Rising to the occasion Bake Off musical is perfect comfort food
REVIEW - GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF: THE MUSICAL, EVERYMAN THEATRE
THE standing ovation for the official premiere of Great British Bake Off: The Musical should remove any lingering doubts about whether this rip-roaring, largerthan-life show will be a West End success.
The Cheltenham audience, made up of about 90 per cent women and probably a higher percentage Bake Off fans, couldn’t get enough of the in-jokes, soaring anthem-like numbers and unbridled enthusiasm of its very talented cast.
Its premiere two-week run at the Everyman Theatre is to prepare the show for its London debut and creators Pippa Cleary and Jake Brunger and cast couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement and send-off.
Right from the start as the “contestants” gathered on stage in front of an authentic Bake Off tent set to be introduced, the audience lapped up every funny line, every original song and, well, just everything about this colourful, joyful show.
If you want to nitpick then – to quote a famous Bake Off line – the show is a bit more style over substance, with a filo-thin storyline of widowed guy meets lonely girl, and many of the songs seem almost too “big” for such a frothily textured musical, but none of this mattered to the audience.
They applauded after individual cast members belted out their signature songs, roared with laughter at references to “soggy bottoms” and any number of baking innuendoes, and cheered at the finale of this feel-good show that acts as a kind of comfort food for theatre-goers.
Every cast member had a huge voice and the comic acting talent was plain to see.
It’s difficult to pick out stand-out individual performances because they were all excellent, but for me “presenters” Jim and Kim (Scott Paige and Jaye Jacobs) were great foils for each other, and stars John Owen-jones as Phil Hollinghurst and Rosemary Ashe as Pam Lee (geddit?) were brilliant and it’s a shame they didn’t have a much bigger presence on stage.
Charlotte Wakefield, playing lovelorn Gemma who goes on her own journey from hapless home baker to confident cake queen, had a belting voice which somewhat overwhelmed the Everyman’s intimate arena, almost blasting the speakers to oblivion.
I felt it will be much better suited to London’s bigger auditoriums.
Watching GBBO helps, but if you just love loud, inspiring musicals, bright and beautiful sets and passionate actors who plainly love their jobs, you’re sure to love this rollicking, boisterous and adrenaline-fuelled show.
As Prue Leith would say, it’s certainly worth the calories.