‘Shucked’ Broadway Review: Corn Comedy Stalks New York

Puns grow knee-high – and a little longer – at naughty moments peeled offthe new musical comedy that unites tongue-in-cheek grasshopper humor green acres And hey ha with the decidedly urban, slightly subversive camp that suffocated the off-Broadway scene in the ’90s with kitsch fare like Rruthless!, The Real Live Brady Bunch and Theatre-A-Go!-Go!s Valley of the dolls Parody.

The musical honestly springs from its incredible spiritual DNA, or whatever that might be, from the combined and diverse talents of book writer Robert Horn and composers Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally.

Check out this pedigree: Horn won a Tony for 2019 tootsieand wrote to Dame Edna, women design, Bette Midler and RuPaul. Clark and McAnally built a big barn full of CMA Awards, Grammys and country hits. Together, this trio is a match made in a bizarre Broadway cornland of dreams, and if the rapid-fire gags elicit groans almost as often as laughs, the relationship fails to dampen the hilarious and goofy charm.

Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien (Hairspray, Henry IV, The Coast of Utopia) and produced by Mike Bosner and Jason Owen, peeled off has a storyline that pretty much says it all: Set in the backwoods of Corn Cob County in the Red State of America, the musical follows locals who are so devoted to their yellow, shell-covered lifeline that it would be unthinkable to be without it. Like 19th century Ireland, unthinkable without potatoes. Do you see where this is going?

When some sort of rotten corn kernels shrivel and stalks wither, a prosperous bride named Maizy—named after…her grandmother, of course—decides to postpone the wedding until her childhood sweetheart plays nice head over heelsbrother Andrew Durand) to seek the crop-growing expertise, which she is sure to find in the big city of Tampa (the place to go when, as one text says, “Can’t afford Orlando or Savannah”).

Maizy (Caroline Innerbichler, whose beautiful, vibrato-sweetened voice strikes a delicate balance between country and show tunes) quickly falls in love with a slick, confessional (and wearing a sherbet green suit) podiatrist named Gordy Jackson (tootsiedraggy runaway John Behlmann, whose charm matches his size). If you suspect that Maizy might be confused by the podiatrist’s outlandish “Corn Doctor” sign, you’re right.

We’ve already been told about Maizy’s bracelet with its mysterious gem by the show’s two narrators – a black woman and white gay man hipster duo (Ashley D. Kelley, Gray Henson) who outdo each other to great effect, will ‘ plays a central role in the plot. And so the doctor, desperate for money, catches a sparkling glimpse of the sphere and turns his scam on the naïve Maizy, who says Corn Cob County is all purple bricks.

Back home, lovelorn Maizy and her newfound gold digger clash with the townspeople who are skeptical of the town’s slick ways, especially stubborn Beau and Maizy’s loving but no-nonsense whiskey cousin Lulu (Alex Newell). Soon there will be no end to the absurd ambiguity – of both the romantic and the happiness-seeking variety – with amorous, confused couples sure to end up as next spring’s crop.

Usually played in the big barn of Scott Pask’s lavish set (well represented by Japhy Weideman’s colorful lighting design). peeled off is packed, then more, with intentional whining and laugh-in-your-self bits of Dad jokes and homemade life lessons, many of them from Beau’s dumb brother Peanut (monarchby Kevin Cahoon). This probably plays better than what you read, but here it goes:

“Like when I cut down the Christmas tree and you asked me to put it up myself. And I say no, I’ll probably put it up in the living room.

Or:

“As the personal trainer told the lazy customer, ‘It’s not going to work’.”

Or:

“Now we all know that life is a constant balancing act between wondering why you weren’t invited to something and trying to figure out how to get out.”

Some swear words are better than others – Newell’s Lulu seems to have the best (“A Wise Woman Once Said… Something Wiser Than Any Man Ever Did”) – and whether the comedy gets any better in the second act (it does) or the audience just loses the will to resist (they do), peeled off really convince us.

As for the musical part of the recipe, Clark-McAnally’s score is less mixed and more one-sided, with too many heartfelt solo ballads, especially in the slower first act. Innerbichler and Durand are both attractive, interesting singers, but they are too burdened with repetitive songs.

Perhaps it is one of the reasons – but only one – that Newell (happinessBroadway Once on this island) anything but stealing peeled off The striking star completes the finger-click, “Independently Owned” rafter padding. In the graded performance, Newell was by far the crowd favorite from Act 1 – a mid-song standing ovation – although the more coherent Act 2 produced a more stable line-up of applause-getters (and that includes some fine bits from Sarah O’Gleby’s choreography in , with Beau van Durand , making some impressive balanced moves on barrels and planks).

When all is said and done peeled off is as much fun as you make it. Join us and enjoy the corn.

Title: peeled off
Location: The Dutchman Theater on Broadway
Director: Jack O’Brien
A book: Robert Horn
Music: Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally
main cast: John Behlmann, Kevin Cahoon, Andrew Durand, Gray Henson, Caroline Innerbichler, Ashley D Kelley, Alex Newell
Time: 2 hours 15 minutes (including break)