Ariana DeBose to lead THE BAKER'S WIFE at Classic Stage Company- Page 5

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 5:54pm

It's basically sold out, so I'm not really surprised. Great score, great book, I just wonder if the cast would transfer? 

Updated On: 11/11/25 at 05:54 PM

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 8:15pm

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

And they're most certainly not wrong.

[Kad]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 8:54pm

Definitely an out-of-left-field candidate for CSC’s first ever Broadway transfer.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 9:06pm

NY Stage Review

The Baker’s Wife: Redemption for a Musical With a Big Heart

By Bob Verini

November 11, 2025

★★★★☆ A flawless cast and thoughtful direction turn a famously problematic tuner into a darling, healing event

 

The Baker’s Wife: Fabled Flop Charms in Amiable Revival

By Steven Suskin

November 11, 2025

★★★☆☆ Scott Bakula, Adriana DeBose, and Judy Kuhn enhance Stephen Schwartz’s underbaked musical

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 9:08pm

Daily Beast is mixed

Oscar Winner Ariana DeBose Takes on One of Musical Theater’s Biggest Songs

SING TO ME

In the new production of “The Baker’s Wife,” Ariana DeBose puts her spin on a ballad made famous by Patti LuPone.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/the-bakers-wife-review-ariana-debose-shines-in-underbaked-production

"When one or both of Ariana DeBose and Judy Kuhn are on stage all is right in Classic Stage Company’s revival of The Baker’s Wife. But without their charisma, stage presence, and creamily lovely singing, other elements of this musical—with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and book by Joseph Stein—can seem rickety."

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 9:14pm

New drinking game: every time you read "under baked" in a review of this production, take a shot. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 9:16pm

Vulture is mixed.

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-bakers-wife-fixable-debose-bakula-schwartz.html

"The song has so much force that, like a comet pulled from orbit, its gravitational pull throws a light farce out of whack.

The same may be said for the casting of Geneviève, here played by Ariana DeBose, one of the most supremely willing-to-commit stage performers we have. (She loves to do the thing.) She’s delivering all her lines with a thick French purr while the rest of Greenberg’s cast tends toward gentler accents. She’s also triple-underling every reference to a love her character had before Aimable, a plot point that doesn’t get much elucidation in the book, and laying gesture upon gesture as she makes her way through her big solo. The resulting performance is terribly overwrought, and more than a little fun to watch in its grasping bigness. Either way, the result is that DeBose pulls the production’s focus over to Geneviève, a character who, despite the show’s title, really should be less than central to its interests. In Act Two, after running away, Geneviève keeps getting inserted back into the action in ways that defeat the musical’s structure, whereby one couple’s breakup serves as a jumping-off point for communal reckoning. DeBose, a great dancer, and Paul perform little dream ballets. Later, she sings “Where Is the Warmth?” while he lies in bed shirtless, a choice surely meant to distract from the dreariness of the song itself."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 9:19pm

Hofler in The Wrap is a rave

 

‘The Baker’s Wife’ Off-Broadway Review: Ariana DeBose and Scott Bakula Headline the Year’s Best Musical Revival

This long-neglected musical by Joseph Stein and Stephen Schwartz deserves an immediate transfer uptown

https://www.thewrap.com/the-bakers-wife-off-broadway-review-ariana-debose-scott-bakula

"For much of act one, the baker’s wife is an extremely reactive role, and that’s quite a switch for DeBose, who won an Oscar playing the fiery Anita in “West Side Story” and has hosted the Tony Awards no fewer than three times. Acting assignments don’t get much showier than hosting the Tonys. DeBose captivates here with her uncustomary reticence in “The Baker’s Wife” because we know it is only time before she’s going to burst out of that shell of respectability. And DeBose does so with glorious abandon singing not only “Meadowlark,” but the equally show-stopping “Where Is the Warmth?” in act two.

Bakula and DeBose deliver, but it’s the villagers who really carry this show. They’re its heart beat, and under Gordon Greenberg’s extremely detailed direction, several featured players register as vividly poignant as do DeBose and Bakula."

