Category: Broadway Reviews

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Back to the Future: The Musical

Do we really need a musical adaptation of a 1985 hit film in 2023?  Back to the Future: The Musical answers that question with dated MTV references, the use of a Polaroid camera and the infamous DeLorean car.  The show is enormously fun, wholesomely silly and best described as an oversized theme park ride which intentionally and successfully accelerates to 88 miles per hour.  Fasten your seat belts!

Marty McFly (Casey Likes) has “Got No Future” after his band audition is rejected.  His family is a bunch of underachievers and he laments their state in “Hello – Is Anybody Home?”  The beginning is amusing but the action, as expected, takes off when Doc Brown (Roger Bart) proclaims “It Works”.  The time machine car is ready to rock and roll.

The plot generally holds true to the film with a few dashes of updated sassiness to spice up the humor quotient and lightly comment on the issues of today.  “It just feels right when all the white men get want they want” is one tongue-in-cheek example which garners the laugh and does not feel preachy or forced.  Bob Gale wrote the book based on the movie he co-wrote.  The storytelling is solid and the characters surrounding Marty are still cartoonish caricatures brought to three dimensional life with some excellent performances.

Mr. Likes is a winning Marty as is his 1955 mother/girlfriend played by Llana Hunt.  Mr. Bart’s Doc is an homage to the classic Christopher Lloyd mad scientist performance.  Nathaniel Hackmann is the villainous Biff Tannen and his big Act II number is a standout not to mention his bully bulldog physicality.

The scene stealer in this production is Hugh Coles who perfectly inhabits the spineless father.  George McFly is certainly a nerdy type, afraid of dreaming too big or getting the girl he wants.  In one of his many memorable scenes, he sings “My Myopia is my utopia”.  The performance is a complete knockout.

This past year has been an exceptionally rich one for featured actors in musicals.  All of these are memorable turns:  Jennifer Simard (Once Upon a One More Time), Alex Newell and Kevin Cahoon (Shucked), Kevin Del Aguila (Some Like It Hot), Betsy Wolff and Ben Jackson Walker (& Juliet) and last, but not least, Jinkx Monsoon’s roof raising guest star appearance as Mama Morton in Chicago.  There were others worth celebrating too but those shows have sadly closed.

Is Back to the Future free of skid marks?  Of course not.  Doc’s “For the Dreamers” is a groaner.  The music from the film is dutifully incorporated which can overpower the newly written tunes.  “Earth Angel” and “Johnny B. Goode” throwbacks harken to an idealized and fictional America.  “The Power of Love” makes a bombastic appearance near the end.  As every good theme park entertainment knows, give ’em what they want and they’ll leave happy and smiling.  At the Winter Garden Theatre in the year 2023 that is most likely a safe bet for all.

www.backtothefuturemusical.com/newyork

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Once Upon a One More Time

Here is yet another jukebox musical about female empowerment.  The theme is certainly welcome but when it comes in repetitive wave after wave, the redundancy becomes numbing (not to mention the box office cannibalization).  Some of these shows are very good (& Juliet).  Some are not (Bad Cinderella).  Once Upon a One More Time is a mixed bag but I enjoyed myself immensely.

The concept takes the Britney Spears catalog and attempts to reposition historical fairy tale female stereotypes.  Those characters include Cinderella (again!), Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Princess Pea and the Little Mermaid.  They have a reading club (really) so they’re not just pretty!  The underdeveloped book (Jon Hartmere) bizarrely places these empowered women as less central than those who dominate them.  If you can move on from the slight storyline, major fun can be had.

The show is a cavalcade of hits which sound arena loud and are well orchestrated.  Keone and Mari Madrid are the husband and wife team who directed and choreographed this production.  The dancing is fresh, exciting and energetically staged.  Having seen many Broadway jukebox shows over the past five years, these two creatives bring something new and visual interesting to savor.  I might even call it a TikTok sensibility and far more up-to-date than most mainstream offerings.

There are some excellent performances.  The notorious scene stealing Jennifer Simard portrays the Stepmother.  She is “Toxic”.  That Act II number – and her deadpan delivery – is one of this musical biggest highlights.  Adam Godley’s Narrator is an evil delight as he tries to keep the rebelling ladies acting as originally conceived.  Brooke Dillman’s O.F.G. (Original Fairy Godmother) is a hoot.

