‘Shucked’ sets January closing date
Time to harvest the crop. The corny, corn-crazy, country-flavored new musical comedy “Shucked,” which has struggled at the box office since opening in April (not unlike many other new musicals from last season), will play its final performance on Jan. 14 at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre. A national tour, in addition to productions in London and Sydney, is currently in the works.
Originally developed as an adaptation of the TV variety show “Hee Haw,” “Shucked” observes how a rural Georgia community is threatened by a sudden inability to grown corn, leading the heroine to leave her fiancé and travel to Tampa, where she mistakes a “corn doctor” podiatrist for a “corn doctor” vegetable healer, leading to further misunderstandings and mistaken identities. The country-pop score is by singer-songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, whose credits include songs for Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Dolly Parton, and Blake Shelton. The standout of the cast is Alex Newell, who became the first openly non-binary performer to win a Tony Award for his performance.
Remembering Suzanne Somers on Broadway
Suzanne Somers, who died on Sunday at age 76, had one Broadway credit to her name: “The Blonde in the Thunderbird,” an autobiographical one-woman show/cabaret based on two of her books, which ran nine performances in the summer of 2005 after being panned by the critics. I vividly remember attending the final performance on a Saturday night. Even if the show was sappy, over-the-top (with video cameras filming Somers live and projecting her image onstage), and misconceived, it was well meaning and heartfelt. In retrospect, it is surprising that Somers never joined the always-revolving Broadway cast of “Chicago,” as she might have made a credible Roxie. (Based on when I grew up, I knew Somers not from “Three’s Company” but rather the 1990s ABC sitcom “Step by Step.”)
Following cancellation by Public Theater, Under the Radar Festival will return as citywide effort
A few months ago, the Public Theater earned widespread criticism for placing its annual Under the Radar Festival (which showcases international experimental and multidisciplinary theater) on hiatus due to the financial losses that virtually all not-for-profit theater companies have been facing since reopening after the pandemic. However, in an unlikely turn of events, the Under the Radar Festival will return in January as a citywide effort involving multiple other theaters including Lincoln Center, Performance Space New York, LaMaMa, Abrons Arts Center, St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York Live Arts, Irish Arts Center, and NYU Skirball. A partial lineup includes shows from South Africa, Lebanon, Ireland, Italy, and the UK.
“At this moment, even in very challenging times, there is still innovative work rising from communities around New York and in far-reaching parts of the globe,” festival director Mark Russell said in a statement. “Under the Radar aims to spotlight this work for audiences–not only those ‘in the know,’ but from a wider stretch of communities, diverse in all respects, that could benefit by engaging with these creative leaders.”
‘Midsummer’ will be staged in Harlem for free this summer
As previously reported, the Public Theater will not present Shakespeare in the Park next summer at the Delacorte Theatre, which is undergoing renovations and is slated to reopen in 2025. However, there will at least still be free Shakespeare uptown at Marcus Garvey Park, where the Classical Theatre of Harlem will stage “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheatre in July. Directed by Carl Cofield (“Seize the King,” “Twelfth Night”), the production will be set during the Harlem Renaissance.
