The Tony-winning musical comedy Shucked makes its Pittsburgh debut this month.
A Satisfying Serving of Corn with Shucked on Stage in Pittsburgh
The journey to Broadway is long and winding. Few productions, if any, are born on a landmark New York stage; most undergo years of development, trial runs, rewrites and out-of-town premieres.
In that way, Shucked is typical. In the fact that it was born out of the variety show Hee Haw and also marketed almost entirely on corn-based puns, it is decidedly unconventional.
Shucked, which ran on Broadway for more than 300 performances from 2023-24, was written by the songwriting duo of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally and the Tony-winning scribe Robert Horn — and it first saw the light of day as Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical. It debuted in Dallas, where reviews were unkind. The creators kept a couple of songs and little else, reworking the show into an original tale (that also has no connections to any ’70s television programs).
Suddenly — or as suddenly as a 10-year journey to Broadway can be — there’s a click.
Truly a Show for Everyone
“When I saw it on Broadway back in 2023, I knew nothing about it,” says Dominique Kent, an actress (and Pittsburgh CAPA grad) currently performing on the first national tour of Shucked. Coming in blind, Kent “laughed top to bottom, from the very first line of the show to the very end. It took me by surprise.” Kent is a native of Forest Hills who now lives in Los Angeles to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy; she’ll make her pro hometown debut when Shucked arrives in Pittsburgh this April.
Kent calls the show “two and a half hours of pure joy and laughter.” And while much of that laughter is of the decidedly … well, corny variety, the music carries surprising heft thanks to the efforts of Clark and McAnally. Both are modern heavyweights in the country-music world as performers and songwriters, Clark is a former nominee for the Best New Artist Grammy, one of her 17 total nominations (with one win), while McAnally has four Grammys. Between the two, they’ve written hits for the likes of Kacey Musgraves, LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, as well as dozens more.
The music “really plucks at your heartstrings with the lyrics and with the way the orchestration is done,” Kent says. “You hang on every word.”
Humor in a Musical Warms Your Heart
Posters for Shucked on Broadway relied entirely on the show’s brand of humor — “The most a-maize-ing shucking musical on Broadway!” — and kept the story under wraps. The tale follows heroine Maizy as she leaves idyllic Cobb County to find a cure for the mysterious ailment that’s been affecting the town’s all-important corn crop. (“When we say the show is about corn … it really is about corn,” Kent explains.) The Broadway run earned nine Tony nominations, picking up one prize: Best Featured Actor in a Musical, for Alex Newell’s turn as Lulu, a store owner who sings the audience favorite Independently Owned.
That fairly accessible story allows for what Kent calls “kind of an old-school” experience unlike much contemporary musical theater. And she adds, it’s best to do what she did — show up free of expectations.
“If you come in not knowing anything about it, it feels like a fun surprise. I felt a newfound appreciation for theater; it’s not a big, flashy spectacle of a show … It’s Shucked. And you’re having a shuckin’ good time.”
Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, April 14-19
Story by Sean Collier
Photography by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman