Review: SHUCKED at Keller Auditorium
This joke-packed musical about corn runs through Nov. 2.
In times like these, it feels good to just turn off your brain and laugh. That's exactly what the national tour of the musical comedy SHUCKED delivers – a few hours of unapologetically silly, pun-saturated fun.
The musical is a fable (or “farm-to-fable”) about an isolated southern community called Cob County, which faces catastrophe when its precious corn crop begins to die. Cob County is so tight-knit that no residents ever leave and no strangers ever come. But desperate times call for creative solutions, so bride-to-be Maizy (Danielle Wade) defies convention and travels to the big foreign city of Tampa in search of some help. What she finds is “corn doctor” Gordy (Quinn VanAntwerp), a con man posing as a podiatrist who needs money and may or may not know anything about agriculture.
If you think this sounds like a mashup of Brigadoon, The Music Man, and 110 in the Shade, you're not wrong. But SHUCKED has zero interest in following the earnest footsteps of its musical theatre predecessors. This show exists purely to see how many corn puns, double entendres, and groan-worthy one-liners it can pack into a single evening. (The answer: many, many more than you might think.) It’s also surprisingly naughty – the sexual innuendo alone could fill a silo, and even most of that ties back to corn!
What makes it work is the cast's fearless commitment to the bit. Storytellers Maya Lagerstam and Joe Moeller expertly guide us through the mayhem with winking self-awareness, while Wade brings genuine charm to Maizy's wide-eyed determination. Miki Abraham lights up the stage as Maizy's Best Friend, Lulu, and Nick Bailey is delightful as her faux-tough-guy fiancé, Beau. But the real MVP is Mike Nappi as Peanut, Maizy's would-be brother-in-law, who delivers the show's most eye-rolling puns with absolute sincerity.
Yes, there's a message buried beneath all the wordplay about courage, openness, and self-discovery. But you're not going to SHUCKED for profound insights into the human condition. You're going for spectacle, silliness, and the theatrical equivalent of a big bowl of buttered popcorn.
As I left the theatre, I heard several people say some variation of "That's exactly what I needed." I completely agree. SHUCKED will make you laugh whether you feel like it or not. I had a blast.
SHUCKED runs through November 2 at Keller Auditorium. Details and tickets here.
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