Shucked – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Picture: Pamela Raith

Shucked continues at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London until 14 June 2025.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

(Or: Ear rating: five ears )

It was a sweet coup de marketing that propelled Shucked to Broadway and Tony Awards buzz. All around New York, mysterious and intriguing ears of corn appeared, and excited chatter from delighted patrons helped make this very silly and very strange show a smash hit. Finally arriving in London, this production – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s new artistic director Drew McOnie’s inaugural show – has perhaps an even stronger marketing trick up its sleeve…

Not only does the open-air staging create the perfect atmosphere for this agricultural extravaganza (leafy London’s dissimilarities from southern USA notwithstanding), but with neither roof nor walls, two and a half hours of continuous laughing, howling and gasping echo out across London: a veritable siren call for anyone in need of an escapist good time.

Shucked’s book (Robert Horn) is relentlessly aware of its own absurdity and it leans into the silliness with a density of jokes not seen since Airplane! or the heyday of The Simpsons. The humour ranges from broad and vulgar wordplay to good ol’-fashioned broad vulgarity. It is glorious. If you are concerned that the show will simply be a litany of the obvious, groan-worthy corn puns then fear not: Shucked rattles through all of those in the first couple of minutes and then somehow finds more. It is hilarious the entire time.

Of course, the ‘musical about corn’ hype is a little misleading. Rather, it is a charmingly corn-infused tale of identity, community and love. When vital corn crops fail, Maizy (yes, of course that’s the name of Shucked’s protagonist) leaves her closed-off, rural community and fiancé Beau to search for a solution in cosmopolitan Tampa. When she returns with slick conman Gordy promising her both romantic love and a solution for the crops, the town – particularly her feisty cousin Lulu – have their doubts.

As you may expect, there are echoes of musical theatre’s Golden Age here. Shucked is – in the best possible way – a silly and sometimes scatological blend of Brigadoon, The Music Man and Oklahoma! The plot may not be revolutionary, but its timelessness gives the show a classic feel, which in turn makes the irreverent humour all the more effective.

Despite the double entendre juggernaut of Horn’s book, Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s fantastic score more than justifies the story’s musicalisation. This is country-infused musical theatre with some sublime moments where that order is reversed. Katy Richardson’s band is tight and nails the sound perfectly, while sound designer John Shivers deserves all the kudos in the world for maintaining clarity, volume and sonic energy throughout the show.

With original Broadway director Jack O’Brien at the helm, every element works together in perfect harmony. From Scott Pask’s skew-whiff wooden barn set to costume designer Tilly Grimes’ denim patchwork chic, this show starts visually compelling, only to get even more spectacular as the sun goes down and Japhy Weideman’s lighting design transforms effective rustic simplicity into a delicious visual feast.

For some performers, making an audience laugh is much more of a challenge than making them cry. Fortunately, Shucked’s cast is jam-packed with veritable stage superstars adept at both – and far more beyond. Sophie McShera’s Maizy is the perfect naive protagonist whose heart and resolve (not to mention her stunning vocals) make her instantly endearing. Speaking of stunning vocals, with the theatre already being open air, Ben Joyce threatens to bring down the heavens themselves with his performance of ‘Somebody Will’ as fiancé Beau.

Of course, the role that everyone will remember is that which won Alex Newell a Tony Award on Broadway: cousin Lulu. As far as I’m concerned, Georgina Onuorah is among the most exciting talents on the West End right now. Though comparisons will be drawn to another of her recent sex-positive and endlessly charismatic southern girl roles – Ado Annie in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! – Onuorah is somehow even more commanding here with a winning Dolly Parton-esque swagger and wit. By the time she belts out feminist anthem ‘Independently Owned’, there isn’t a heart in Regent’s Park not completely won over.

And what is a story like this without the charming con artist who represents everything wrong with the morally-bankrupt big city? Matthew Seadon-Young is exceptional throughout in this role of Gordy, more than holding his own amidst a cavalcade of tour de force performances, and himself particularly excelling in a Harold Hill-esque number that one nearby theatregoer audibly compared to The Simpsons’ ‘The Monorail Song’. Elsewhere, the always-incredible Keith Ramsay brings sweet naivety to Beau’s brother Peanut: a comic role clearly written to rattle off all the jokes that couldn’t be crowbarred in elsewhere but in Ramsay’s capable hands a stage-brightening triumph of the non-sequitur.

The action is narrated by Monique Ashe-Palmer and Steven Webb as a pair of storytellers simultaneously inside and outside of the action. There isn’t so much a fourth wall in Shucked as there is a single thin row of corn, and Webb and Ashe-Palmer drive their combine harvester of hilarity straight over it. Their multi-roling and accent work is impeccable and going forward I want them onstage making fun of the action at every single play I ever see. West End producers, please. We beg you.

Like the best country music, Shucked is equal parts stupid and smart, charming with its humour while not neglecting its heart. Wherever a piece of musical theatre isn’t forcing you to rethink your outlook on the world and ask yourself deep questions on the meaning of life, a piece of musical theatre should be relentlessly silly. The sillier the better. Shucked delivers. It is the perfect summer escape and a triumph of musical theatre nonsense. Even the worst of this season’s English weather won’t dampen the joy exuding from its every kernel.

Ian Bowkett