Shucked – Review

Shucked: Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London

17th May 2025

★★★★★

The Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked is making its UK premiere. The show follows Maizy and Beau who are getting hitched but when the corn that protects their small community starts to die, the town needs answers. This eagerly anticipated hit is about an unlikely hero, an unscrupulous con artist, and a battle for the heart and soil of a small town. Shucked has already had an acclaimed run on Broadway and a US tour and is taking over Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre for 5 weeks only.

The book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn, is simply hilarious. Jampacked ful of adult humour, cringey dad jokes and throw away one-liners. Keith Ramsey steals every scene he is in with his hysterical deadpan delivery and has the audience laughing out loud. The show is literally laugh-a-minute with almost every joke being a hit with the audience. Shucked is cleverly narrated by Storyteller 1 (Monique Ashe-Palmer) and Storyteller 2 (Stephen Webb) who also take on various characters throughout the show such as the side-splitting mobsters. Stephen Webb is superb as the overtly camp storyteller and his physical comedy, along with the delivery of his lines quickly wins the hearts of the audience. The original story may be fairly obvious but it has just the right mix of humour, loveable characters and fantastic songs to make it a perfect hit for the summer season at Regent’s Park.

The casting for this show is exquisite with every cast member seemingly perfectly picked. Georgina Onuorah is superb as Lulu and blows the audience away with her incredible vocals during ‘Independently Owned‘. Her character is confident and loud along with a very dirty mind which Georgina plays excellently. Ben Joyce also wows the audience with his rich, strong vocals which he appears to sing with ease, especially during the song ‘Somebody Will‘. Sophie McShera is loveable as the slightly naïve Maizy. Her song ‘Maybe Love’ and ‘Friends‘ are beautifully sung and provide a good contrast to some of the more belty, powerful songs.

The score by the Grammy Award-winning songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, is a real mix of light-hearted humorous songs such as ‘Corn‘ and ‘We Love Jesus‘, powerful belters and emotional solos. The lyrics are fantastic and, as you would expect, are also witty and funny. There are definitely some ear-worms in the score and the cast are all excellent vocally, easily able to fill the large open air auditorium.

With the UK production retaining many of the creatives who have worked on the show since its Broadway run including set designer (Scott Pask) and costume designer (Tilly Grimes), it is almost identical to the Broadway version which makes audiences really feel that they are getting the full top-notch Broadway show, admittedly with the additional extra backdrop of pigeons, the occasional bee/wasp and rustling of the leaves. Sarah O’Gleby’s choreography during ‘Best Man Wins‘ is really cleverly devised to make the most of the props and stage and is performed excellently. Whilst there are not as many ensemble numbers as some other shows, when they are onstage all of the ensemble are superb, remaining in character at all times and helping to deliver the story.

Shucked has to be one of the funniest shows currently in London. With its stand out songs, loveable characters and simply hilarious book it is sure to be a hit with audiences. With plans for a feature film and this run selling so quickly, Shucked is sure to have a great future so don’t miss the opportunity to see its UK debut this summer.

Shucked is playing at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until the 14th June. For more information and tickets click here.

Photo credit: Pamela Raith