The home run hitter in this musical is Justin Guarini as Prince Charming.  Apparently all these princesses have figured out that there is only one of him and many of them (wink, wink The Book of Mormon still running).  His role is large, his singing and dancing are excellent and his self-absorbed male egotism is unctuously smarmy.

Some of the ladies are quite good and I enjoyed Briga Heelan’s quietly transformational take on Cinderella.  A few others, however, fall short of the mark but not helped by so very little to say and do.  As a result, the feminist theme is off kilter.  Referencing Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique book from 1963 is likely a head scratcher for most of the audience.

Of course this being today’s Broadway there is a gay subplot tossed in.  You can probably guess that princesses come in many varieties.  This addition is like many others where there is a perfunctory nod to shoving a gay couple onto the stage with almost no real context.  Oops, they did it again.

Once Upon a One More Time is a big, splashy, colorful spectacle.  Drinks are recommended as this one’s a party.  I don’t listen to Britney Spears’s songs often so I found them to be a nostalgic treat.  One of the best moments in the show is a fabulous “Circus”.  The prince  brags “all eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus”.  Like the fairy tale sources they want to escape, these princesses are kinda second fiddle once upon a one more time.

www.onemoretimemusical.com

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New York, New York

I have experienced boredom in the theater before.  New York, New York is not necessarily a bad show.  Nor is it a particularly good one.  The first act is akin to sitting through a marathon.  If you go, standing at intermission will be a glorious relief.  Is the second act better?  Not enough to change the headline:  Boring!

This musical is somewhat based on the flop 1977 film starring Liza Minelli and Robert DeNiro.  The title song has since become a well-known classic.  Here it is the final number and is a rousing finale.  There are also other moments to enjoy in between the uninspired dullness of a very expensive Broadway production.

All the principals in this cast were enjoyable.  Their storylines in David Thompson and Sharon Washington’s book are a mishmash of Big Apple dreams in post-WWII New York City.  There are too many of them, they don’t coalesce into a cohesive whole and everything is flat.  You enjoy the performers because they are good.  You don’t care very much about the predictable story arcs which unfold.

The star-crossed lovers are Jimmy Doyle (Colton Ryan) and Francine Evans (Anna Uzele).  He’s a musician and she’s a singer.  A Star is Born is the blueprint.  There’s a producer (Ben Davis) with mischief on his mind which causes a very hard to believe conflict in Act II.  Will love between this surprisingly well-handled interracial relationship prevail?  Start spreading the news.

The Diaz family are the immigrants in this melting pot.  Mom Sofia (Janet Dacal) is married to an abusive man (Leo Montezuma).  There is a par for the course gay subplot concerning their son (Angel Sigala).  A Jewish violinist progidy (Oliver Prose) wants to go to Julliard.  Will Madame Veltri (understudy Wendi Bergamini in the performance I saw) take him on as a student while she deals with her own traumas?

More characters fill this overstuffed melodrama.  Jimmy’s sidekicks help him focus, including a memorable Clyde Alves as his best friend.  Ensemble member Jim Borstelmann plays a slew of funny minor characters.  Director and Choreographer Susan Stroman gives her large cast lots and lots people to play.  Towards the end of this slog a pregnant woman and her husband cross the stage.  There are millions of stories in the big city.  Most of them are on this stage.

Beowulf Boritt’s scenic design won a Tony.  The skyscraper scene is incredible both visually and contains the show’s most exciting number.  The set contains many backdrops and voluminous scene changes.  That may be one of the issues contributing to the boredom factor.  Little dribbles of filler are everywhere connecting the not overly interesting storylines.

New York, New York is not bad just very, very boring.  I enjoyed the entire cast, especially the leads.  Mr. Ryan’s quirky and varied character was particularly fun to watch.  The Kander and Ebb score from the film was supplemented by songs from their catalogue as well as an assist from Lin-Manuel Miranda.  “Let’s Hear It For Me” from Funny Lady was a nice surprise.  I remembered that movie as I was listening.  That is not ideal.

www.newyorknewyorkbroadway.com

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Life of Pi

My first encounter with Yann Martel’s magical story Life of Pi was listening to an audiobook on a long family trek to Williamsburg for Thanksgiving.  A thirteen hour tale was so memorable that I can still hear narrator Vikas Adams’ pronunciation of the tiger character’s name “Richard Parker”.  That was followed years later by Director Ang Lee’s extraordinary film.

