Latest news with #DrewMcOnie
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Shucked: This could be the next Book of Mormon
What is Shucked about? It's about two hours 25 minutes including the interval. And if you don't relish gags like that, folks, you may not want to devote two hours 25 minutes to this off-beat, Tony-nominated American musical comedy, which is so replete with corny one-liners and crosstalk it could leave you in sore need of a lie-down as you clutch your sides, groaning. But if your taste that way inclines, you're in for a treat. The show's title, and bite-sized scenario, indicate the lie of the land: this quirky fable, presided over by two tongue-in-cheek narrators, is set in Cob County, a small town cut off from the world by its bountiful, all-purpose corn 'wall'. When the corn mysteriously wilts, the heroine, 'Maizy' (obvs) – poised to marry her beau (called, naturally, Beau) – ventures forth to find help from a, duh, corn doctor – an under-achieving con-man called Gordy. He decides to get his mitts on the town's mysterious rocks, presumed valuable, and is prepared to fake devotion to the very green Maizy to obtain his ends. Hokum 'as high as an elephant's eye' to quote Oklahoma! – and having listened to a few so-so numbers from the 2023/2024 Broadway cast recording, I ambled rather than sprinted to its UK premiere, again directed by Jack O'Brien and the opening offer from Regent Park's new AD Drew McOnie. What no words on the page can do full justice to, though, is the way it all comes together beautifully, and zestily, on the stage, testament to an exhaustive development process. The original inspiration was an old, much-loved US TV series called Hee Haw, which combined sketches with country music. The composing duo here – Brandy Clark and Shane McAnnally – are in their element with that genre, and Scott Pask's great slanting barn of a set references the TV show's design. Robert Horn's book chases laughs but its undercutting wit sharpens the experience rather than hollowing it out. Resembling breathing spaces, some songs may be corny in sentiment but also impart homespun truths. What's Shucked about, in all seriousness? It's about couples, and coping – the way our kernel of self-worth is easily blighted and needs nurturing. This 'message', if you will, is organically conveyed in the lead performances, which combine silliness with sobering notes of sincerity. Sophie McShera is doltish and dreamy but also a free-spirit worth rooting for as Maizy, and like her, Ben Joyce's son of the soil Beau has a gorgeous number that lets rip with yearning. There's terrific support from a lung-busting Georgina Onuorah as Maizy's no-nonsense cousin Lulu and Matthew Seadon-Young as Gordy, the grasping interloper, while Monique Ashe-Palmer and Steven Webb have just the right twinkle of knowingness (and knowingness about their knowingness) as the narrating story-tellers. Keith Ramsay as a scene-stealing wag called Peanut risks triggering allergies with his constant wisecracks ('I was just playing Frisbee with my goat – he's a lot heavier than I thought') but he neatly embodies the (mainly) innocuous pleasure of a barmy show which, after a hopefully balmy summer, may yet head, like some latter-day, family-friendly Book of Mormon, to the West End.
Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Shucked review — this clever screwball musical is perfect escapism
★★★★★These are bleak times, but the good news is that you can escape it all by visiting three new or new-ish shows that all use gloriously funny meta humour. The Mischief Theatre team romp through every espionage joke under the sun in The Comedy About Spies, while the cast of Titanique mercilessly send up James Cameron's ocean-liner bombast. And now, at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, you can wallow in a screwball musical putting Grand Ole Opry pieties through the shredder. Shucked, which opened on Broadway two years ago, is the hilarious opening shot in Drew McOnie's inaugural season as artistic director. It delivers a diet of puns — clever, raunchy and sometimes knowingly cheap — as two lovers take a wrong
Time Out
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The 10 best new London theatre openings in May 2025
May is here and with it the London open air theatre season gets into full swing. The Globe kicks things off with a cowboy-themed Romeo and Juliet followed shortly thereafter with a rare revival for a modern play – Arthur Miller's peerless The Crucible. Over in Regent's Park and new theatre boss Drew McOnie gets his tenure off with a bang as he bags the much anticipated UK premiere of Broadway comedy musical Shucked. But it's another musical that's the month's big talking point: the National Theatre will host the UK premiere of the late great Stephen Sondheim's final musical. The best London theatre openings in May 2025 What is it? Here We Are is the final work by the greatest composer of musical theatre in history – that is to say, Stephen Sondheim. It is, plot wise, a mash up of two surreal class satire Luis Buñuel films: The Exterminating Angel and The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoise. Joe Mantello's premiere production played a season off-Broadway already and now transfers here with a starry new cast. Why go? Because it's Sondheim. When is the next time you're going to the premiere run of a Sondheim musical? Never, that's when. New York reviews were warm – FWIW the main fault cited is that he didn't quite write enough songs before he passed away – and the cast is insane, including the likes of Rory Kinnear, Jane Krakowski and Martha Plimpton. National Theatre, now until Jun 28. 2. What is it? One of the more unexpected musical theatre success stories of the last few years, Robert Horn, Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's Shucked announced itself on Broadway with an ad campaign that solely revolved around puns about corn. It went on to be a rip-roaring success and is now a spectacularly impressive get for the first season from new Regent's Park Open Air Theatre boss Drew McOnie. Why go? By all accounts it's incredibly funny, probably the first great US comedy musical since The Book of Mormon. Although the plot is notionally meant to be hidden under a veil of corn puns, it basically concerns a corn-obsessed rural community that has no contact with the outside world. But when their crop starts to fail, they must send two representatives to the big city to try and work out what the hell is going on. Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, May 10-Jun 14. Buy tickets here. 3. Shakespeare's Globe: Romeo and Juliet / The Crucible What is it? Sun's out, guns out, Globe's open: the iconic outside theatre's summer season is upon us and the first two shows open this month. It begins with Sean Holmes's take on Romeo and Juliet; next out of the traps is Ola Ince directing The Crucible, a very rare opportunity to see a classic modern play at the iconic theatre. Why go? Because the Globe has never been about boring trad Shakespeare and this looks like a thrilling couple of shows. Holmes's take on Romeo and Juliet is Wild West themed – we literally need say no more. Meanwhile Arthur Miller's awesome Salem Witch Trials/Red Scare allegory is one of the greatest American plays ever written and getting to see it at the stunning Globe should be a real treat. Shakespeare's Globe; Romeo and Juliet now until Aug 2, buy tickets here; The Crucible May 8-Jul 12, buy tickets here. 4. 1536 What is it? Ava Pickett's award-winning drama is set in – you guessed it – 1536, and parallels the lives of its three female protagonists with that of Anne Boleyn, the queen of England who will meet her violent end that year. Why go? Although Pickett is mostly known as a TV writer, the fact is that the Almeida rarely misses when it comes to new plays, and the crack team behind 1536 is hugely promising, with big name Lyndsey Turner directing a cast of the excellent Liv Hill, Siena Kelly and Tanya Reynolds. Almeida Theatre, May 6-Jun 7. 