Steven Webb and Monique Ashe-Palmer in Shucked [Pamela Raith]

FOLLOWING an acclaimed Broadway run, the Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked arrives in Regent’s Park. Robert Horn’s bonkers take on a small midwestern American community resisting change is a welcome tonic in gloomy times.

Set in Cobb County, Maizy (Sophie McShera) is about to marry Beau (Ben Joyce) when the town’s corn crop disastrously withers on the stalk. Determined to save their livelihood, Maizy sets off in search of help.

She ends up in Tampa, Florida, where she meets Gordy (Matthew Seadon-Young), a shady podiatrist. Mistaking his profession for something agricultural, Maizy persuades him to accompany her home, unaware he’s out to make a quick buck.

Gordy is met with suspicion by Maizy’s feisty, whisky-distilling friend Lulu (Georgina Onuorah), her fiancé Beau and the rest of the townsfolk, but manages to convince Maizy he can alleviate their crisis.

Corny gags abound in Jack O’Brien’s fast-paced, slapstick production. Keith Ramsay’s Peanut delights with useless homespun wisdom and, together with Monique Ashe-Palmer and Steven Webb’s shapeshifting pair of storytellers, delivers much of the show’s humour.

The terrific cast rise to the challenge of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s country-inflected score (accompanied by a tight five-piece band).

Onuorah nearly brings the house down with Independently Owned, while Joyce and McShera also impress in their solos.

Scott Pask’s lopsided barn suggests a way of life out of kilter from the rest of the country. The open-air setting is particularly atmospheric as the wind rustles through the surrounding trees and Pask’s cornstalks.

Sarah O’Gleby’s simple but effective choreography is irresistible.

The plot is slight and the one-liners occasionally wear thin, but it’s hard not to warm to the quickfire comedy, soaring vocals and infectious energy.

Recommended.

Until June 14
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