Shucked - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally

Book by Robert Horn

Directed by Jack O'Brien

The cast of Shucked

Deliberately corny and for all the right reasons, Shucked arrives in London bringing this gag-fest of a show to the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park.

The plot may be wafer-thin, but this is a show that doesn’t set out to be anything other than a homage to Broadway wrapped up in an old-fashioned sugary love story.

The delight in this show is not just its rapidfire gags and puns, but rather the outstanding cast and fabulous direction that Jack O’Brien can bring to a simple narrative, O’Brien being a proven master in distilling and extracting the entertainment from the everyday. He is helped by a gifted company that includes the vocal skills of Steven Webb, Monique Ashe-Palmer, Georgina Onuorah, Matthew Seadon-Young, Sophie McShera and Ben Joyce together with the comic talent of Keith Ramsay. Add in the cast's exquisite harmonies and Sarah O’Gleby’s immaculately delivered choreography and it all makes for a technically fabulous evening of new musical theatre.

The narrative sags a touch in the second half. Perhaps there's only so far that such a corny plotline can reach? Equally Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's musical numbers rely too much on corn rather than Country, leaving them proving sometimes unsatisfying.

But bravo to the producers of Shucked for having the cojones to bring this show over from across the pond. It deserves a longer London run.

Runs until 14th June

Photo credit: Pamela Raith