5. Mrs Warren's Profession What is it? A now pretty rare revival for George Bernard Shaw's classic morality play about an aspiring young female lawyer who attempts to befriend her estranged mother, unaware of her past as a prostitute and present as a brothel madam. Why go? Two words: Imelda Staunton. The national treasure has starred in two excellent Dominic Cook-directed musicals recently – Follies at the NT and last year's Hello, Dolly! – and this time they join forces for a third time and their first straight up drama. She'll play Mrs Warren; her own daughter Bessie Carter will play daughter Vivie. It'll be interesting to see if the play stands up still, but if anyone's going to sell it to us, it's Staunton. Garrick Theatre, May 10-Aug 16, buy tickets here. 6. Giant What is it? The biggest new British play of last year, Mark Rosenblatt's morally knotty Roald Dahl drama triumphantly transfers from the Royal Court to the West End. Why go? It's a slightly old fashioned but brilliantly written play that examines Dahl's public flirtation with antisemitism in the early '80s and comes away with no easy answers. The headline event is John Lithgow as the charming, cantankerous, slippery Dahl, reprising the role that just won him an Olivier. Harold Pinter Theatre, until Aug 2, buy tickets here. 7. An Oak Tree What is it? The last show at the Young Vic for a while should be a good 'un: it's the twentieth anniversary revival for Tim Crouch's seminal performance piece An Oak Tree, the work with which the one-time jobbing actor reinvented himself as a metatheatrical provocateur par excellence. Why go? It's an unsettling classic that remains fresh on stage because one of the performers has never done it before: a different guest each night is cast in the role of a grieving parent who has decided to track down the end-of-the-pier hypnotist who killed their child in a car crash three months earlier. It is a complicated and powerful work that's as much about Crouch's right to create this sad drama as it is about the drama itself. Young Vic, May 7-24, buy tickets here. 8. The Fifth Step What is it? Provocative writer David Ireland's Alcoholics Anonymous satire debuted at the Edinburgh International Festival last year, giving a striking return-to-the-stage role to its star Jack Lowden. Now it's back for a West End run with Martin Freeman providing some heavyweight backup: he stars as recovering alcoholic James, the deeply flawed sponsor to Lowden's new-to-the-programme Luka. Why go? That's a pretty damn tasty celebrity cast and if you like Ireland's scabrous comedies – or are in the mood for something decided non-PC – then you'll probably have fun. Maybe not one for AA devotees, though. @sohoplace, May 10-Jul 26. 9. The Deep Blue Sea What is it? Terence Rattigan's masterpiece about Hester, a suicidal woman who has left her stultifyingly old-fashioned husband and must now decide if she wants to live or die. Why go? It's a deeply haunting and beautiful play, dealing with themes far darker and sadder than Rattigan's frothy reputation suggests. This Lindsay Posner-directed production transfers from Theatre Royal Bath, where it attracted great notices for Tamsin Greig's performance as Hester. Theatre Royal Haymarket, May 7-Jun 21, buy tickets here. 10. The Comedy About Spies What is it? The hit factory that is Mischief theatre – best known for long-running West End hit The Play That Goes Wrong – pumps out another surefire smash with this '60s-set spy farce. Why go? Mischief are as edgy as sponge, but if you like a good old fashioned English farce with proper jokes, proper laughs and zero smut then get yourself down.
The Guardian
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Broadway hit Shucked kicks off Drew McOnie's debut season at Regent's Park Open Air theatre
Drew McOnie's inaugural season as artistic director of Regent's Park Open Air theatre will open with a hit US musical about corn. Shucked will have its UK premiere this summer on the outdoor stage in London whose verdant surroundings should suit a rural comedy set in the corn town of Cob County. Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally and Robert Horn's musical about the fight to overcome failing crops was nominated for nine Tony awards in 2023. It is currently on a US tour. The London production, directed by Jack O'Brien, will star Ben Joyce whose previous roles include Marty McFly in Back to the Future: The Musical. The cast will include Sophie McShera, who played Daisy on Downton Abbey, and Georgina Onuorah, who played Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton. Shucked opens in May and will be followed in June by Rodgers and Hammerstein's Dream Ballets: A Triple Bill, in which three of today's most acclaimed theatre choreographers, Julia Cheng, Shelley Maxwell and Kate Prince, will reimagine the dream ballets from the duo's musicals Allegro, Oklahoma! and Carousel. Later in the summer, Dominic Cooke's adaptation of Malorie Blackman's novel Noughts & Crosses will be directed by Tinuke Craig. Then McOnie will direct and choreograph Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon, adapted by Rona Munro. There will also be another run for the musical based on Roald Dahl's The Enormous Crocodile, which opened at Leeds Playhouse and was staged at Regent's Park last summer. McOnie, who took over at the 1,240-seat theatre after Tim Sheader left to run the Donmar Warehouse, said the outdoor stage offers 'a unique opportunity to engage with stories under a shared sky'. James Pidgeon, executive director, said he was 'particularly thrilled that we have been able to continue our commitment to £15 tickets'. Throughout the season, 36,000 seats will be available at that price.
