The Baker's Wife - Cast Recordings

Cast Recordings

Although bootleg live recordings are known to exist, a full cast album of The Baker's Wife was never recorded at the time of its original tour in 1976. While the show was playing in Boston, it was seen by long-time theatre enthusiasts Bruce and Doris Yeko, who had only recently started up their own record label, Take Home Tunes, devoted to the preservation of musical scores that might not otherwise be recorded. Impressed by the score, the Yekos contacted Stephen Schwartz, who suggested to them that a full cast album might be recorded. At that time, however, the couple had little experience in record production, having only released an EP of songs from The Robber Bridegroom. However, after The Baker's Wife closed on the road, the Yekos and Schwartz negotiated to record an LP of excerpts from the score, with the composer himself selecting what he considered to be the best songs (rather than those, necessarily, that might advance the plot).

The recording sessions took place in early 1977 in an apartment studio in Greenwich Village that was too small to accommodate an ensemble. As a result, Schwartz suggested that, to save both space and money, only the songs performed by the three protagonists would be recorded. Thus the resulting LP contained six solo numbers and five duets, performed by original cast members Paul Sorvino and Patti LuPone, along with Terri Ralston (who sang "Chanson").

At the same time, the Yekos produced and released an EP with additional songs performed by original cast member Sorvino along with Darlene Conley, Denise Lor, and Portia Nelson (who were not in the touring production) and composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and his wife, Carol.

This "original cast" LP of The Baker's Wife became very popular, and received a Grammy nomination. It has since been re-released on CD twice: once in 1989 (the first CD to be released by Bruce Yeko's Original Cast label) and again in 1992.

The 1990 London production, directed by Trevor Nunn, was recorded and released on the JAY label as a lavish 2-CD set. This comprised twenty songs, of which ten had been previously heard on the 1976 LP and one other from the studio cast EP. The remaining songs, not previously recorded, either came from the original tour, the 1985 off-Broadway revival, or had been specially written for the new London production.

Since the late 1980s, songs from the show have also been recorded by solo artists. "Meadowlark" is by far the most frequently covered song, having been recorded by Sarah Brightman, Betty Buckley, Susan Egan, Liz Callaway, Sandy Campbell, Meredith Braun, Dianne Pilkington, Rosalind Kind, Susannah Mars and others.