Shucked review: Musical is top of the crops
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| By
Sian McBride
Regent’s Park is going back to its roots, kinda. The scenic grounds - once home to a community of farmers - has a new generation of cultivators. However, these farmhands are corn-siderably more interested in singing, dancing and maize-based mirth than their predecessors.
I was all ears when we heard the Broadway cult-hit was making its way across the pond. The brand-new musical was the cream of the crop when it debuted in New York, earning a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award. And following tonight's performance, I wouldn’t be surprised if it picked up a few more best-in-shows this harvest too.
Set in Cob County, this barn-storming production follows a cast of corny characters as they uncover a corn-spiracy - this year's crops are wilting as fast as your houseplant (RIP) and disappearing quicker than an English summer! Determined to get to the root of the issue, wide-eyed Maizy (Sophie McShera) does something no other resident has done before - she’s going past the cornrows and cornwalls to venture into the great unknown (which is actually widely known as Tampa). There she meets cornman conman Gordy (Matthew Seadon-Young) who promises to look at the failing produce, but is he all as he seems? Maizy’s suspicious beau, Beau (Ben Joyce) doesn’t think so, neither does his anything-but-smooth brother, Peanut (Keith Ramsay) or her sharp-shooting cousin Lulu (Georgina Onuorah).
Accompanied by self-aware storytellers who address the audience throughout, this comedy musical is a rapidfire stream of puns and wordplay which pop throughout the shucking hilarious show. Just like a bag of kernels in a microwave, the script is bursting. Every line is an opportunity for another joke, and just like a pig doing standup, the cast have the comedic chops to pull it off.
Robert Horn’s book features more one-liners than in Milton Jones, Tim Vine and Jimmy Carr’s acts combined. And, in our opinion, a lot funnier too. Jack O’Brien’s direction and Sarah O’Gleby’s corn-ography (think 42nd street with corn instead of canes) further highlights the humour - if one joke doesn’t get you, then the visual gag accompanying it probably will.
It’s not all hahas and no heart, however. We get to the kernel of the characters through Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s (surprisingly beautiful) songs. Beau’s tale of heartbreak and redemption in ‘Somebody Will’ has all the elements of a Country classic - you really feel like you could be at Stagecoach Festival when you hear his anthem outside in the sun. Similarly Lulu’s self-assured and self-empowering ‘Independently owned’ earned thunderous applause, and would have brought the roof down (if there was one).
So, as the lazy dentist once said ‘you better brace yourself’ because if you see Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s production of Shucked (and I really urge that you do), you’re going to be cob-smacked.
Shucked plays at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until 14 June 2025.