Theater Review

‘Shucked,’ at PPAC, serves up the simple joys of mindless musical comedy

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PROVIDENCE – I was dreading seeing this musical.

Scarred by the rural TV comedies of my youth, the likes of “Petticoat Junction,” “Green Acres” and “Hee-Haw,” I’ve never been a fan of the corn-fed, southern fried comedy on which this musical thrives. Or the “Picking and a-Grinnin” style of country music gracelessly woven throughout its drawling dialogue. Three minutes of the musical, performed live by the Broadway cast during the televised 2023 Tony Award show, was enough to convince me that “Shucked” was, well, stupid, and not how I would want to spend an evening.

But as one of characters says early in the production, “There’s a cornfield of difference between simple and stupid.” And though I’m also not a fan of quaint southern sayings like that one, I’ve come to appreciate the simple joys jampacked into this mindless musical comedy after seeing it in its entirety at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

PPAC is the first stop of the show’s 30+ city national tour.

“Shucked” is narrated by two affable storytellers (Tyler Joseph Ellis and Maya Lagerstam) who establish the abundantly playful and deliberately corny tone of the show from the get-go. They tell a tale about a small farming community in Cobb Country that treasures its corn and corn liquor as much as its self-sufficiency. When the crop suddenly stops growing, the hard-headed, go-getter Maizy (Danielle Wade) cancels her wedding to her long-time beau, Beau (Jake Odmark), and bravely ventures out into the world – something that’s not been done to date – determined to find someone who can help. Instead, she brings back a conman (Quin VanAntwerp) who has discovered that the town may be sitting on valuable mineral deposits. Maizy’s cousin and best friend, Lulu (Miki Abraham), is wise to his ways, which causes a rift between the women.

Chaos ensues. Songs are sung. And comedy happens in the form of rapid-fire wordplay (best between Wade’s Maizy and Odmark’s Beau), countrified witticisms (primarily performed by a terrific Mike Nappi as Beau’s brother, Peanut), silly similes and twisted metaphors (courtesy of the storytellers) and an abundance of harmless jokes generously seasoned with sophomoric scatological and sexual references.

“Shucked” features a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn (“Tootsie”), is directed by Tony winner Jack O'Brien (“Hairspray”) and boasts a score by Nashville-based, Grammy-winning songwriter Brandy Clark (Best New Artist and Best Country Album for her 2013 debut, “12 Stories”) and her partner Shane McAnally. The production takes place within a huge, tilting wooden barn designed by Tony winner Scott Pask (“The Book of Mormon,” “The Coast of Utopia” and “The Pillowman”) with sound design by Tony winner John Shivers (“Kinky Boots”).

Yet the show itself didn’t win any of those awards. Simple, mindless musicals rarely do.

Still, “Shucked” is not without its charms.

Chief among them is a cast of characters to care about, an abundance of heart in their portrayal, and genuinely clever writing delivered by an ensemble of players with spot-on comic timing. Comic timing is not easily accomplished in this musical considering that the actors must patiently pause and wait for the groans to rise and fall in the aftermath of particularly punny moments, which are frequent.

While the show’s songs do nothing to drive the storyline, and are accompanied by a mere five-piece orchestra (just strings and percussion under Nick Williams’ direction) and Sarah O’Gleby’s cliché and gimmick-filled choreography, several of them stand out. Maizy’s ballad “Walls” and Beau’s torch song “Somebody Will,” performed by the very talented Wade and Odmark, respectively, are gorgeous. And Lulu’s “Independently Owned,” beautifully belted by Abraham, is stunning.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about “Shucked” – a rural comedy traveling throughout urban America – is the complete absence of anything political. A play about a failed crop of corn is just begging for some reference to global warming. Finding a solution is ripe for some allusion to the politics that govern our agricultural states. And Cobb County’s passion for isolation, surrounded as it is by walls of corn stalks, is just itching for some connection to our country’s current immigration policies. There’s nothing. And it only devotes a one-liner or two to the curious diversity of the people who populate the place.

In short, this show has no purpose beyond being a source of mindless entertainment. How refreshing, during a contentious election year, to simply saddle up to a theater and leave your brain at the door for an hour or two. I’m a huge fan of that.

BOB ABELMAN is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle and Cleveland Jewish News.

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