This play was developed in England, transferred to the West End and won the Olivier for Best Play.  A transfer to Broadway resulted in a Tony nomination for the play and wins for the technical designs.  I was going to skip a visit to this one but decided to jump on board given the accolades.

I am sorry to report that this production does not satisfy in the storytelling department.  The three main parts of the book are reorganized so the original mystery of survival is assured.  The play does capture some of the philosophical elements but they are not the central purpose.  As a result the story can often seem confusing (as happened with the one person with me who experienced this classic for the first time).

A family who owns a zoo in Pondicherry, India decides to emigrate to Canada with their animals in tow.  They board a cargo ship which meets with disaster.  The family’s son Pi manages to board a lifeboat.  The only other survivors are a hyena, an orangutan and the Richard Parker, the tiger.  The adventure involves this uncomfortable cohabitation.

The visuals are indeed impressive.  The set transformation from Indian marketplace to cargo ship was effortless and superbly executed.  The animals are all puppets and up to three humans manipulate them including hunching over as the tiger’s torso.  The movement is a feast for the eyes.

Also noteworthy are finely tuned performances especially by Hiran Abeysekera in the title role.  This tale is a marathon at sea.  The staging is physically demanding and the storytelling has a great deal of wit in addition to the underlying drama.  The performance was excellent from start to finish.

All that said – and there’s much good news about the production – this effort lacks clarity and depth.  Perhaps I am too familiar with the brilliance of Mr. Martel’s original.  The relativity of truth theme does come across nicely but the play seems adapted for people who already know the story.  Yes there is magical realism on display but the glorious musings on life and humanity have to be filled in from memory since they are sketchily drawn here.  Fans of eye-popping spectacle will definitely be entertained.

Life of Pi is running on Broadway through July 23, 2023.

www.lifeofpibway.com

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Funny Girl

I had never seen a professional production of Funny Girl.  When the reviews came out last year I decided to pass.  The original show was inferior to the heights achieved in the movie version as happens occasionally (see Cabaret and Hair, to name two).  The backstage drama within a failing revival hit the news.  Lea Michelle (Spring Awakening, Glee) was tapped to take over the lead.  Overnight the show turned into a hit.  Definitely now is the time to take a peek.

Fanny Brice was a huge comedic star in the Ziegfeld Follies, musical recordings and early radio days famously playing her long-running signature character, Baby Snooks.  This musical is a fictionalized biography centering around her rise to fame alongside a tempestuous relationship with her real-life second husband.

Jules Styne and Bob Merrill penned the still famous score.  The cavalcade of excellence in Act I include “I’m the Greatest Star”, “His Love Makes Me Beautiful”, “People” and the spectacular first act closer “Don’t Rain On My Parade”.  What blew me away was how much I enjoyed the silly “You Are Woman, I Am Man”.

That number is successful because of the chemistry between Ms. Michelle and Ramin Karimloo (Les Miserables) who portrays the flawed Nick Arnstein.  Not only do sparks fly, the laughs all land.  Having a strong male voice sing the role is a wonderful upgrade as well.  The love affair is palpably rendered and the story is richer.

All of the principal roles are expertly performed.  Tovah Feldshuh provides depth to Fanny’s mother.  As her friend Eddie, Jared Grimes has showstopping tap dance numbers.  His characterization is highly memorable and his love for Fanny lurks effectively in the background.  The acting across the board is so good that even numbers like “Who Taught Her Everything She Knows” are top notch.

Is this revival of Funny Girl a classic then?  Unfortunately no.  The production looks cheap.  The neighborhood where Fanny grows up looms large on the stage.  When it is time for the Follies, however, a central section opens up for the pageantry.  There is nothing Ziegfeld Follies about the moment except for a headdress or two.

Costumes are a mixed bag.  Fanny has great ones.  There is a scene in Act II with the chorus girls at rehearsal.  They are wearing flower headpieces.  The outfits worn were nearly all ill-fitting or badly wrinkled.  I’m not buying any defense that these were intended to be that way.  When lead performances are this good – and ticket prices this expensive – all details should be up to their level.

