By SHARON EBERSON
I am convinced of the wonders of corn. It is magnificent. It is beneficent. And as any theater-loving “corn-fed hick” will tell you, it’s as high as an elephant’s eye.
AI tells me that one-quarter of grocery store items contain corn, and that’s not the half of it.
And corn has given us Shucked.
The touring musical now at the Benedum Center is so sincere in its worship of the abundant crop, it makes corniness contagious.
If you love rapid-fire, eye-rolling puns, Shucked will fill you to overflowing. Immediately, I fell under the spell of the “farm to fable” lunacy, along with a few songs seemingly pulled right from the country charts.
With nine Tony Award nominations, including for Best Musical, note that this kettle of corn can’t contain more than a few kernels of double entendres and sexplicit references, but mostly, it pops dad jokes at every opportunity.
We are told not to mistake simple for stupid among the denim-clad denizens of Cobb County, but obliviously bawdy — with the exception of lustful Lulu (the powerhouse Miki Abraham).
North American Tour. (Image: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Immediately getting into the corn-pone swing of things are Storytellers 1 and 2 (Dominique Kent and Ryan Fitzgerald on opening night), who narrate the story with a nod to the relentless jokes, and occasionally step into the story.
When the menfolk come together for “Best Man Wins” (“Yee-Haw!”), Fitzgerald jumps in “because I like this song.”
The setup for all the corn pone comes when the wedding of blonde heroine Maizy (Danielle Wade) to her beau, Beau (Nick Bailey), is halted by the sudden failing of the corn crops that sustain the isolated community. Against everyone’s wishes, including Beau, Maizy fearlessly goes to the big city — Tampa — where she falls for the “corn doctor,” podiatrist/playboy/conman Gordy (Quinn VanAntwerp), who has some troubles of his own.
In debt to mobsters, Gordy sees there may be a way out of it: Maizy’s bracelet is made up of glittering rocks that he believes are valuable. So he romances Maizy and returns to her hometown to “fix” the corn problem. VanAntwerp’s Gordy goes into full “rainmaker” mode, fooling everyone, except Beau and Lulu.
As Maizy grows closer to Gordy, Beau is devastated, triggering Bailey’s woeful “Somebody Will.” Another first-act standout is Abraham’s suspicious Lulu strutting her chops with the song “Independently Owned.”
(Image: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
For a while, it seems, the fate of the corn is forgotten, while residents sort out their feelings. Mike Nappi, as Beau’s brother Peanut, adds a spark of hilarity to every scene he is in. When he is asked a question, and starts to answer, “I think …,” you know you are in for something profoundly off the rails.
Shucked boasts songs by Grammy Award-winners Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, with a book by Tony Award-winner Robert Horn (Tootsie; Disney’s Hercules). Numbers range from the exuberant opening number, with shucked corn as props, to cleverly cliched power ballads.
Scott Pask’s Tony-nominated scenic design, with a massive, open-aired barn-like structure, perfectly encases all that counts in cornball Cobb County.
It’s not just the yellow gold, waiting to be shucked.
Corn is sustenance, and lots of it is good for a load of laughter. Friends and family, corny as it may seem, are forever.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The North American Tour of Shucked, presented by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust PNC Broadway is at the Benedum Center, Downtown, through April 19. Tickets: Visit https://trustarts.org/production/100759/shucked or call 412-456-4800.
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