What’s the funniest musical that you can think of?
“Spamalot”? “Hairspray”? “Mean Girls”? All worthy contenders, for sure.
Yet, I laughed harder — and certainly more often — during opening night of “Shucked” at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco than I did while watching any of those other entirely worthy productions.
There are 498,735 jokes (give or take) in this 2022 musical, which received nine nominations — including for Best Musical — at the 76th Tony Awards.
And roughly 498,736 of jokes work (do the math and you’ll see what I did there) in “Shucked,” which is making its West Coast debut at the Curran.
The storyline, of course, is very corny — pun very much intended — set in a rural small-town area known as Cobb County, which is in dire straights due to its highly valued corn crops dying.
Thus, young Maizy (wonderfully portrayed by Danielle Wade, who also played “Cady” in the Mean Girls national tour) sets out on the road to find help for the corn in the thriving metropolis of Tampa.
Maizy ends up meeting convincing city slicker Gordy (played by Quinn VanAntwerp), who senses the opportunity to take these small town’s woes and turn them into cash. But can he carry out his dastardly plan before the people of Cobb County soften his heart and change his mind?
The musical, which my companion astutely likened to a modern take on “The Music Man” premise, also contains plenty of great tunes by the songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally.
Seriously, this is the funniest new musical to come around to the Bay Area in ages. And who can’t use a good laugh right about now? So, I highly recommend making a date to see “Shucked.”
For tickets and other information, visit broadwaysf.com.