Name: Shucked on Broadway
Start: 2023-03-08
End: 2024-01-14
Location: Nederlander Theatre

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Best suited for audiences 5+. Children under 4 are not permitted.

Shucked on Broadway - NYC

NYC Shucked on Broadway Asset 2 10/25/23

Shucked on Broadway

SHUCKED

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Alex Newell stars as Lulu in *Shucked* on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre through January 14, 2024.

Alex Newell was born on August 20, 1992 in Lynn, Massachusetts. They attended Kipp Lynn Academy and later the Bishop Fenwick High School, where he graduated in 2012. Growing up, Newell was a valued member of both their school's and church's choirs.

Newell's big break&nbsp;came as they were accepted to compete on The Glee Project casting show to win a role on the hit musical TV series Glee. Although he finished second on the show, the show's producers granted them two episodes as Unique Adams, a transgender student, in 2012. Fans of the show were so enamored with the character of Unique that Newell was invited back to Glee for a full-time or recurring role from the fourth season onwards. Between 2012 and 2015, Newell appeared in a total of 43 episodes of Glee.

Newell later starred as Mo on *Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist* and released an EP, *Power*. They then built a successful Broadway career, making their debut as Asaka in the 2018 Broadway revival of *Once on This Island*.

For their role in *Shucked*, Newell won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, becoming one of the first openly non-binary performers to win a Tony Award. They were later named the 2023 Time Breakthrough Person of the Year.

Alex Newell - NY

Once On This Island on Broadway [7828]

Once On This Island on Broadway

Once On This Island on Broadway [7828] Product Media

The musical <a href="/show/once-on-this-island">Once on This Island</a> has held a special place in my heart since I saw the original production back in 1990.&nbsp;The infectious music and romantic tale brought a unique temperament to a traditional medium.&nbsp;The show has lost none of its luster over the years, and in this revival&nbsp;production the beauty of this musical has been given its full due and then some.It tells the legend of Ti Moune (an incandescent Hailey Kilgore), an orphaned peasant girl raised by Tonton Julian (Phillip Boykin) and Mama Euralie (Kenita R. Miller), who falls in love with a handsome, wealthy boy Daniel Beauxhomme (Isaac Powell) from the city on the other side of the island.&nbsp;Separated by only a few miles of sand, they are nonetheless worlds apart.&nbsp;Ti Moune's love for Daniel is so strong that when he returns to his mansion home, she cannot bear to stay behind.&nbsp;Guided by four spirits:&nbsp;Erzulie, a warm and ethereal Goddess of Love&nbsp;(<a href="/actor-profile/lea-salonga">Lea Salonga</a>), Asaka, the irrepressible Mother of the Earth (<a href="/actor-profile/alex-newell">Alex Newell</a>), Agwé, the God of water, dignified and thoughtful (Quentin Earl Darrington) and Papa Ge, the mesmerizing spirit of death (Merle Dandridge), Ti Moune embarks on a journey to uncertain future.&nbsp;She has made a promise she will be asked to keep, but can love conquer all, even death?The ensemble, aptly referred to as 'storytellers' in the program, contribute in myriad ways to the performance, handing off the narrative to each other in a verbal dance that never allows the story line to drop.&nbsp;In a complete performance, they also create a living context. They are the birds; they are the night; they are the wind.Using the theater in the round space to full advantage, director Michael Arden&nbsp;and set designer Dane Laffrey&nbsp;have embraced every inch of space, creating a unified world for performers and audience alike.&nbsp;With an upturned boat here, fallen tree there, laundry fluttering on clothes lines extending to the walls of the theater, we are in the storm-tossed French Antilles in an instant.&nbsp;With ironic timeliness, the detritus-strewn sands and fallen trees echo images we have seen all too frequently in recent months, in places like Houston and Puerto Rico.The antitode to tragedy is to dance, to make music, to tell stories, to live in brilliant color, which these islanders do with abandon.&nbsp;Performing complex choreography by Camille A. Brown,&nbsp;as if the dance were the inspiration of the moment, with authentic gesture and of dazzling originality, the cast infuses every moment with spirit, emotion and music.&nbsp;Everywhere you look something catches your eye.&nbsp;Costumes by Clint Ramos&nbsp;vividly define the two worlds of ragtag poor and opulent wealthy, in rich bursts of color echoed throughout the set design.&nbsp;Lighting designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, and sound designer Peter Hylenski&nbsp;evoke sun and storm to great, even visceral, effect.&nbsp;As you ride the wave, you cannot help but ask -- How did they pack so much legend, so much music, so much dance into 90 minutes?In Once on This Island, Director Michael Arden&nbsp;has created an island of joy at the <a href="/theatres/circle-in-the-square-theatre">Circle in the Square</a>.&nbsp;I cannot praise this production enough.&nbsp;Every single element blends perfectly to bring this already beautiful musical to dazzling, joyous life.(Photo by Joan Marcus)<hr /><h2>What the popular press says...</h2>"All I can say is that after a dismal theatrical fall, in which even the highlights seemed ashen, what a delight it is to enter the world of Once on This Island." Jesse Green for New York Times"Broadway's bewitching revival of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island&nbsp;is filled with beauty." Joe Dziemianowicz for New York Daily News"After seeing the&nbsp;imaginative and dynamic&nbsp;Once on This Island, you may feel that once is not enough." Adam Feldman for Time Out New York"Together with his resourceful design team and cast of expressive, vocally gifted performers, Arden has approached the piece with the nurturing hand it requires — striking a balance between child-like story theater and folkloric ritual with a fantastical dash of dangerous voodoo. It's a show about the healing power of storytelling, which makes it perfect for these grim times. Themes concerning the divisions of class, race, skin-color pigmentation and wealth also give the material timeless currency." David Rooney for Hollywood Reporter"Just what the weary world needs now - an uplifting revival of Lynn Ahrens' and Stephen Flaherty's lush and lovely 1990 musical fable about the enduring force of true love." Marilyn Stasio for VarietyExternal links to full reviews from popular press...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/theater/review-once-on-this-island-revived-and-ravishing.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a>&nbsp;- <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/theater-arts/island-revival-bewitches-theater-review-article-1.3670842" target="_blank">New York Daily News</a> -&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/once-on-this-island" target="_blank">Time Out</a>&nbsp;- <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/once-island-theater-review-1063783">Hollywood Reporter</a>&nbsp;- <a href="http://variety.com/2017/legit/reviews/once-on-this-island-review-broadway-1202629232/">Variety</a>

