PPAC Presents Shucked: Well, Yeah, It’s corny

Shucked is a Tony Award–winning musical comedy featuring the book by Robert Horn, a score by the Grammy Award–winning songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally and directed by Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien; this corn-fed, corn-bred American musical promises to satisfy your appetite for great musical theater.

The lighthearted story starts with the typical boy-meets-girl, boy loses girl premise you corn surely relate to, and shucks, it sure is corny! PPAC asks, “What do you get when you pair a semi-neurotic, New York comedy writer with two music superstars from Nashville? A hilarious and audacious farm-to-table musical about the one thing Americans everywhere can’t get enough of: corn. Shucked is the new musical comedy that proves sometimes tearing down a few walls, rather than growing them, is the only way to preserve our way of life. Shucked is turning musical theater on its ear and is offering a kernel of hope for our divided nation.”

Right out the barnyard gate, we hear surprisingly strong vocals from powerhouse Miki Abraham as Lulu, Tyler Joseph Ellis and Maya Lagerstam as Storyteller 1 & 2, Jake Odmark as Beau, and Danielle Wade as Maizy (see what they did there?). We want to feel scorn for Gordy, portrayed by Quinn VanAntwerp, but he’s hard not to like. With all this fun singing and dancing, we wish we’d heard more from the uber limber Ryan Fitzgerald, who also has amazing vocal quality. All the funny, punny lines are delivered with precision timing by cast members, and the corny zingers just keep on coming! Most zings come from Mike Nappi, who amuses us as dim-witted Peanut.

Scenic design by Scott Pask gives us a realistic shabby yet attractive barn, outside which the action takes place. The design team also includes lively and fun choreography by Sarah O’Gleby, music supervision, direction, orchestrations and arrangements by award-winning Jason Howland, costume design by Tilly Grimes, Japhy Weideman’s lighting design, and John Shivers’ sound design.

It was 10 years ago when the Grand Ole Opry contacted Horn to create a Broadway version of the TV variety show “Hee Haw.” “The Corn Play,” as Shucked was initially dubbed, turned out to be anything but corny. According to Horn, “Shucked tells the story of a small town in America’s heartland where corn farmers choose to be shut off from the rest of the world yet need to venture out for help when crops start to fail. They’re scared of the outside world.” More than that, he also believes it shows us what we have in common, “and how you can’t grow if you don’t ever open your heart to people who are different from you.” 

This is no garden variety tale of growth though. You’ll surely get some knee slappin’ hee-haws out of this one. There are lots of shucks and clucks in the barnyard, so come on down!

PPAC presents SHUCKED through October 27. Production is 2 hours and 15 minutes, with one 15-minute intermission. For more information, visit https://www.ppacri.org/.