Photo by Ilia Zolas on Unsplash
Spawning a trend for home baking, starting a multitude of pastry-based controversies, and showcasing the ability to transform flour, sugar, butter and eggs into sheer edible delights, can only mean one thing. The Great British Bake Off.
For many of us, it is hard to imagine life before Bake Off. It marks the slow descent into the depths of winter, warming viewers with its lovable bunch of bakers being ruthlessly tortured by insane technical challenges and cowering (and praying) before their ovens. It has become ingrained in British culture, something the people of our country, both old and young and middle-aged, look forward to every year. It’s comforting, eccentric and with a perfectly balanced comedic side.
Just when you think they couldn’t challenge the bakers with something new, or showcase even more astounding edible poetry, the show has the ability to pull you back in. Just as shops like to lure customers in with promotions, casinos like to entice new players with no deposit bonuses, and travel agents promote the sunshine and seaside resorts, the Bake Off is as luring as ever.
It’s pretty inevitable that there was going to be a next step for the ever-snowballing success of the Bake Off franchise. And in this instance, it is to turn the popular show into a stage musical.
The Great British Bake Off Musical is coming to Noël Coward Theatre, in the West End, next year, from February 25th to May 13th. Giving fans the opportunity to live through all the thrills and spills of the iconic TV show, the musical is set to be filled with power ballads, comedy numbers, sugar-sweet romance and be an all-round feast of fun.
The writers, Jake Brunger and Pippa Clearly, have already cast the stars for the new show. Les Misèrables and The Phantom of the Opera star John Owen Jones is set to play Phil Hollinghurst, quite distinctly inspired by real-life silver fox judge Paul Hollywood, alongside a number of West End regulars including Claire Moore, Scott Paige, Catriana Sandison, Charlotte Wakefield, and many more.
The show received warm reviews when it first premiered at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham back in August. It was praised for its comforting and fresh portrait of a group of Bake Off contestants and their journey to become star baker, and its accompaniment of West End-ready catchy tunes full of sugary-goodness.
So, whether you are a Bake Off superfan, a musical obsessive, or just someone looking for a night out at the theatre filled with soul-feeding nourishment, this musical is set to be a different kind of showstopper. On your marks, get set, book!