood that it likely won’t turn a profit.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/1/25 at 8:35pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Believing that Ariana could fall for Bakula and then fall for the young man and then go back to Bakula is not the issue here. That was all very believable to me.

The age gaps also weren't significant in the original:
- Topol was 41
- Carole Demas was 36
- Paul Sorvino was 37
- PattiLuPone was 27"

And Kurt Peterson was 28 I believe.  I have heard one of several reasons Demas was replaced was people felt she "read" too old, so there is that...  It is interesting that Aimables have gotten older...  (I doi think that, having not seen it, having DeBose as Genevieve removes some of the aspects I associate with the character in the film anyway--the idea that she's never had the opportunity to be with someone else before she ended up married to Aimable.)

For the record in the original French film, Aimable (Raimu) was 55 (which in 1938 read as older than now,) Aurelie (as Genevieve is named, played by Ginette Leclerc) was 25 and Dominique (Carles Moulin) was 29.

Updated On: 11/1/25 at 08:35 PM

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 12:38am

MERCH

[Cheesecake2]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 1:20pm

I’m seeing this next Sunday, can’t wait 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 1:41pm

I saw this based on the cast without being familiar with the material, and agree with the "charming, but slight" comment. The only other word I can think of to describe it is "cute," which may sound more dismissive than I intend. I liked it fine, this is a mostly very well done production, but there wasn't much there.

Bakula was the high point, and I thought he was in much stronger voice than he was in The Connector, or it could be the material suited his voice better. He was reason enough to be glad I saw it.

I was worried about DeBose based on the comments above, but thought she sounded very good. She's very charming and charismatic onstage, but I did find something lacking in the acting. Both Meadowlark and her second act song seem to require an emotional journey to justify the actions the character takes at the end of each, and I didn't really feel that. It was just, she sings a pretty song and then does something. The arc wasn't really there in her performance of the songs, though well sung, so something was missing.

The actor who played the love interest...was the weak point and his performance didn't really work for me. I'll leave it at that.

Judy Kuhn is glorious, and the actors playing the townspeople are all very good, but I found the characters pretty tiresome and could have used less of them. Someone mentioned above the show is as much about the townspeople, if not more, than the main characters, and that was very much a weakness in the material for me. I needed a lot more of the title character (and a stronger love interest) to sell why she makes the choices she does. Instead it all hinges on two songs, and didn't really work here, so I was left with wacky townspeople being wacky, which got old, no matter how strong the cast is.

This may not matter since the show is mostly sold out, but in the center and right sections, there is little to no rise between the first and second rows (in the right, or top section on the seating chart, it's a single step), so if you're short and in the second row your view may be blocked, and if you're tall and in the first row be prepared for complaining behind you. (In the left section, the second row is significantly higher than the first so people in the second aren't blocked, or at least not nearly as much.)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 5:34pm

This is probably the best production of the show we’re likely to really ever get. Yes, it’s an imperfect musical but it’s an A+ production of that imperfect musical with a cast where there’s just no weak link to be found.

I was curious about a cast recording also, so I inquired to someone involved and was told (to paraphrase) “probably since they’re actively looking at moving the show”. 

Will it happen? Who knows. But with a cast like this in a season like this, I would hope so. 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 7:26pm

The way people involved have been talking, it sounds like a cast album is inevitable to me--which is good, because the London cast (our only complete one) leaves a lot to be desired.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 7:32pm

MemorableUserName said: "
The actor who played the love interest...was the weak point and his performance didn't really workfor me. I'll leave it at that."

Different cast, but that was an issue with the Menier production, as well.  Is it a particularly hard role to cast?  Dominic is one of the characters who has been the most revised since the original--a lot of new lyrics as well as revised dialogue.  Schwartz has said that before he seemed too superficial, and as someone who saw Genevieve as a new conquest.  In the rewrites, they claim, they have reshaped the character to be someone who is "in love with love" and that blinds him to the destruction he leaves in his path.  But... I don't really get that from the revised version myself (and I think the revised Proud Lady lyrics are often awkward in that way Schwartz sometimes can be :P 

" She splits my senses at the seams
She sends a shiver up my spine
I see her body in my dreams
And if she's normal, she sees mine
She's all i'm ever thinking of
Her mouth, her hair, and all the rest
I think all women should have love
And one like her should have... The best!"

Huh?

 

[Tenor8674]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 8:04pm

I saw the matinee today and I loved it. The cast is terrific.

[HJ2]

Posted: 11/8/25 at 10:23pm

EricMontreal22 said: "MemorableUserName said: "
The actor who played the love interest...was the weak point and his performance didn't really workfor me. I'll leave it at that."

Different cast, but that was an issue with the Menier production, as well. Is it a particularly hard role to cast? 

What is somewhat amusing about this is that Scott Bakula was a terrific Dominique in the “world premiere” Cincinnati Playhouse production in 1980 before the character was revised.

 

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 11/9/25 at 1:50am

.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 11/9/25 at 10:53am

I also saw the show yesterday and loved it —however, I’m baffled as to why the director would choose to stage the song that everyone is there to hear in a way that makes it difficult for nearly a third of the audience to fully see and hear properly?

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 11/10/25 at 1:12pm

Saw the last preview yesterday, and Ariana nailed the musical numbers so resoundingly that I wondered why she was so meh during the book scenes, although the fact that her distracting French accent sounded almost identical to her Puerto Rican one from WSS definitely contributed to it.

Updated On: 11/10/25 at 01:12 PM

[Bloomgarten]

Posted: 11/10/25 at 6:26pm

TaffyDavenport said: "her distracting French accent sounded almost identical to her Puerto Rican one from WSS definitely contributed to it."

Does she speak only French words with an accent or all of her dialogue?

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 11/10/25 at 9:21pm

Bloomgarten said: "TaffyDavenport said: "her distracting French accent sounded almost identical to her Puerto Rican one from WSS definitely contributed to it."

Does she speak only French words with an accent or all of her dialogue?"

All of her dialogue. 

[Bloomgarten]

Posted: 11/10/25 at 10:05pm

Does everyone else have accents? Is there any character who is not French to require a distinction between characters? Why have accents if everyone is French?

[JSquared2]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 2:10pm

Bloomgarten said: "Does everyone else have accents? Is there any character who is not French to require a distinction between characters? Why have accents if everyone is French?"

Yes everyone uses "French" accents -- although some are more exaggerated than others -- almost in a "Pepe LePew" way.  But since it's meant to be sort of a fairy tale anyway, it didn't distract (at least for me).

 

[Springtime]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 5:53pm

A producer is now promoting this show as ‘Broadway bound’ on social media. Opening is tonight.