Act II of Funny Girl is definitely weaker than the first.  I have to admit that I had a great time watching this old chestnut.  I knew Ms. Michelle would sing the hell out of songs made famous by Barbra Streisand.  Her embodiment of the character throughout the stages of Fanny’s journey is the proverbial icing on the cake.  The songs were certainly sung well but the entire performance brightly shined.

Broadway has waited a very long time to revive this well known show.  There was some tinkering with the book by Harvey Fierstein but I’m not sure how.  Stepping into Barbra Streisand’s shoes is not easy for anyone.  How nice then to revisit Funny Girl sixty years later and have a grand, if imperfect, night at the theater.  If you have any interest at all, now is the time to live, not sit and putter.

www.funnygirlonbroadway.com

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Good Night, Oscar

A drama critic once wrote “there isn’t anything the matter with Levant that a few miracles wouldn’t cure”.  Good Night, Oscar is a play about a man I knew nothing about.  He was (and is now) a fascinating and complex personality.

Oscar Levant was many things, most notably an accomplished concert pianist.  A composer, conductor, author, television host and actor were some of his many sidelines.  He portrayed a piano player in many films including An American in Paris.  He played himself in the fictionalized screen biography of George Gershwin titled Rhapsody in Blue.

Doug Wright’s play takes place in the spring of 1958 in the latter stages of his career.  Oscar is scheduled to be a guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.  Famous for his eccentric and erratic behavior there is concern whether he will show up.  Xavier Cougat is mentioned as the emergency backup.  We are clearly in dated, early television land here.

There is a long (long!) wait as Jack and others set the stage for Oscar’s eventual arrival, literally, from the looney bin.  His wife had him committed but this outing is a short break.  Sean Hayes enters as Mr. Levant and the stagnant play erupts into a “can’t take your eyes off him” freak show.

Mr. Parr is thrilled knowing Oscar will be a great guest, spilling the tea in modern vernacular.  Preshow antics will introduce this neurotic and sad person.  How does he describe himself?  “I’m controversial.  People dislike me or they hate me”.  Zingers fly from the mouth of an excruciatingly acerbic and tightly wound insecure artistic talent.

I did not use the word genius purposefully.  His many anxieties include the realization he was no George Gershwin.  That personal torture haunts him and is used to great effect in the storytelling.  An extended late on camera scene demonstrates the heights of his ardor and the depths of his angst.  The moment can easily be named scene of the year on Broadway this year.  The unflinching audience watched Mr. Hayes in breathless awe.

Everything else in this production is a mixed bag.  The aforementioned set up drags until the main course is served.  John Zdrojeski’s take on George Gershwin was interestingly dapper, a “cooler than me” imagined nightmare from Mr. Levant’s highly strung imagination.  Alex Wyse was amusing as the backstage handler who is no match for the wits of this wildly unhinged guest star.

The main reason to see Good Night, Oscar is for Sean Hayes’s remarkable performance.  Rachel Hauck’s set design nicely invokes the era and also the ghosts looming inside the mania.  The buildup to the television interview is long in a play containing some cardboard characters.  The payoff, however, is spectacular.

www.goodnightoscar.com

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Prima Facie

Jodie Comer comes to Broadway fresh off her London triumph and Olivier award win in Prima Facie.  Suzie Miller’s intensely wrought writing also won for Best Play.  A brochure inserted into the Playbill highlights the sexual assault epidemic in the U.S and the Schools Consent Project charity.  A highly dramatic and rough evening was anticipated.

Tessa is a successful trial lawyer making her name defending men accused of sexual assault.  The courtroom scenes of cross examination are riveting and brilliantly theatrical.  We learn that Tessa came from a modest background but attended law school with privileged “thoroughbreds”.  Her success was earned the hard way.

The ins and outs of lawyering are fully exposed.  Tessa does not care if her clients are guilty or not.  She has a job to do and revels in the game of finding cracks to bolster her defense.  If a few guilty people get off that’s a problem of insufficient work by the prosecutors or the police.

As might be presumed from this wildly entertaining setup, the tables will be turned (literally) on Tessa.  She enters a relationship with a coworker resulting in a non-consensual encounter from her perspective.  The drama in this play arises from the situation presented.  Will the jury see her point of view or his given their previous history and that particular evening’s circumstances?

