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The Baker's Wife: A Synopsis
By Dan Morenoff
The Baker's Wife is a show about more than just the rising bread economy.
It's a realistic morality play wrapped up in the trappings of "Married with Children"
goes Broadway. More than any other Stephen Schwartz show (with the
arguable exception of Godspell), this show rocks.>
Quick summary:
There once was a town called Concorde in the countryside of Provence. Of course, as a result of that location, the town was filled with French people. Specifically, the town is filled with French people in a closed community holding age old grudges who bicker constantly while still spending all
their time together. Think, the Fat Albert Kids with a stupid accent (not that we'll
perform with accents, but "Big C" Conceptually...).
Oh, and this town's got no bread. You see, Concorde's last baker was an alcoholic. And one night, as he drunkenly stumbled through the streets, he fell into a ditch and died. Leaving our good Frenchmen high and hungry and unleavened.
Well, into this town come a Baker and his Wife (thus the name). On the one
hand, the townspeople love the Baker, 'cause he's a likeable enough guy and just
happens to bake the best bread in the history of the world. But, on the
other hand, he's old and his wife is slammin'. This is France, land of adultery.
And the stage is set.
Madness ensues...
Specifically, a townsman seduces the Baker's Wife. She vaccilates a lot in
a couple very cool songs about her irreconcilable desires to be fair to a
really great old guy who loves her and to run off for some super-schmeken with
this beautiful young man who wants her. Eventually, she throws caution to the
wind and skips town.
Which leaves the Baker first in denial and then in abject despair. Which
thepeople of Concorde think is pretty funny until they realize that he's too
depressed to bake. And that they're unleavened once more. They try to cheer him up and distract him, but it doesn't work
. Finally, the spectacle of this great guy's pain manages to get the Concordians (nothing
like accordions, by the way) to put aside their squabbles and feuds to work
together and bring the Baker's Wife back home.
In the meantime, she's realized that this guy may be fine, but he's still just a
guy. She misses the warmth of life with her husband: all the little things
she's now thrown away. So she bolts... Right into the townspeople who try to talk her into returning. She does. He takes her back. Sort of. But nothing is really the same. Having accepted a
mutual life based on reality, rather than the fantasies of perfect
relationships that each held earlier (the Baker before she left, his wife just after),
they live ever after. Like real people...
And there you go. Remember that this doesn't read as heavy as it sounds.
Them Concordians are a wacky lot. Fuh-nee. And, thanks to Stephen, the music is
mighty cool.