Shucked: Corny Fun
Shucked is a 2022 Broadway musical comedy which ran until January this year. Its North American tour began in October and is planned to travel through September of next year. A feature film is also in the works. The plot is simple and familiar: think along the lines of A Bug’s Life and The Music Man. A remote rustic town comes into trouble; their ever-important corn harvest is suddenly drying up, a calamity so sudden and unexpected that it halts the marriage of young Maizy and Beau mid-ceremony. They can’t find a solution, so Maizy decides to leave the town and find help, to her fiance’s disapproval. She travels to exotic and glamorous Tampa and comes across a down-and-out con man (Quinn VanAntwerp) posing as a podiatrist: his sign says “Corn Doctor.” Upon seeing the valuable material her homemade bracelet is made out of, he resolves to go back with her, steal the rest of the valuable stones, and use the money to pay off his debt to a mobster. You can see where the rest of the story will go. However, the unoriginal plot is no issue to the success of the show: it’s a light comedy, not a drama. Anyways, we all love mistakes and redemption, and plots that focus on this remain fresh, just as instant-karma traffic videos provide perennial satisfaction (especially if you live in Antioch). There’s no deep message to the show, but it doesn’t need one because the heart of the show is laughter. I saw the November 6th show at TPAC and the hall was full and the audience was engaged. It was fun to hear belly laughter rolling through the audience after each joke landed.
Shucked is absolutely full of corny puns (that’s deliberate) and one-liners. So many one-liners. Some of them are completely off topic: one character, Peanut (Mike Nappi) will halt the dialogue to deliver random, unrelated jokes to the audience. At first the number of asides and one-liners from everyone felt distracting and unnecessary, but the sheer volume of jokes means that enough land that you laugh and hope for more. Some are delightfully witty: “Marriage is simply two people coming together to solve problems they didn’t have before.” Some are unexpected, “No Grandpa, a grave mistake was burying Grandma on a slope,” and some are plain weird, “I just passed a huge squirrel, which is odd, because I don’t remember eating one.” If you like the Marx brothers, Mel Brooks, or Airplane! then you’ll probably enjoy the humor.
The characters are likable enough, each growing in their own way. My favorite characters are the two storytellers (played by Maya Lagerstam and Tyler Joseph Ellis), who are a delightful use of live theater’s flexible artificiality. They narrate the show and even adopt roles to interact with the characters. Both actors are charming and work well as a comedy duo. Another great role is Lulu, played by Miki Abraham with a great worldly-wise attitude and sensuality that somehow blends easily with her kindness and love for remote Cob County.
The music isn’t amazing, but Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s lyrics are hilarious. Most of the songs are upbeat and fun Broadway ensemble numbers. Danielle Wade as Maizy has a strong voice and leads in many of them, “Travelin’ Song” being my favorite of hers. The two songs that left the greatest impression on my husband and I were “Somebody Will,” and “Independently Owned.” The first song feels like a familiar country breakup song (Beau is reacting to his break up with Maizy), showing off Jake Odmark’s superb Broadway voice. The second song is sung by Lulu, displaying her independent spirit. Abraham’s voice is fabulous and the catchy song has gotten stuck in my head. The choreography mainly focuses on the comedy elements of the show (such as a corncob kickline) and is good. Everyone is well cast.
The set is fun and wonky: an askew wooden frame frames the stage, with a backdrop of corn seen through the wide slats of a leaning barn. Rustic barrels, beams of wood, walls, and wood flooring are all a warm brown. This color choice prevents the stage from feeling drab or rustically depressing. The set never moves and location changes are primarily shown by moving barrels, corn, or other props around.
I’d recommend seeing the show. It’s a lot of fun. Just bear two things in mind: with all the corn puns and references, whiskey is quite prominent, and you’ll be wanting a glass of bourbon by the time you leave. And while most of the innuendo will go over kids’ heads, there are a few jokes that could lead to conversations you don’t plan on having in a crowded public place (including one emphatic line of dialogue with the word “orgasm”).
Shucked is at TPAC until November 10th. The remaining shows are almost sold out. For tickets and more information, see Shucked | TPAC®, and for more information about their North American tour, see Shucked.
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G E Tipton was born in Nashville and raised there and in Spring Hill. She graduated from MTSU in 2017 with a degree in German and a minor in piano performance. She spent three years in Boston before returning to Nashville in 2020. She is married and has a baby boy.
