A joyously self-aware Broadway musical proves that corny can be funny.
Louisville, Ky. — I recently had the pleasure of seeing a Tony-winning Broadway musical comedy during its North American tour, specifically at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. Shucked takes an incredibly light look at the virtues of self-reliance, neighborliness, friendship, and love. These elements converge as widespread panic grips a small American farm town.
A shady city slicker named Gordy (Quinn VanAntwerp) soon arrives to fix everything. He triggers the tension between urban exploitation and rural insularity that propels this severely amusing production.
Shuckedis H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! The quips and gags pile as high as an elephant’s eye. I laughed so hard, I coughed. And not just once.
Shucked is also clever and joyously self-aware. Just after a huge, energetic dance routine, one character walks on stage and innocently asks the winded cast members, “Why are you breathing so heavily?”
Storyteller 1 (Maya Lagerstam, the first of two fine quasi-narrators) says that a group of “very diverse pilgrims” settled the area. This smartly introduces a multiethnic cast that typifies most Broadway outings these days usually with no explanation.
Maya Lagerstam as Storyteller 1 and Tyler Joseph Ellis as Storyteller 2 in the North American tour of Shucked (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
I remember the curtain rising on act 2 of Lincoln Center Theater’s 1994 rendition of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel. As a beautifully integrated ensemble sang “A Real Nice Clambake,” I wondered if black and white New Englanders really lounged on the beach and dined together so serenely — in 1873. Shucked is the first theatrical outing I have seen that even attempts to justify this ubiquitous incongruity.
Its author, Robert Horn (Tootsie), plants just about every conceivable corn-related pun into his astonishingly funny book. The action occurs mainly in Cob County. The leading lady is named Maizy. There’s a respectful reference to a beloved baseball player. Who else? Willie Mays. Oddly enough, there is no mention of Ty Cobb.
Shucked is an overflowing grain silo of hysterical jokes, wacky lyrics, and zany one-liners. Here is a small sample of the 178 laughs that veteran director Jack O’Brien counted:
Grandpa (Erick Pinnick) recalls lovingly to his granddaughter, Maizy (Danielle Wade): “Your grandma’s teeth were so crooked, she could eat an apple through a catcher’s mitt.”
Grandpa asks Maizy, “What would your mother say if she were alive?” She replies: “Get me out of this box!”
A not-so-swift character named Peanut (the relentlessly riotous Mike Nappi) remembers when his brother — the leading man, Beau (Jake Odmark) — once asked him “if I planned to put the family Christmas tree up myself. I told him, ‘No. I’ll just put it up in the living room.’”
Storyteller 2 (the casually droll Tyler Joseph Ellis) observes that being “head over heels” is the same as standing up. He also notes, in passing, that an unsolved mystery is just a mystery.
We hear that marriage is “a state in which two people learn to solve problems that they did not have until they got married.”
One character complains to another, “Talking to you is like asking a starfish for directions.”
And consider this kernel of wisdom: “Family means telling someone to go to hell and hoping they get there safely.”
Shucked’s talented cast works wonders with minimal set elements and props. The stagecraft and choreography are impressive — almost uniformly.
The cast of the North American tour of Shucked (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
When I saw this piece during its original Broadway run, I wrote:
The breathtaking “Best Man Wins” sequence finds most of the male cast members leaping and twirling among and atop rolling corn-whiskey barrels, as Sarah O’Gleby choreographed. The speed, finesse, precision, balance, and grace required to accomplish this feat confirm that Broadway’s greatest talents are not just consummate actors, dancers, and singers. They also are unsung and incredibly gifted athletes. Only people in remarkably great shape could make this scene unfold perfectly and — in the grandest of illusions — effortlessly.
This display seemed dialed down for the road — as if this demanding effort landed someone on a gurney in rehearsals and prompted a kinder, gentler rendition. This was the only aspect of this title that felt tamer in translation. Conversely, the overall set looked larger and more ambitiously mounted, perhaps because of the broader stage at this venue than at Times Square’s Nederlander Theatre, where Shucked first germinated.
Meanwhile, direct from Nashville, Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s lyrics and score delight from start to finish. The latter breezes from upbeat country and bluegrass to hard rock, several tranquil but touching ballads, and then a hand-clapping gospel finale as big as the Great Plains.
All of this is delivered smartly by O’Brien, the Tony-winning director (Hairspray) and his clever cast of principals, swings, and ensemble members. They present nary a false note or flagging number, from curtain to curtain. In between, countless moments made the opening-night crowd chuckle and cheer, from one splashy performance to the next.
The cast of the North American tour of Shucked (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
I originally saw Shucked at the tail end of its Broadway run, just before — as the official website put it — “the corn gets creamed.”
I wish I had seen this gem sooner and with much more time to recommend it. I admit, this “musical about corn” initially did not attract me like a hubcap to a junkyard electromagnet. (If only it had celebrated grilled asparagus. . .) Eventually, the good reviews and sheer absurdity of the concept drew me in; I was thrilled to savor its fifth-from-final serving.
The great news is that Shucked will crisscross America through at least June 2026. (Next stop: Tampa.) Its 30-city tour will sweep past countless cornfields as it winds its way from sea to shining sea.
