{"id":1356787,"date":"2023-04-04T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T01:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1356787"},"modified":"2024-03-05T14:16:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:16:37","slug":"review-shucked-pops-loudly-on-broadway-despite-some-empty-calories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2023\/04\/review-shucked-pops-loudly-on-broadway-despite-some-empty-calories\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: “Shucked” Pops Loudly on Broadway, Despite Some Empty Calories"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The cast of ‘Shucked.’ Mathew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shucked<\/i><\/b> | 2hr 15mins. One intermission. | Nederlander Theatre | 208 W. 41st Street | 212-921-8000<\/b><\/p>\n

Sure, I like corn: popped at the movies, fermented in a still, or buttered on the cob. I may not revere the yellow nubbins as much as <\/span>Corn Kid<\/span><\/a>, and certainly not as Brett Kavanaugh likes beer and restricting women\u2019s bodily autonomy. Do I want to nibble on the starchy stuff for two hours\u2014along with a tornado of dad jokes and an admittedly zesty country score? One pines for kale. Turns out you <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> have too much of a good grain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crafted by an unusual team of Broadway pros and country-music neophytes, <\/span>Shucked<\/span><\/i><\/a> is a lot of fun. Probably 90 minutes of fun that, in a smaller venue, would secure the show\u2019s rightful place alongside <\/span>Bat Boy, Reefer Madness,<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Toxic Avenger<\/span><\/i> as a subversive metamusical (years ago dubbed \u201cspooficals\u201d). Instead, this small-town versus big-city fable wants to have its cornbread and eat it, too: going heavy on the <\/span>Hee-Haw<\/span><\/i>\u2013style one-liners while trying to pluck our heartstrings with a few too many sentimental ballads. There\u2019s no law that states musical comedy can\u2019t have deep feels, but the proportions are a little off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given how scarce good new musicals have been this season\u2014jukebox misfires (<\/span>A Beautiful Noise<\/span><\/i><\/a>) alternating with transatlantic trash (<\/span>Bad Cinderella<\/span><\/i><\/a>)\u2014I\u2019m sorry to be mixed on a work with this much talent behind the scenes and charm in the spotlight. Jack O\u2019Brien<\/a>, the frisky veteran director of <\/span>Hairspray<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Dirty Rotten Scoundrels<\/span><\/i>, brings his flair for zany elegance to the cartoonish scenario. The book is by <\/span>Robert Horn<\/span><\/a>, who surpasses his joke-per-second ratio in <\/span>Tootsie <\/span><\/i>with nonstop chicken-fried gags that would slot easily into a Jeff Foxworthy set. And the team behind the score\u2014Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally\u2014are established (and proudly out) stars in the country-music world. The two churn out down-home bangers that celebrate independence, resilience and loyalty, making a case for country as a natural Broadway genre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The plot is a tissue of silliness, placing it directly in the line of 1930s musical comedies that reigned before Rodgers and Hammerstein \u201cintegrated\u201d story and song. In a fantasy pastoral zone known as \u201cCob County\u201d (think Brigadoon but\u2026corn), a sweet young couple is getting hitched: Maizy (Caroline Innerbichler) and Beau (Andrew Durand). Just as the lovers are about say, \u201cI do,\u201d nearby stalks of corn gasp, \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d and wither away. Since the villagers subsist on corn for their livelihoods and cultural identity, something must be done. Plucky Maizy heads off to the big city\u2014Tampa!\u2014and soon falls under the sway of con-artist and fake podiatrist Gordy (John Behlmann). She sees a sign that advertises a cure for corns and . . . you get the idea. Gordy spots what he thinks are rare gems in a necklace worn by Maizy, which he learns are just lying about in Cob County, and dollar signs shine in his eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When not twisting his screwball plot into absurd contortions, Horn pelts us with generous handfuls of puns and one-liners. Arguing over what to do about the crop blight, Beau asks Maizy: \u201cDo you know what your momma would say if she were alive right now?\u201d She replies: \u201cGet me out of this box?\u201d Romancing our heroine in Tampa, Gordy reminisces, \u201cI grew up so poor that if I hadn\u2019t been a boy, I\u2019d have had nothing to play with. The only real friend I ever had was an ear of corn . . . named . . . Willy Maize.\u201d A small bowl of this goes a long way.<\/span><\/p>\n

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