Christiane Noll, as previously reported on Playbill On-Line, will play the title role in Goodspeed Musicals' revival of Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein's The Baker's Wife, a spokesman confirmed Oct. 8.
The romantic musical comedy plays Nov. 7-Dec. 1 at the Norma Terris Theatre, Goodspeed's developmental space in Chester, CT. Gordon Greenberg directs. Composer-lyricist Schwartz, book writer Stein and Greenberg are taking the best of the 1976 original and the best of the 1989 London version and forming an improved hybrid for Goodspeed, a spokesman said.
Warren Carlyle choreographs, Georgia Stitt is musical director.
Noll, known for Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde and star of Lizzie Borden last year at Goodspeed, will be joined by Lenny Wolpe as Aimable, the Baker. The cast includes Adam Monley as Dominique, Wendi Bergamini as Inez; Larry Brustofski as Claude; Jedidiah Cohen as the Priest; Kevin Del Aguila as Antoine; Drew Eshelman as Pierre; Christy Faber as Simone; Laurent Giroux will portray Marquis; Russell Leib as the Teacher; Gay Marshall as Denise; Michael Medeiros as Barnaby; Jan Neuberger as Therese; Maureen Russell as Nicole; Ron Lee Savin as Domerque; Juanita Walsh as portray Hortense; Craig Wilson as Philippe.
The Baker's Wife, based on the Marcel Pagnol film, "La Femme de Boulanger," concerns the young wife of a village baker who runs off with a handsome young servant, prompting a shutdown of the bakery and the ire of the townsfolk. The musical was famously shut down on the road by its original producer, David Merrick, in 1976 after six months. Topol and later Paul Sorvino played the Baker in the road run, which also saw changes in the creative team. The cast included Patti LuPone, Kurt Peterson, Keene Curtis, David Rounds and Portia Nelson. A revised London version directed by Trevor Nunn played in 1989. Regional productions have popped up over the years. "Meadowlark" and "Chanson" are two standouts from the score that have had life in cabarets, concerts and recordings.
For information about Goodspeed Musicals, visit www.goodspeed.org.
— By Kenneth Jones
