To bake or not to bake, that is the dilemma in "The Baker's Wife" by Stephen Schwartz, which debuts at the Succop Theatre on April 16, courtesy of the Musical Theatre Guild.

When the beautiful, young wife of the baker runs off with a handsome shepherd, peace in the village is shattered. The townspeople are forced to take action when the inconsolable baker is too heartsick to bake bread. The whole village organizes to reunite the young woman and her husband so their town may again have fresh bread.

Director Phil Ball said the play was discovered by one of the play reading committee members, who thought it was charming.

"After listening to the music, reading the play and finding out the dynamics for casting and staffing the show, we felt it was exactly what the guild should do," Ball said.

The play is based on the French movie "La Femme de Boulonge." It has not often been produced locally.

"The audience can expect a refreshingly fun show that has many qualities of the old favorites. There are beautiful melodies, fun characters and a believable story," he said.

A huge cast has been one of Ball's challenges in staging this show.

"The hardest part of this production is that there are so many scenes with 15 or more cast members in it, and having the time to stage and review it enough before we open is tough," Ball said.

The story takes place in Provence, France. Villagers have been without a baker for seven weeks, and they've begun to bicker.

Finally, Amiable (Bob Dandoy) the baker arrives with his young wife Genevieve (Julia Kramer) and everything seems to go along swimmingly until a young man catches the eye of young Genevieve and tugs at her heart strings.

Dandoy said, "Aimable is an extremely likeable, big-hearted, good man. He sees the good in other people also while preferring to ignore the bad. However, this isn't always a good thing. He can be naive at times, and this leaves him open to hurt."

Dandoy, who has been on hiatus from the theatre a bit, finds getting back into the swing of things has been a bit of a challenge."Although I was profoundly active in community theater at one point in my life, it's been a while since I've done a role. It's taken a bit more to get back into the groove of rehearsals and everything that goes along with being a part of a show."Other than that, I think this has been a role that I have slid into quite comfortably," Dandoy said.He last appeared as Benjamin Franklin in the musical "1776."Dandoy, who had never heard of "The Baker's Wife" prior to the audition, finds it an enjoyable show."I've really come to like it very much. The music, albeit not well known, is really lovely. It runs a broad range of humor from satire to slapstick but still has those touching moments that should make us all think," he said.Dandoy's wife, Genevieve, is played by Kramer, who last appeared with the MTG in "City of Angels.""This is the toughest role that I have had yet. I have to make the audience love me, hate me, then love me again," explained Kramer, who plays the young wife who is wooed away from her husband by the dashing Dominique, played by Patrick Erkman.The duo of Erkman and Kramer starred in "Little Shop of Horrors," produced by the MTG in fall 2001."Working with Bob Dandoy has been great. I had never met him before, but we connect on stage and play off one another pretty easily," said Kramer.She said the audience will enjoy the play much the same way she has enjoyed preparing for it."It is a fresh, different work. It is new and funny and shows a lot of humanity. Everyone in the audience will be able to relate to the emotions and humor on some level," she said.A relative newcomer to the MTG is Joyce Hamilton of Valencia, who plays Denise, the wife of café owner Claude, as played by Ron Vodenichar."She's a romantic who misses that part of her marriage. She feels that Claude sees her more as an employee than a wife and likes to joke about her and their marriage in a sarcastic way," said Hamilton."I have never been married, so Denise and I are different in that aspect. However, I am a romantic and feel for friends when they talk about the 'little things' that are gone from their marriages," said Hamilton of her character.She said, "The challenge for me is this is my first role. I didn't do anything like this in my high school years, except I worked on stage crew. I didn't start singing and getting involved in shows until the last few years. I can empathize with Denise, so that makes it easier."Hamilton was in the chorus for the fall production of "The Music Man."When "The Baker's Wife" came to life in the mid-1970s, it actually failed on its trip to Broadway, but the cast album became a hit and kept the show alive.This version includes "The Meadowlark," one of Schwartz's most frequently performed solos and a common audition piece for theatre hopefuls."'Meadowlark' is my favorite song to sing in the production. It is vocally challenging, a beautiful song," said Kramer.