Shucked review – terrific songs add zest to undercooked corn country musical

Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, London
Thin tale of neighbourly spirit is loaded with groansome gags but the hoedowns and show tunes are full of flavour

Aw, shucks. There’s plenty to love about this US import, a country musical with a zany corn obsession and a message about breaking down barriers that suits this open air theatre. But just how much corn-fed wordplay can you stomach? You’ll soon find out. There’s a maze of maize jokes, some kernels of truth amid the cornball sentiment, a husk of a plot about a corn doctor mistakenly assumed to treat ears not feet and a few painful gags about cornholes. The actors essentially double as standups, delivering one-liners that are often very funny and occasionally enhance character and story but are mostly fired at random as if punslinger Tim Vine had been cloned and let loose.

We’re in Cob County where Maizy (I’m afraid so) is about to wed Beau. When the small town’s valuable corn crop fails, she journeys to Tampa, Florida, for answers and meets conman Gordy who has two dubious claims – one on her heart and one that he can save the beleaguered town. A handsome design includes costumes by Tilly Grimes (dungarees, neckerchiefs, denim), golden lighting by Japhy Weideman and a stage bookended by cornfield thickets and circled by glowing purple rocks. Scott Pask’s set features a huge barn, its rafters broken and exposed to the elements, the whole building slanting as if about to be uprooted by The Wizard of Oz’s tornado.