Review of Once on This Island on Broadway

Designed by Alan Sayles, the Circle in the Square Theatre (along with its much larger sibling, the [Gershwin Theatre](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/gershwin-theatre)) is inside the confines of the Paramount Plaza office tower. The Circle in the Square Theatre was built in 1970 as the Uris Brothers tore down the former Capitol Theatre in order to construct the tower.

The current Broadway theatre is the successor of a same-named Off-Broadway theatre, which operated from 1950 to 1995 at multiple locations in Greenwich Village. The Circle in the Square repertory company staged its first Broadway production — a revival of *Mourning Becomes Electra* — at its current venue on November 15, 1972.

The venue is one of the smallest and most intimate spaces on Broadway. Productions are generally staged in the round, as audiences are seated on three sides of the stage. The theatre is also associated with the Circle in the Square Theatre School, the only accredited drama school attached to a Broadway house.

## How to get to the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway

The Circle in the Square Theatre is accessible by subway, with the closest stop being 50th St. on the C or E line. The 50th St. stop on the 1 line is also nearby. The closest bus stop to the theatre is 8th Ave/W 50th St. on the M50 line.

Circle in the Square Theatre - NY

Circle in the Square Theatre

Storytellers have long looked to cornfields for ideas. *Field of Dreams* turned them into heaven. Evil lurked amid the rows in *Children of the Corn*. Now, in the deliriously dopey [countrified musical comedy](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/a-history-of-country-musicals-on-broadway-from-oklahoma-to-shucked) [*Shucked*](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/26987-shucked-tickets), corn is cause for nonstop funny business — and some terrifically catchy tunes.

