Are you ready to get corny?
Shucked, the "farm-to-fable musical" by Robert Horn, Brandy Clark, and Shane McAnally, is finally peeling back the curtain on their mysterious marketing campaign ahead of their April 4 opening night.
The cast and creative team visited CBS Sunday Morning April 2 to share how what began as a Hee-Haw adaptation blossomed into a true original, as well as to show off performance clips of seven different songs within the show.
With music by the Grammy winning team of Clark and McAnally, the country musical is in good company, calling upon its predecessors Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun, while blending with the rhythmic humor of Horn, which harkens back to his days writing for the hit television show Designing Women.
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"We sit together every night, through these previews," shares McAnally as Clark looks on with a smile. "Alex Newell sings a song called "Independently Owned" in the middle of the first act, and they received a standing ovation in the middle of the act. I'm a former addict, I have tried everything that I like many times over, and I just looked at her and said 'This is like no high I have ever experienced.'"
Laughing, Clark agrees. "A couple of nights ago, I just had this overwhelming feeling; I was looking at the barn, and Shane and I were sitting there, and I was like 'this is so weird for me to say this to you right now, but I just love you so much." She tears up as she looks at McAnally, who affirms that he will ever forget the moment either. Clark continues, saying "That is how I feel when we're sitting there. Even though we aren't a couple, it is like we now have this child."
Shucked began previews at the Nederlander Theatre March 8. Opening night is set for April 4. The show features a book by Tony winner Robert Horn (Tootsie, 13), with three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, The Front Page) at the helm.
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Shucked stars Caroline Innerbichler as Maizy, Alex Newell as Lulu, John Behlmann as Gordy, Kevin Cahoon as Peanut, Andrew Durand as Beau, Ashley D. Kelley as Storyteller 1, and Grey Henson as Storyteller 2.
They're joined by an ensemble comprising Jimmy Brewer, Audrey Cardwell, Dwayne Clark, Rheaume Crenshaw, Jaygee Macapugay, Scott Stangland, Yasmeen Sulieman, and Quinn VanAntwerp, rounded out by swings Miki Abraham, Ken Wulf Clark, Traci Elaine Lee, and Alan Wiggins.
Shucked features music by the Grammy-winning, Nashville-based songwriting team Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, choreography by Sarah O'Gleby, and music supervision, music direction, orchestrations, and arrangements by Tony nominee Jason Howland.
Scenic design is by Scott Pask, costume design is by Tilly Grimes, lighting design is by Japhy Weideman, sound design by John Shivers, and wig design by Mia Neal. John Miller is the music coordinator, Billy Jay Stein and Hiro Iida of Strange Cranium designed the electronic music, and Juniper Street Productions handles production management.
Visit ShuckedMusical.com.
