If the casting comes to be, Ripley (Side Show) would play the wife of an older man — a small-town baker named Aimable (played by Lenny Wolpe) — and Chase (Miss Saigon, Aida) would play the young swain who seduces her.

Lenny Wolpe and Gay Marshall have already been announced for the Gordon Greenberg-directed run of the Stephen Schwartz-Joseph Stein musical, to play the Millburn, NJ theatre April 13-May 22, 2005.

A spokesman for Paper Mill could not be reached. Full casting has not been officially announced.

Wolpe and Marshall played Aimable and Denise, respectively, in the recent Goodspeed Musicals staging by Greenberg at the Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT. Marshall sings the choice song, "Chanson."

* In "The Schwartz Scene," an e-mail newsletter to Stephen Schwartz fans, the Tony-nominated composer writes, "Joe Stein and I have also done a little further sprucing up of The Baker's Wife, preparatory to next year's Paper Mill Playhouse production. Basically, we were very happy with the version done a couple of seasons ago at Goodspeed, but we felt we could still improve the writing of the relationship between the characters of Genevieve and Dominique. So Joe did some scene revisions, and I wrote some new lyrics (yet again) for 'Proud Lady.'"

A cult favorite, The Baker's Wife was a Broadway bound musical that never quite made it to Broadway in 1976. The musical, which features the cabaret classic "Meadowlark," is based on the film "La Femme du Boulanger" by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono. The musical's original cast included Paul Sorvino as the Baker and Patti LuPone in the title role.

A revised 1989 production was mounted by Trevor Nunn in London.

Paper Mill's current production is She Loves Me. For more information or visit www.papermill.org.