The latest addition to the growing list of unnecessary musical adaptations should carry a content warning for diabetics. Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary’s show tries to channel the plucky amateurism, warmth and end-of-the-pier innuendo of the TV baking competition but the results are wilfully lame and cloyingly saccharine.
None of the full numbers stays long in the mind, but a snatch of song called Big Hug – burbled to contestants evicted from the Baking Tent and actually containing the phrase “snuggly-wuggle” – lingered like the aftertaste of a sauerkraut and strawberry strudel. That this is a dish one of the onstage characters – a hyper-annoying hipster called Dezza – actually tries to create gives you an idea of the level of wit on show, too. Rachel Kavanaugh’s production is broadly well sung and exudes a brainless cheeriness, but overall it convinces me that the GBBO bandwagon has finally jumped the shark.