Ms. Comer runs a one woman marathon in the pouring rain during this performance.  The complexities of the plot are always finely tuned if occasionally falling into repetitive longevity.  A one hundred minute monologue on a subject which begs for participatory discussion might benefit from an intermission.  Ms. Comer gets a brief moment offstage after the water falls.

Miriam Buether’s exceptional Set Design evokes a massive chamber filled with volumes of legal precedent.  A harsh light is shined on our laws and the way cases (and people) are treated.  Having Tessa on both sides of the equation gives the play its backbone and also allows a glimpse into the process of questioning firmly held ideology.

The brochure in the Playbill features this dichotomy.  Ms. Comer has two faces.  One is red in her barrister wig.  The other is blue and screaming.  Inside the fold the theme of this play is laid bare.  “On the face of it something has to change”.

Prima Facie is a serious and confrontational work overflowing with emotional depth. This topical play illuminates a big Broadway spotlight on the concept of consent and clearly has a voice in the broader #MeToo movement.  Theatergoers who appreciate being mentally challenged will be wowed.

Prima Facie is scheduled to run through June 18, 2023.

www.primafacieplay.com

www.schoolsconsentproject.com

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Peter Pan Goes Wrong

Those who saw the hilarious The Play That Goes Wrong will know the formula.  Peter Pan Goes Wrong is the next iteration from Mischief Productions.  The last version deservedly won a Tony Award for Best Set Design of a Play.  This one riotously ups the ante.  I cannot say the ship is smooth sailing or the flight over London goes well.  But that’s where the fun is.  And there is a lot of fun to be had.

The children are in a bunk bed.  Things go wrong.  Actors are on wires.  Things go wrong.  The deadly but cheaply costumed crocodile is not so scary.  A “six shooter” is employed against the cast from Six across the street.  The Peter Pan story will be told but that’s really not the point.  Silly fun is the goal and it is achieved.

So many shows on Broadway in this and recent seasons are laser focused on gay (and trans and nonbinary) themes.  Peter Pan Goes Wrong makes it even more obvious (and effective) than those.  In order to move the plot along the audience will be cajoled into chanting “I believe in fairies”.  There is theatrical joy from start to finish.

Neil Patrick Harris joined the cast this month in the role of Francis, essentially the narrator.  He fits right in with bad entrances and assorted pratfalls.  Everyone gets a moment to shine.  Jonathan Sayer is the actor who doesn’t know his lines and wears headphones to be prompted.  The gag is funny for sure.  In the second act, he has a unforgettable monologue that is brilliantly rendered.

The set design (Simon Scullion) is, once again, superb.  You might anticipate things going wrong.  They do.  Adam Meggido’s direction is precise choreography making all of the hijinks seem spontaneous.  It is frankly a miracle that no one gets hurt during these (literally) whirlwind performances.

The cast is pitch perfect across the board.  Chris Bean is amusing in both the father and Captain Hook roles.  Nancy Zamit offers a buffoonish rendition of Tinkerbell.  This show is smile inducing, geared for the young and the young-at-heart.  The voluminous details make this play so enjoyable.  Laughs are in abundance.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong is a glorious mess.  Isn’t is nice that Broadway has two gleefully humorous offerings right now.  If you like plays, see this one.  If you prefer musicals go see Shucked.  Either choice is guaranteed to gladden your mood.  Seeing both will lift your spirits far above the world which so disappoints us on a daily basis.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong is running at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Broadway through July 9, 2023.

www.pangoeswrongbway.com

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A Doll’s House

The oppression many women feel under the laws and moral codes written by men is newsworthy today.  Last year’s reversal of Roe v. Wade is an obvious and contentious current example.  Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House in 1879 inspired by a friend’s marriage.  The play radically challenged the notion of traditional gender roles in that era.

Amy Herzog (4000 Miles, Belleville) has adapted the original with modern, clear cut language.  A sharp scalpel gets to the meat of the story and the tumult is laid bare.  Nora has her demons and disappointments.  She never leaves the stage and we cannot look away.

Her husband Torvald sees her as a pretty songbird and mother of their three children.  Nora, however, is far cleverer than that.  Relationships strengthen her day-to-day emptiness.  She subjects herself to society’s norms but the evidence of that struggle is readily apparent.  The date “1879” is flashed on the back wall to remind us that this is a period piece.  A modernistic approach written by a woman with a minimalistic staging impressively conveys the essential and timeless themes.