Credit the creative team for recognizing there’s more than a kernel of truth in the adage about knowing oneself. They are fully aware their show is wall-to-wall silliness, and they embrace that concept whole-hog. Even when the goings turn sappy, another pun, punchline, or double entendre awaits.

Do the jokes yield diminishing returns over the show’s two hours? Yep, they do. But are you apt to have such a good time that you won’t mind? Yep, you will.

Tag-team narrators, played with know-how by Ashley D. Kelley and *Mean Girls* Tony-nominee Grey Henson, pop in and out to set the scene. The show is a fable – “a farm to fable” – set in Cob County, a community tucked inside cornfield walls. Sure, residents know of the outside world; they just want no part of it.

Things change. Lovebirds Maizy (Caroline Innerbichler, like butter in her Broadway debut) and her farmer fiance Beau (an adorable Andrew Durand) are exchanging "I do"s at a ceremony officiated by his brother Peanut (Kevin Cahoon, who’s a kick) — but disaster strikes. The corn suddenly turns moldy. 

Despite naysayers, including Beau, Maizy leaves town to find help, singing the tune “Woman of the World.” In a goofy twist, she meets Gordy (John Behlmann), a con man posing as a podiatrist – a "corn doctor," get it? – who captures Maizy’s fancy. He’s drawn to her stone bracelet. He accompanies her to Cob County, ostensibly to save the crops, but he’s out to swipe the precious gems found there.

An old-school musical like this is bound to have a romantic subplot or two. Hence, Maizy is torn between Beau and Gordy. But her whiskey-brewing cousin and BFF Lulu (Alex Newell, a powerhouse singer) reconfigures the geometry of the romantic triangle. One guess how it all works out.

The show is buoyed along on easy-to-like songs by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, who are new to Broadway but stars in country music. They’re adept at novelty numbers – like the opener, “Corn” – and songs that run a tad deeper, including the tender “Maybe Love” and the optimistic “Somebody Will.” “That’s How You Say 'I Do,'” shared by three couples, is a bouncy winner. 

At one point during *Shucked*'s development, it was set to riff on the vintage TV variety show *Hee Haw*. About a decade later, “hee haw” is just a passing song lyric. 

The songwriters have an ace collaborator in author Robert Horn, who won a Tony for his book for *Tootsie*. For *Shucked*, he’s crafted an LOL mashup of new side-splitters and oldies but goodies. Toying sexily with Gordy, Lulu says, “I may not have my virginity, but I still have the box it came in.” Zing! Who doesn’t like corn with a pinch of salt?

A sense of fun runs throughout director Jack O’Brien’s production – from set designer Scott Pask’s rough-hewn barn backed by a bright pink sky to choreographer Sarah O’Gleby’s high-spirited dance number using whiskey barrels and planks. 

*Shucked* could never be condemned as theatrical spinach. It’s all about laughs, and it delivers – honest to cob.

[*Shucked* is at the Nederlander Theatre. Get *Shucked* tickets on New York Theatre Guide.](https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/show/26987-shucked-tickets)

*Photo credit: The cast of Shucked. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)*

'Shucked' review — the countrified, comedic cream of the crop

Read our four-star review of the new Broadway musical comedy *Shucked*, which features a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn and plays the Nederlander Theatre.

Built by Walter C. Jordan, the Nederlander Theatre building was originally constructed as a carpenter's shop in 1920 and was converted into a theatre the following year. The venue officially opened as the National Theatre on September 1, 1921. Ownership of the theatre has changed hands several times over the years — the Shubert Organization originally owned the building until 1956, and Harry Fomkes and Billy Rose (who renamed the theatre after himself) took over in 1959.

The Nederlander Organization purchased the property in 1979 and briefly renamed it the Trafalgar Theatre, until it was renamed after the organization's founder, David T. Nederlander, in 1980.

The Nederlander Theatre, located on 41st Street, is the southernmost Broadway house.

## How to get to the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway

The closest subway stop to the Nederlander Theatre is 42nd Street - Times Square on the 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, W, and S lines. The closest bus stops are 7th Av/W 41st St. on the M7, M20, or M104 lines and 7th Av/W 42nd St. on the M42, SIM8, SIM8X, SIM22, SIM25, SIM26, and SIM30 lines.

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