Corny country musical Shucked is no Book of Mormon
There's always a cheering atmosphere at the first night of the opening show of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London as it brings with it the prospect of long summer nights and swimming pools full of chilled rosé wine.
I would not say Jack O'Brien's production of Robert Horn's hit US country musical comedy Shucked amounts to vintage Regent's Park – he is a good, spirited director of a very slight sort of show – but the good-nature of the cast and the great set from Scott Pask make it all seem a lot more than the sum of its parts.
There's a lot of yee-hawing among the farm hands as Maizy – Sophie McShera – prepares to marry Beau – Ben Joyce – in corn country. But ultimately it all feels a bit like a sub-prime Oklahoma, and, whatever else one might say about Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's music and lyrics, they sure ain't up there with Rodgers and Hammerstein. It feels ambitious to say, as some have done, that this could be as big as The Book Of Mormon.
Its big redeeming feature is Keith Ramsay wisecracking his way through the proceedings, noting, among other things, that the women who want sensitive, intelligent boyfriends seldom notice that those potential boyfriends already have boyfriends.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New European
22-05-2025
- New European
Corny country musical Shucked is no Book of Mormon
There's always a cheering atmosphere at the first night of the opening show of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London as it brings with it the prospect of long summer nights and swimming pools full of chilled rosé wine. I would not say Jack O'Brien's production of Robert Horn's hit US country musical comedy Shucked amounts to vintage Regent's Park – he is a good, spirited director of a very slight sort of show – but the good-nature of the cast and the great set from Scott Pask make it all seem a lot more than the sum of its parts. There's a lot of yee-hawing among the farm hands as Maizy – Sophie McShera – prepares to marry Beau – Ben Joyce – in corn country. But ultimately it all feels a bit like a sub-prime Oklahoma, and, whatever else one might say about Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's music and lyrics, they sure ain't up there with Rodgers and Hammerstein. It feels ambitious to say, as some have done, that this could be as big as The Book Of Mormon. Its big redeeming feature is Keith Ramsay wisecracking his way through the proceedings, noting, among other things, that the women who want sensitive, intelligent boyfriends seldom notice that those potential boyfriends already have boyfriends.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Rachel Zegler wows in figure-hugging black dress as she joins a stylish Lizzie Cundy for night out at the theatre
Rachel Zegler wowed as she opted for a simple figure-hugging black dress as she attended the opening night of Tony Award-winning musical comedy, Shucked, in London on Tuesday. The Snow White actress, 24, beamed in snaps in the low cut number as she was joined by choreographer Fabian Eloise. Rachel was joined at the event by a stylish Lizzie Cundy who looked incredible in a white off-the-shoulder midi dress, featuring a pink floral print, puffed sleeves, and a figure-hugging silhouette. The TV personality, 37, added inches to her height with hot pink stud-embellished court heels as she posed for the cameras. Lizzie further accessorised her ensemble with a multicoloured beaded bracelet and a dainty gold necklace. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the Daily Mail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. To complete her look, she styled her blonde locks in a voluminous blowout and wore a radiant makeup palette A host of stars including Graham Norton, Sir Ian McKellen, Bruno Tonioli and Amber Davies were also in attendance at the event. Shucked, a musical comedy, tells the story of a small town where the corn crop is dying and a young woman, Maizy, seeks help in the big city. The West End premiere of Shucked will run at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until June 14. Lizzie's outing comes after she cut a glamorous figure in a gold dress as she enjoyed a boozy girls' night out with Ruth Langsford for her pre-birthday celebrations last month. Taking to Instagram, Lizzie posted a snap of her and Ruth out with two other pals at Bacchanalia in Mayfair. She penned in the caption: 'Pre birthday fun! @ruthlangsford @liztaylorconsultancy @bacchanalialdn @taylorlynncorp.' Ruth - who looked chic in a white suit for the occasion - commented on her post saying: 'Wonderful, fun evening as always!' The TV personality, 57, added inches to her height with hot pink stud-embellished court heels as she posed for the cameras The Loose Women star had also taken to her Story as she headed out to meet the girls and told her fans she was 'going out out'. She looked great in her white jacket, which she wore with black trousers, and had her blonde tresses styled in a bouncy blow-dry. The outing came after Lizzie lifted the lid on the not-so-glamorous life of a Bond girl, following her appearance in 1995's Goldeneye. The former WAG and TV personality recalled her experience on the set exclusively with MailOnline, which she described as 'hell'. In the movie, which was Pierce Brosnan's first outing as 007, Lizzie appeared as Famke Janssen's body double in the famous sauna scene where the character Xenia Onatopp tried to strangle Bond with her legs. Lizzie revealed how Pierce, now 72, who was wrapped only in a towel, was the 'hairiest man she'd ever seen' and joked she feared getting 'fur balls'. She said: 'He was a lovely bloke, so funny and we got on like a house on fire, but so hairy, like an otter.' She recalled landing the role at the very last minute due to her having the same measurements as the Danish actress, but spent much of her time waiting in a tiny trailer which 'smelled of fish'. If that wasn't bad enough, once on set, Lizzie said Pierce's stand-in also stank, and she was forced to endure the stench during rehearsals before the star arrived. Meanwhile, Christopher Biggins cut a smart casual figure in a beige blazer, a baby blue shirt, and khaki trousers as he beamed for the cameras Lizzie's outing comes after she cut a glamorous figure in a gold dress as she enjoyed a boozy girls' night out with Ruth Langsford (left) for her pre-birthday celebrations last month She laughed: 'I had to do the practicing with this smelly man, who had body odour, it was awful. It wasn't glamorous, it wasn't well paid.' Despite Bond's million-pound budgets, Lizzie revealed that she only received £250 for her work on the film, but was thankfully invited for 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. She said: 'It sounds glamorous, but there was lots of waiting around and films aren't always cracked up to be.'