Director Jamie Lloyd has interpreted this analysis with a starkness that makes the stage seem a very lonely place.  There are no sets and no props except for chairs.  The vastness is effectively juxtaposed against Nora’s staggering emotional claustrophobia.  (The lighting descending and ascending seemed an unnecessary distraction to me.)

Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain (The Heiress) is a brilliant Nora, tearfully surviving life yet evidencing a backbone.  Arian Moayed (The Humans) is a revelatory Torvald, not a caricature of a cold man in a cold country.  We believe he loves his wife.  The conventions of the day and a superior morality, however, trump that love.

The terminally ill family friend Dr. Rank is a frequent visitor to their home.  His devotion to Nora is palpable.  The scene between the two of them is one of the true highlights in a production filled with beautiful realized and often heartbreaking moments.  Michael Patrick Thornton’s performance is exceptional.

Okieriete Onaodowan (Hamilton) plays Nils Krogstad, Torvald’s co-worker at the bank and a troublesome villain harboring Nora’s secret.  The shades of meaning given to this character make him an ultimately sympathetic figure.  That is one of the remarkable aspects of this A Doll’s House.  There is sympathy to spare in a world defined by unachievable perfection.

Fifteen minutes before the play begins, Ms. Chastain sits in a plain chair on a revolving turntable.  The audience is assembling.  Her inner angst is contained but notably simmering under the surface.  Other actors join her on their own chairs as the minutes tick by.  A foreboding tension sets the mood for what is to follow.

A Doll’s House has a famous ending which was shocking in its time.  Nora and Torvald eventually arrive at the end of their emotional journey.  Can the modern styling of this interpretation somehow allow for a memorable finale?  The answer to that question is an ecstatic yes.  Gasps are the deserved audience response.  This production is a riveting and deep examination of women and societal norms.  Two additional female characters make sure we hear and sympathize with them as well.

www.adollshousebroadway.com

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Shucked

In Cob County “we love Jesus but we drink a little”.  Shucked plants its corn firmly and relentlessly.  The result is more laugh out loud jokes per hour than perhaps any musical I have ever seen.  Robert Horn (Tootsie) has slathered Broadway with lip smacking butter.  Escapist entertainment is very rarely this delicious.

Superstar country music songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McNally have written terrific character driven songs.  The music and lyrics match the tone of the book, are exceedingly tuneful and refreshingly different than other shows currently running.  This musical comedy is confidently oddball.  Jack O’Brien’s direction encases the show in a relaxed professionalism in which every line, song and character are given a brilliant chance to shine.

Why is the corn dying in Cob County?  The overtly dumb and happy locals do not know.  This community is surrounded by cornfields.  No one alive has seen the outside world.  They don’t feel any reason to do so.  Small town gal Maizy heeds the call to find a solution.  An outsider will enter this insular world.  Cue the shenanigans.

A perfectly cast show reaps a bumper crop of pleasures.  The seven principals all have spotlight moments.  Two storytellers (Ashley D. Kelley and Grey Henson) energetically set the tone and narrate the action.  Maizy (Caroline Innerbichler) and Beau (Andrew Durand) are the town’s popular sweethearts.  Beau’s brother Peanut (Kevin Cahoon) is an agreeable idiot.  What comes out of his mouth is imbecilic and gut busting hilarity.

Maizy’s best friend is Lulu (Alex Newell), an experienced gal in the matters of men.  “Independently Owned” is her perfectly performed show stopper.  Lastly, John Behlmann is the unctuous conman Gordy.  All of these performances are lovingly portrayed caricatures.  Each actor nails their well written and developed characters so the whole is significantly greater than the sum of very excellent parts.

Is there more to love?  Yes.  Sarah O’Gleby adds inventive choreography.  All of the creative designers unify the rural theme.  Every facet makes sense and the rustic nature of the setting adds to the merriment.  The sensibility fully supports the story being told.  All the elements in Shucked are impressively balanced.  That these elements are all truly excellent makes this one a must see.  Ebullient and phenomenally corny, Shucked is “farm to fable” at is zenith.

www.shuckedmusical.com