Corn isn’t any stranger to Broadway musicals. In “Oklahoma!,” the crop is “as high as an elephant’s eye,” in response to the lyrical measurements of the present’s opening quantity, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.”
However in “Shucked,” the hilarious countrified musical that introduced “Hee Haw”-style comedy in a contemporary guise to Broadway, corn lastly will get high billing. The North American tour manufacturing, which opened Wednesday on the Hollywood Pantages, is a folksy farcical riot, healthful sufficient for widespread attraction however with simply sufficient flamboyant oddity to tickle the humorous bone of city sophisticates.
The e-book by Robert Horn (who received a Tony for his exuberantly witty e-book for the musical model of “Tootsie”) employs two narrators. Storyteller 1 (Maya Lagerstam) and Storyteller 2 (Tyler Joseph Ellis) are our guides to this “farm to fable” story about “a simple place that time forgot,” Cob County. The precise coordinates of this backwater are a bit hazy, however Storyteller 2 helpfully pinpoints the locale as “a place where being from somewhere is who you are.”
Cob County, because the title suggests, is corn loopy. The city’s livelihood relies on a flourishing crop, however simply because the native sweethearts, Maizy (Danielle Wade) and Beau (Jake Odmark), are about to tie the knot, the corn begins shriveling up. Maizy halts the marriage till the disaster is resolved. Beau assures her that he’ll ultimately determine it out, however time just isn’t on Cob County’s aspect.
Maizy proposes to do the unthinkable: go away city to seek the advice of an out of doors professional.
Maya Lagerstam as Storyteller 1, left, and Tyler Joseph Ellis as Storyteller 2 within the North American Tour of “Shucked” on the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.
(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
So far as her alarmed family and friends members are involved, she would possibly as nicely be volunteering to go to Mars on an Elon Musk rocket ship. Beau is useless set in opposition to the thought, however Maizy received’t take no for reply and heads for the largest metropolis she will think about, Tampa, Fla., the place she meets a seductive foot physician, Gordy (Quinn VanAntwerp) who caters to lonely girls and is determined to repay a playing debt.
Straightforward marks don’t come any simpler than naïve, trusting Maizy, whose bracelet of uncommon stones has caught con man Gordy’s predatory consideration. She explains that her grandfather made it from the rocks {that a} flood washed beneath their dwelling. And that’s how a quack who treats the tender corns on pedicured toes instantly turns into a world-renowned corn physician in a present that seemingly by no means met a pun it didn’t like.
Danielle Wade as Maizy, left, and Miki Abraham as Lulu within the North American Tour of “Shucked” on the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.
(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
The humor, without delay easy and intelligent, harmless and off-color, amiably desires to get an increase, and Horn isn’t too proud to go low in his genial wordplay. Peanut (Mike Nappi), Beau’s kindhearted, witless brother, is a geyser of potty-minded quips. “I just passed a huge squirrel, which is odd because I don’t remember eating one,” he tells his brother, who merely requested, “What’s going on?”
The entire components of “Shucked” are completely calibrated to shamelessly win us over. At the beginning amongst these is Jack O’Brien’s exact and invigorating route, which treats the characters as our nation cousins, by no means condescending to them, even at their laughable worst.
The contemporary look of the manufacturing, incorporating Scott Pask’s bucolic cartoon set, prevents the present from coming throughout as dated. Tilly Grimes’ attractive, small-town costumes lend an up to date “Flashdance” feeling.
The sunshiny rating by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, a mix of nation, blues and Broadway pop, is intent on making theatergoers smile. “Corn,” the opening quantity celebrating the miracle and lots of makes use of of this magical plant, begins issues off riotously, constructing sensationally to a refrain line of corncobs that choreographer Sarah O’Gleby units into zesty movement.
The solid incorporates a variety of attractive voices. Wade’s Maizy seems like an ingenue Dolly Parton, beautiful to hearken to, particularly when her coronary heart is in play, as is the case with “Maybe Love,” a quantity so good it returns within the second act because the jumbled romances get sorted out.
Odmark’s Beau, the boyfriend who will get shucked, if you’ll, by no means loses his nation charisma. He performs with an affectionate twinkle in his eye, providing understanding even when his jealousy is put to the severest check. However, as he reminds himself within the handsomely carried out hearbreak music “Somebody Will,” he is aware of his value and that his innate goodness will carry him via.
One other vocal standout is Miki Abraham, who performs Lulu, Maizy’s whiskey-making street-savvy cousin, who sees straight via Gordy, even when she will’t assist being enticed by his rakish sport. Abraham virtually brings the home down with “Independently Owned,” an anthem to her character’s emancipated spirit. However Lulu would possibly protest an excessive amount of: She’s clearly not so hard-nosed about love as she makes herself out to be.
“Shucked,” like “& Juliet” on the Ahmanson proper now, are two intelligent modern exhibits that ship the type of delight you’ll be able to’t discover wherever else however the musical stage. I may need loved “Shucked” 15% extra if it had been 15% shorter. And I missed the uncompromising individuality of the unique Broadway solid, which has been barely homogenized for the North American tour.
On Broadway, Alex Newell, who performed Lulu, grew to become the primary out nonbinary actor to win a Tony for efficiency. Kevin Cahoon was nominated in the identical class for his captivatingly eccentric efficiency as Peanut.
The sense of a group totally in a position to categorical itself in all its selection is fortunately nonetheless an integral a part of “Shucked,” lending heat to the intoxicating silliness of a musical that made this metropolis slicker lengthy to maneuver to corn nation.
‘Shucked’
The place: Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles,
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and eight p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends September 7
Tickets: Begin at $57
Contact: BroadwayInHollywood.com or Ticketmaster.com
Operating time: 2 hours, quarter-hour
