Shucked to begin on Broadway at The Nederlander on March 8th 2023 — Page 3

That video of Jack O'Brien in a corn costume was UNHINGED lol

Scenic model: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnkyKp9LhQH/

Salt Lake City:

This show has possibly the worst marketing I’ve ever seen. Its main selling point seems to be “It was a riot in Salt Lake City!”, which... I don’t know if my New York palette really identifies with.

Gonna try to go in with an open mind, as it seems like it could be some good campy fun. We’ll see…

I think the marketing is fun.

raddersons said: "This show has possibly the worst marketing I’ve ever seen. Its main selling point seems to be “It was a riot in Salt Lake City!”, which... Idon’t know if my New York palette really identifies with.

Gonna try to go in with an open mind, as it seems like it could be some good campy fun. We’ll see…"

‘Palate’ is the word you want here.

Jordan Catalano said: "How have they not had The Corn Kid out in Times Square shilling tickets for this show? Looking at their sales, they’ve got to be starting to freak a bit."

Jordan, we’re dealing with broadway marketing agencies, they aren’t geniuses like yourself

Updated On: 1/21/23 at 06:47 PM

That's amazing! More of that please!

This is a show that will have to depend on word of mouth! It's so funny and the score is really solid. The one-liners happen at a rapid fire pace. I hope that it finds an audience as a sneak attack to the broadway season. Kinda surprised to see that Taylor Trench has left this to join Camelot. He was so funny in 'Shucked" when I saw it. Sad to see him leave.

I happened to be in SLC for work at the end of their run there and grabbed a ticket on a night that they had a few Covid outs. They did a modified "staged reading" style presentation of the show that had been staged by Sarah O'Gleby that afternoon. I had no idea what to expect and had an absolute blast.

• I haven't seen an audience laugh so hard with a show in a VERY long time. I haven't laughed with a show that hard in a long time. The audience was a mix of older subscriber groups, couples, and college kid groups (that didn't appear like the theater kids). Everyone was having an absolute blast. It's not sitcom humor, it's not camp, and it's not traditional "Broadway book", but it definitely has the elements of all of them. The characters are a lot of fun and not every joke was everyone's cup of tea, but the sheer number of jokes in the show had EVERYONE laughing at something until the very end. The humor covers every kind of joke: bawdy, insightful, character driven, witty, punny, sophomoric often in just a small back and forth.

• Calling the score "country" is a bit of a misnomer. It's modern radio country which, at another point, would have just been considered well-produced, melodic pop music. The songs themselves range from book (the wit and the humor of the opening number matches the book exactly) to quite stunning ballads. They are very well written, infinitely hummable, and if you look past where there is mileage to get from leaning into a country pastiche, they are just great "tunes". Jason Howland did a spectacular job with the arrangements and vocal arrangements.

• Alex Newell is an absolute force of nature and received a mid-show standing ovation the first night I saw the show. Deservedly. The energy to rush up and cheer just mounted inside of me too... and I could feel it mounting in the theater that was 85-90% full around me. It was a lot of fun to be a part of. (Only the extreme rear section was empty... and it was POURING and freezing. It was NOT a fun night to think: "oh hey let's go out to the theater".) Regardless of his pronouns Alex Newell plays a binary woman character. No aspect of the show: the writing, the production, the material, or the characters even so much as wink at the idea that the character / the actor playing the character is anything but a binary woman. And it pays off in spades. The jokes land uproariously, and the act 1 song (I want to say it's called: Independently Owned and Operated but I truly don't remember) is an absolute tour de force of a crowd pleaser. It's not like a Rose's Turn tour-de-force, but there is ZERO scenery left after it, and Alex Newell's total commitment and abandonment to the material whips the audience into an absolute frenzy. (And the note he hauls out at the end of the opening number made me giggle. ha ha ha)

• It's an absolute bummer that Taylor Trench won't continue with it. What he brought to his character was a riot... especially the modified staging that I saw. At one point, he was literally rolling across the stage. It couldn't have been part of the staging, but good lord was it funny.

• Kevin Cahoun is out of this world. He has a lot of heavy lifting with the humor, but like everyone else: his commitment to the material is extraordinary and so he hits home run after home run. I'm so glad that this show gives Caroline Innerbichler a chance to shine. She proves that she deserves to not be relegated to only being the fifth Anna on the seventh National of Frozen. It's not the type of role that there are a lot of, so I'm glad they found each other in it. You root for her, you feel bad with/for her, you laugh with/at her... and there isn't one phrase of the score she can't deliver without total professionalism. I didn't see John Behlmann, but Quinn Vanantwerp (who had apparently only had one put in that afternoon) played the character perfectly. Andrew Durand does some serious singing to do in the show. I hadn't seen him in anything before either, but his character is a hoot and he has some fun physical humor that his attractiveness without a shirt helps too. Ashley Kelly has an insane voice. There were a few moments where she let loose and you could tell just how remarkable her instrument is. And, any show that knows to cast Dwayne Clark is good by me.

I didn't intend to write so much and I'm not associated with the show in any way. It's not for everyone and if you don't look down your nose at it, you'll have a blast. I'm glad I did. It was what I needed while traveling that week. I wish them tremendous luck and I hope to see it again in the future.

Updated On: 1/23/23 at 05:16 PM

Dollypop said: "Lost interest in tjis show when I learned Taylor Trench left the cast."

I too was really disappointed he left. But now we know why. And I had no desire to see CAMELOT. Now I may have to go to see him in it. Still plan to see SHUCKED.

trpguyy said: "I only know Taylor from his performance in DEH, which featured the worst singing I’ve witnessed from any professional anywhere. Was this an isolated incident, or does he bring something else to the table?"

I, too, am confused by the love that TT receives. Saw him perform once with the cast of Bare and as in shock over how bad it was. Thought he was fine in Hello Dolly, but it was a role that didn’t require much. Similar to the praise that Beanie got for playing the role that matched his. I’m sure he’s a lovely human, but I’ve yet to be impressed by what I’ve seen/heard from him onstage.

Good for Grey Henson!