Shucked at the Peace Center
“Have a Corntastic day!” — Tariq aka “Corn Kid”
A pre-recorded intro or cameo from Corn Kid was about the only thing missing from the Peace Center’s March 11 opening night performance of Shucked, the Tony-winning musical comedy that combines The Music Man, Oklahoma!, and The Book of Mormon into its own goofy stew.
One of the production’s charming distinguishing details is its narration team of Storytellers 1 (Maya Lagerstam) and 2 (Tyler Joseph Ellis), who set up each scene in entertainingly meta fashion and even interact with the ensemble. Reminiscent of Patrick Barlow’s stage farce adaptation of The 39 Steps — particularly its Clown 1 and Clown 2 playing just shy of 100 total characters — our Storytellers likewise take on additional roles to great effect, yet primarily succeed as our guides through this a-maize-ing (sorry, sorry) take.
Aiding them is writer Robert Horn’s wealth of pun-centric jokes (Corn Kid would approve) and silly observations from local clown/radio personality Peanut (Mike Nappi), most of which begin with “I think…,” followed by something dumb/offensive/hilarious. After a few of these gags, concern arises whether the show can sustain this essentially one-note humor, but much like corn’s appeal over the years, the approach proves surprisingly resilient.
Indeed, Shucked needs this string of, er, corny one-liners, seeing as its central narrative is as flimsy as silks. Set in tiny Cob County (state unspecified), the plot concerns the local economy-dependent corn crop suddenly dying, which prompts young Maizy (Danielle Wade) to do the unthinkable and leave home to find help
Discouraging her actions is a cast of farmland stereotypes, practically all of whom are limited to a single character trait. There's her narrow-minded corn-farmer fiancé Beau (Jake Odmark), self-sufficient distiller cousin Lulu (Miki Abraham), and kooky meth addict Tank (Kyle Sherman). And things don't get much more complex when she heads to the eye-opening metropolis of Tampa.
In this neon pseudo-paradise, she plays right into the hands of Harold Hill-style huckster Gordy (Quinn Vanantwerp), who sees an opportunity in her tale of agrarian woe to erase his sizable mob debt. While the culture clash between him and Cob County’s outsider-wary population results in some quality laughs, his disruption of Maizy’s marriage plans is but one of the show’s many weak takes on romance.
Fortunately, the plucky songs from Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally keep the fairly rote storyline cooking, though it takes a few numbers for a standout to emerge. Not until the one-two punch halfway through the opening act of Beau's “Fire and Rain” soundalike “Somebody Will” and especially Lulu’s powerhouse “Independently Owned” does Shucked introduce songs that could be standalone, pop-radio singles.
While the narrative becomes increasingly cliché in Act II as Maizy and Gordy question their rickety feelings for each other, the combination of yuks and catchy music keeps the pace active under Jack O’Brien’s energetic direction. And the winning formula of fourth-wall-breaking and witty humor results in “Corn Mix,” a highly creative, penultimate-song medley that celebrates/revives previous songs while forwarding the plot in peak comedic manner.
Horn saves one touching revelation for last, and while it’s not quite the epiphanic event of Tariq trying corn with butter — what is? — it’ll do until the next crop comes in.
Shucked runs through March 16 at the Peace Center. For details and tickets, visit peacecenter.org.
(Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