 

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 9:27pm

NY Sun

Ariana DeBose Leads a Sterling Company in a New Off-Broadway Production of ‘The Baker’s Wife’

DeBose returns to the New York stage for the first time since winning a Tony Award nomination for ‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’ and an Oscar for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of ‘West Side Story.’

https://www.nysun.com/article/ariana-debose-leads-a-sterling-company-in-a-new-off-broadway-production-of-the-bakers-wife

"Jason Sherwood’s cozy, charming scenic design reinforces this infectious esprit de romance, and I’m sure it could easily be adapted to a larger venue on Broadway. But I wouldn’t wait to see if Ms. DeBose’s schedule allows for such a transfer; catch this little marvel while you can."

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/11/25 at 11:38pm

MemorableUserName said: "Vulture is mixed."

That was a flat out pan, with just a few somewhat nice comments thrown in (the fact that he seems to think the score is terrible except for Meadowlark says a lot to me...)

[MezzA101]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 7:14am

‘The Baker’s Wife’ Review: Ariana DeBose Returns to New York Stage

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/theater/the-bakers-wife-review-ariana-debose.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0k8.gFkP.Vrj8sI7gU05A&smid=nytcore-android-share

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 7:44am

I don't often agree with Vincentelli, and don't find her a terribly good writer, but I do agree with her review more than any of the others. I already said it earlier, but this was my impression as well:

"Technically, DeBose acquits herself well — she can certainly navigate the twists and turns of “Meadowlark.” But while she can sing it, I did not feel Geneviève’s hesitation, the way she progressively talks herself into betting on Dominique, the wide range of emotions she experiences in a fairly short amount of time. It didn’t help that DeBose, perched on a balcony, kept defaulting to her megawatt smile, as if looking for the safety of charm."

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 9:04am

Subjective take: it's impossible to fathom That Song functioning in a linear narrative now, as excised and repurposed as it is, a standalone paean to {Singer's Choice}, a showcase for 80s overwrought show-tune-ness. With its galloping rhythm, its incessant plea to be recognized as the stirrings of a singer's - not character's - heart, how can it be folded into a slight fable with the gravitas of, say, The Fantasticks? Or maybe Amelee? Asked to serve mere storytelling? Apparently, not so easily. Yet would the show be revived without it? An honest question.

[WindyNewYorker]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 10:34am

If this does transfer, I sure wish it would adapt the original instrumentation. 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 11:37am

Auggie - I think there is one portion of the song that manages to make it still function within the linear narrative - it's the intro ('What does he think I am...'). Her fury at him turns into fury at herself which then leads her to work through what she's feeling and make the decision she ends up making. Without the intro, the song is absolutely a generic (if gorgeous) cabaret spotlight showing off a singer's range. With the intro, it's essential for this character's arc.

I tend to think that the casting of the baker as older and older as this show has been produced over the years is interesting. This story isn't Aspects of Love and its unsettling sexualization of a young girl. It's closer to Most Happy Fella. Yes...there should be a bit of an age gap between Genevieve and Aimable. But Aimable should also be plain (says a former Aimable). She chooses someone who is warm and kind but with whom she has no spark. She makes this choice after a disastrous affair with a married man (assuming the lyrics to Gifts of Love are still the same). She then is lured back to another bad choice ('oh, won't you come' has more than one meaning in Meadowlark). Her final discovery is that passion burns off but warmth can be long lasting. 