Time Out
21-05-2025
- Time Out
Keith Ramsay (Peanut)
Corn. Corn. Corn corn corn. Corncorncorncorncorn. Corn. Corn corn corn corn. Corn. Corn. Corn. Corn. Coooooooooooooooooooooooorn. Crn. CORN. CORN! Corn. Corn? ¡Corn! Corn. Broadway hit Shucked is a musical about corn, and very funny it is too. In part that's simply because a story about a group of corn-loving hicks is intrinsically amusing: corn! It's a funny word in its way, especially when said as often as it's said in Shucked (which is a lot). And it's not just jokes about corn: book writer Robert Horn is an absolute ninja with a one-liner, and Shucked is near enough wall-to-wall with the things. I sort of don't want to spoil any. But I also want to prove I didn't just go along for the press buffet (chargrilled corn and cornbread) so here are a few gems: 'I was playing frisbee with a goat; he's a lot heavier than I thought'; 'your grandma died doing what she loved – making toast in the bathtub'; 'he was head over heels, which is just standing upright'; just multiply that sort of thing by around 200 and you've got a pretty good idea what the show is like. There's a moment early on in Jack O'Brian's production when it looks like Shucked might serve as an acerbic satire on America's capacity for self delusion. It's set in the town of Cob County, a corn-growing community that has apparently avoided all meaningful contact with the outside world, which sounds like a solid metaphor for American isolationism, especially when the crop fails and the townspeople react with disdainful horror when plucky youngster Maizy (Sophie McShera) suggests she go out into the outside world to look for answers. The show is narrated by the amusingly inept Storyteller 1 (Monique Ashe-Palmer) and Storyteller 2 (Stephen Webb), who have the air of two overgrown, overexcited children tasked with delivering a school assembly. There's another brilliantly satirical moment when they look at each other with panicked uncertainty during their assertion that nobody owned the land when their pilgrim forefathers showed up. But after that it's mostly just corn gags. Arguably the plot is simply 'corn puns' Shucked is as good as its one-liners, which is to say that it's very good while the one-liners are being delivered, but there's not a lot there beyond them. The plot follows a formulaic turn, not dissimilar to Calamity Jane, as plucky Maizy ventures out into civilization (well, Tampa, Florida, a concept that's probably funnier if you're American), leaving her more conservative fiance Beau (Ben Joyce) behind. Eventually she crosses paths with Matthew Seadon-Young's dodgy 'big city' podiatrist Gordy– that is to say he treats corns, not corn, but Maizy fails to understand the difference. Determining that Cob County seems to possess an abundance of a rare, valuable mineral that could make his debts go away, Gordy tells the now smitten Maizy that he can solve the town's ills. The characters are all fairly rote – despite his blank slate nature Webb's childishly overexcited Storyteller 2 is the most original creation, although Georgina Onuorah is magnificent as Maizy's monumentally sassy cousin Lulu. There's barely the pretence that Beau's brother Peanut (Keith Ramsay) is even a character: he's just a kind of savant pun dispenser, which is saying something by this show's standards. The country-style songs by Brandy Clarke and Shane McAnally are left to deepen and humanise the characters a little, though it's a mixed bag - the galloping hoedown breakdown of opener 'Corn' (yes, really) is one of several genuinely very amusing tunes, but other songs have an earnestness that feels completely out of place. I can see why Shucked would have been a breath of fresh air on Broadway, where it came from leftfield with an enigmatic advertising campaign purely based on corn puns, with no explanation of what the plot was (I mean arguably the plot is in fact 'corn puns'). But it comes to London as the opening show in Drew McOnie's first season at the Open Air Theatre with the sense it's less an eccentric piece of outsider art, but rather a big shiny Broadway hit. It maybe doesn't have the underdog charm it has in the US, and its flaws are more exposed. I'd also maybe point to the fact it's panto-like, an artform Americans are rarely exposed to but that we're inundated with every year. In general I think it could be spikier, darker and more satirical, but presumably Horn simply isn't into that.
