In the UK at least, you can't turn on the TV without coming across one baking programme or another. They seem to be extremely popular, so it was only a matter of time before we got the first baking-inspired musical. The Bakewell Bake Off is a new musical by The Baking Committee, a collection of MA students from the prestigious Guildford School of Acting, and premiered at the Landor Theatre in October 2013. This wonderfully original heartwarming show was initial intended as an in-house college writing project, that led to a try-out run at the Waterloo East Theatre, and finally a full production at the acclaimed Landor Theatre. Directed by Julian Woolford, with musical direction by Kevin Michael Cripps, the production received wonderful reviews.

The premise of the show is simple - take seven eager contestants, three feuding judges and one bewildered hostess, add flour eggs and sugar and mix together in a small village. Add the pressure of a baking competition and you’ve got a recipe for a hilarious musical comedy.

I quite simply loved this recording. There's no known songs here, and no known cast members (I will give them a namecheck though, as every one of Cerys Alley, Tom Beynon, Lucy Emmott, Will Ferris, Katherine Glover, Victoria Humphreys, Emily Jeffreys, Maura Matlak, Alexandra Spalding, Tim Stuart and Kayleigh Thadani deserve a credit here), but this is such a joy to listen to. The show is eclectic in style (what else could you expect from 11 different writers), but works extremely well - this is what good, new, fresh theatre writing sounds like. My one criticism is that the score really deserves more than just a piano backing, which on a couple of numbers, most noticeably 'Let Me Fit In', just doesn't work.

It's unfair to single anything out here, as it's uniformly strong. Song wise, I did love the anthem-like 'I Will Rise' and the opening 'In Bakewell', as well as the closing 'Recipe for Success'. Yes, expect every baking cliche and pun here. It's funny, heartwarming, and extremely British, but shows that we in the UK can write musicals as strong as anything that comes from over the pond. In SIMG Productions we have a unique label that actively supports this new writing, and is something we all, if we really want a future for new, British musicals, should support.

And if Simon continues to produce recordings such as this, I can't wait !

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Ian Gude