A few years ago, a friend was producing a production of Baker's Wife and I tossed my hat in the ring for the Aimable. He was stunned saying I was far to young and I was like, 'Friend...I'm almost 50!' He thought that was way too young for the role. That's just the way it's progressed and I'm not sure it's the best idea for this show. 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 11:46am

Thanks for this post, Son of; what critical info about context. It’s made me far more curious about the piece’s viability, and the reference to Aspects really clarifies much.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 8:53pm

Auggie27 said: "Subjective take: it's impossible to fathom That Song functioning in a linear narrative now, as excised and repurposed as it is, a standalone paean to {Singer's Choice}, a showcase for 80s overwrought show-tune-ness. With its galloping rhythm, its incessant plea to be recognized as the stirrings of a singer's - not character's - heart, how can it be folded into a slight fable with the gravitas of, say,The Fantasticks? Or maybe Amelee?Asked to serve mere storytelling? Apparently, not so easily. Yet would the show be revivedwithoutit? An honest question."

I get this take.,  But you'd be surprised (or maybe not?) just how many musical theatre loving people I know--mostly younger than I am--who do NOT know Meadowlark.  Is it still sung at auditions (I know Paul Ford told me that for a time a lot of men sang Proud Lady at auditions) and in concerts as much as it used to be?

I think the song absolutely works in the context of the show--except, as I said above and will say again, no doubt--for the fact that it sets the audience to think that for the rest of the show they'll be following Genevieve's story, or at least the show seen through her character.  And that's not remotely what happens.

 

Updated On: 11/13/25 at 08:53 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 8:55pm

WindyNewYorker said: "If this does transfer, I sure wish it would adapt the original instrumentation."

One of the last major scores Don Walker orchestrated.

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/12/25 at 8:59pm

SonofRobbieJ said: "
A few years ago, a friend was producing a production of Baker's Wife and I tossed my hat in the ring for the Aimable. He was stunned saying I was far to young and I was like, 'Friend...I'm almost 50!' He thought that was way too young for the role. That's just the way it's progressed and I'm not sure it's the best idea for this show."

I get that, though again, that goes back in a way to the original movie where Raimu at around 50 was twice the age of Ginette Leclerc.

 

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 11/13/25 at 7:08am

EricMontreal22 said:

I get this take., But you'd be surprised (or maybe not?) just how many musical theatre loving people I know--mostly younger than I am--who do NOT know Meadowlark. Is it still sung at auditions (I know Paul Ford told me that for a time a lot of men sang Proud Lady at auditions) and in concerts as much as it used to be?"

I just dove into this score for the first time a few months ago.  I had never even heard of Meadowlark.  And I’m not that young!

 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 11/13/25 at 9:25am

"Meadowlark" is an almost 5 minute song. It wouldn't be a very good choice for auditions.

[CJRochester]

Posted: 11/13/25 at 9:28am

I saw this last night and thought it was wonderful. I loved the intimate setting and couldn’t believe I was sitting so close to these legendary stars. 

I’m a longtime fan of Judy Kuhn. I loved that she plays sort of the matriarch of the village and has the opening number. She and Robert Cuccioli had nice chemistry, but I felt he was underused. His character barely sings. I kept hoping there would be a romantic number for the two of them in Act II. 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/13/25 at 9:50pm

QueenAlice said: ""Meadowlark" is an almost 5 minute song. It wouldn't be a very good choice for auditions."

You rarely sing a full song in auditions--though I admit the length does make it an odd choice.  I'm just going by what Trevor Nunn said when he did the show--that for years he had heard songs from the show, especially Meadowlark, at auditions and finally it made him investigate the show the songs were from.

At any rate, I don't see it as a problem that too many audience members going to a production of Baker's Wife will know Meadowlark from concert and cabaret performances and zone out as to how it relates to the show...

[Kad]

Posted: 11/13/25 at 9:54pm

I suspect that "Meadowlark" became perceived as overdone and so singers actively started to avoid doing it. 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/14/25 at 12:02am

Kad said: "I suspect that "Meadowlark" became perceived as overdone and so singers actively started to avoid doing it."

I think that's a good point--I remember seeing it (along with, for example, Corner of the Sky for tenors) on several lists of songs to avoid at least 20 years ago...This doesn't really prove anything, but castalbums org lists 28 recordings with it (several are by the same performer--ie several Patti LuPone concert recordings.)  It pops up the most on solo albums in the 1990s.