Review: THE BAKER'S WIFE Is Full of Flavor at Ridgefield Theater Barn

(Photo of Joe Harding and ensemble by Sophie Bardos)

Pamme Jones had me at “14-piece orchestra.” 

Ms. Jones is Executive Director of Ridgefield Theater Barn (RTB) in the eponymous Connecticut town and, as I no doubt have mentioned in previous reviews of RTB productions, she is an undeniable force of nature. 

Right before the figurative curtain went up on RTB’s rendition of Stephen Schwartz musical The Baker’s Wife (does anyone have a real curtain anymore?), Pamme told me the score is performed by a 14-piece orchestra.

Did I mention RTB is community theater? Let me put it another way: There is community theater and then there is Ridgefield Theater Barn, which is community theater on steroids.

Credit goes to RTB and its leadership under Ms. Jones, and also to the surrounding business and residential communities that generously support this jewel of a performing arts organization. It is in the midst of a $2 million expansion of its physical plant, with Phase 2 now underway. 

Now back to that 14-piece orchestra. It’s impressive enough on its face. However, add in that even Broadway shows with the marquee pedigree of a Funny Girl have taken to using a comparable number of players (or less) in the pit, leaving the rest to an electronic keyboard. For anyone whose memory of a classic musical score (like Jule Styne’s Funny Girl) is rooted in the original cast album (from the 1960s), the latter-day watering down of that sumptuous soundscape can be a letdown. (It was for me.) The word that comes to mind is “tinny” when compared with the lushness of a vintage original cast album. In the mid-20th Century, a musical might have upwards of 30 people in the pit.

Suffice it to say even Stephen Schwartz himself was impressed by the orchestral flourish RTB bestowed on his show. He was at the opening night performance and noted that he wished the West End production of the same show in London had that size orchestra.

The orchestra RTB employs for The Baker’s Wife is indicative of its consistently quality-conscious production values. The atmospheric set, evoking a provincial French village, is another example. 

The show is anchored by two strong leads in Joe Harding as titular baker Aimable and Claire Simard as his wife, Genevieve. They create sympathetic, poignant characters that win us over in short order through acting that is polished and authentic, buoyed by the requisite vocal chops that any musical demands. 

The plot of The Baker’s Wife is charmingly simple and simply charming in how it unfolds. After being bread-starved for weeks without a baker, the residents of a rural village in 1935 France are relieved to finally have a new bread maker, Aimable, who’s also humbly amiable. 

The avuncular Aimable is married to a comely woman many years his junior, Genevieve, who in short order is smitten with dashing young villager Dominique (Alan Partelow-Zika). The two young paramours disappear, leaving Aimable crestfallen, spurring the sympathetic villagers to rally to reunite the baker and his spouse. 

That’s about it, and that’s all Mr. Schwartz (and book author Joseph Stein, of Fiddler on the Roof fame) needs to work his magic. The lovely score is a tuneful blend of styles that is altogether easy on the ears: the songs are by turns aspirational, romantic, mournful, rueful, playful, sung in a round, and triumphant. The score comes to vibrant life through the full force of that 14-piece orchestra, which is a gift to the performers and the audience both. 

The score’s glistening showpiece is Meadowlark, the penultimate number at the end of Act I, which Claire Simard delivers with full-throated Broadway brio. 

Another standout musical moment is when Alan Partelow-Ziki as Dominique the gigolo falls head over heels for Genevieve and galivants giddily around the stage fueled by lustful testosterone, pledging loyalty to his “Proud Lady.”  His giddy serenade gushes rapture through rapid-fire lyrics, with gusto to spare. In short, he kills it. 

The rest of the 17-member cast are fine in their supporting roles, providing comic interludes and having fun with the colorful characters who populate the village. 

As with the orchestra and the stylishly designed set that incorpoerates the bakery, a village square and a second-story residence above the bakery, another irresistible flourish that distinguishes this production is Pompom. That would be a cat. Not a real cat, mind you, but one that is uncannily lifelike in its movements. That’s the deft handiwork of puppeteer Jennifer DeLancey Agro, who puts Pompom through her feline paces. Consulting on Pompom for RTB was Martin P. Robinson, a Sesame Street veteran who has been performing Mr. Snuffleupagus since 1981.

Also worth mentioning is that The Baker’s Wife is an immersive experience, at least to the extent that on a few occasions cast members work their way from the back of the house up the center aisle to the stage. There’s also a small platform in the rear corner of the house that serves as a porch for some characters at various intervals to read a newspaper or indulge in inebriation. The tricky part to that staging is that audience members are impelled to crane their necks one way and then another when characters at either end of the house are conversing, though no one exchange ever lasts long. 

While it’s a small moment, the show’s opening is a grace note that effectively establishes time and place as server Denise (Catherine Cavender) enters from the back of the house singing “Chanson” as she fills glasses from a pitcher. 

That first scene is reminiscent of the opening music of a relatively obscure 1960s musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb called The Happy Time, which takes place in a French-Canadian town, and starred the golden-voiced Robert Goulet. 

Such flourishes serve well The Baker’s Wife, which is altogether gracefully mounted under the sure-handed direction of Rena Gavigan, who has a good sense of brisk pacing and creating well-balanced theatrical pictures, no simple feat when you need to choreograph 17 actors on a compact stage. It’s all very fluid and the action never flags.

Once again, with its mounting of The Baker’s Wife, Ridgefield Theater Barn has risen to the occasion and served up a thoroughly enchanting entertainment experience. 

The Broadway-styled music direction is by Sarah Fox, whose baton leads Andrew Levine (Keyboard 1), Maria Castellucci (Keyboard 2), Cecilia Burns (Reed 1: Flute/Recorder), Tiffany Radovich (Reed 2: Oboe/English Horn), David Radovich (Reed 3: Clarinet/Flute/Tenor Sax), Jackie Sifford Joyner (Reed 4: Bassoon), Chris Babcock (Percussion), Emily Franz (Violin/Viola), Gunnar Sahlin (Cello), Kevin Callaghan (Bass), Marjorie Seymour Callaghan (French Horn), Liann Cline (Harp), Darlene Kaukoranta (Accordion). 

Performances are listed on the website as “Completely Sold Out,” but if you want to try your luck at a cancellation, the box office can be reached at 203.431.9850. As they say in France, bonne chance!

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