I grew up in a farm family who loved the country-flavored comedy of the popular CBS television variety show “Hee Haw,” still considered one of the longest-running series in television history.
The variety show, with its hayseed humor cast of Minnie Pearl, Lulu Roman and Junior Samples paired with musical talents like Roy Clark, Buck Owens and the Hagar Twins, premiered on CBS in 1969 and ran until 1971 before going into first-run syndication until 1993, later revived by the Nashville Network from 1996 to 1997.
CBS canceled the show in 1971 as part of the now infamous “rural purge” by network founder and president Bill Paley, the same scheduling grid hatchet swipe which also ended “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Petticoat Junction,” “Mayberry R.F.D.” and “Green Acres.”
“Hee Haw” ties with Chicago-based “Soul Train,” which continued in syndication until 2006.
A quarter of a century later, rural rules once again, or at least Tony Award ovations winning best musical comedy in 2023 for the creative planted stage story and themes now showcased in “Shucked,” the Broadway audience favorite on national tour and playing at Broadway In Chicago’s CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., for a limited engagement through Jan. 19.
My “From the Farm” contrasting column byline ranked me a ringside seat on Tuesday to count cobs earlier this week with the cast of “Shucked” pitted against the improv stars of Chicago’s famed Second City for a kernel competition determining which team is the fastest at husking fresh corn ears, something I’ve been doing my entire life. (Considering it’s the Midwest weather month of January, the ears of corn were piddly at best.)
After our final corn and crate count, Team Second City enjoyed the fruits (and grain gain) of victory.
“Shucked” is a two-hour stage comedy musical tale set in rural America, where agriculture rules small-town life. A young couple’s pending wedding is postponed after a mysterious blight causes the community’s surrounding corn crops to fail. The groom prefers to stay planted on home turf while the bride takes flight to Tampa, Florida, where she believes the answer to the wilting stalks resides.
The story, by Tony Award winner Robert Horn with score by Grammy Award winners, Tony Award nominees and Nashville music names Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, is delivered with narration by a pair of “storytellers,” played in the national tour by Maya Lagerstam and Tyler Joseph Ellis, both who competed in Tuesday’s corn-fed messy whirlwind of scattered husks and silk.
Lagerstam, who originally hails from central Illinois, had husked corn in her youth, while Ellis, who is originally from the Bay Area of California, was new to the husking experience.
“I’ve been associated with ‘Shucked’ in various incarnations from the reading and understudy roles since 2021,” Lagerstam said.
“For the longest time, my parents would tell people I was in a musical called ‘Corn,’ which was wrong, but there is a musical number called ‘Corn,’ so they were close,” Lagerstam told me.
Ellis said the show is very “prop-busy” which adds to the homespun humor in many scenes.
“It’s a very clever and smart show, but I think there are still many audiences that are still getting to just learn about it now that it’s on tour,” Ellis said.
The rest of the primary cast includes Miki Abraham, who starred in the Broadway run, playing as Lulu, Mike Nappi as Peanut, Jake Odmark as Beau, Quinn VanAntwerp, also from the Broadway cast, as Gordy and Danielle Wade as bride heroine Maizy.
Tickets range from $35 to $130 available at (312) 977-1710 or www.BroadwayInChicago.com or www.shuckedmusical.com.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@powershealth.org.
