The Gallery Players, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary, come to New Wolsey Theatre for the area premier of The Great British Bake Off Musical, and yes someone did make a musical out of it.
Obviously based around the Channel 4 show this musical is everything you would it expect it to be, and more considering there are no TV edits to consider! It has the tent, the workstations, the kooky presenters, the celebrity status judges and the contestants who each have their own heart-warming stories which brought them to this point of a being on a televised baking competition.
Whilst we are taking our seats the screen on stage is showing funny audition reels to get us in the comedy mood, because it is a musical comedy. The TV show isn’t supposed to be a comedy show but the elements come together to make many amusing moments against the back drop of baking amazing things. This musical is all those amusing moments ramped up to more funny moments, endless cake related double entendres, and also the television crew having their own fun.
As expected story follows this group of bakers and it manages to weave in all the Bake Off moments – the signature bakes, the dreaded technical, the showstoppers. There is gentle humour and many laugh out loud moments and a few very heartfelt emotional moments that will bring a momentary tear to the eye as it tugs on the heart strings. You don’t have to be a fan to enjoy this, it has themes of competition, friendship and finding joy in the simple things.
The eight contestants, each representing a familiar archetype from the show (the nervous amateur, the overly ambitions baker, the quirky gran) is brought to life with charm and humour. We discover each of their stories and how baking became important to their lives, these stories are very relatable and with the amazing casting we are emotionally invested from the start.
It is a big cast, twenty-one, however they are all well positioned not to be tripping over each other, you don’t get the sense of any overcrowding, it works. The performance from the cast is fantastic, if this is amateur dramatics then the professionals need to be checking over their shoulders! It actually made the show more realistic, if that’s possible considering it’s a comedy musical about a baking show, what I mean is that as the performers were not highly polished, and please don’t take this negatively as they were definitely talented, for me it made the performances more enjoyable as they were passionate and committed to their characters and by golly they looked like they were having a ball on the stage, and it is this which adds to the level of engagement.
The songs are very catchy, ranging from funny numbers about soggy bottoms and touching ballads about the passions for baking and the camaraderie that develops.
It’s a bright, fun, cheeky, entertaining comedy musical with all the elements of the beloved classic TV show – it captures the warmth, tensions and the joy of the iconic tent.
It’s a great show and a great night out at the theatre.
The Great British Bake Off Musical is playing at the New Wolsey Theatre until Saturday 26th July. Go here for more information.
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