★★★★

“You come away feeling slightly giddy, but feeling good”

With the proliferation of new musicals roller coasting into theatreland, you’d think it hard to find an original subject to base one around. Currently, there seem to be two ways to go; either you can dredge up an old, safe favourite or else take the quirky route and think outside the box. Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell are obviously advocates of the latter. Six teenagers who die in a freak accident on a fairground ride is an unlikely starting point. A hard sell perhaps? “Ride the Cyclone” first appeared on the Canadian fringe in 2009, before heading Off-Broadway, via Chicago, a few years later. It has taken nearly ten years for it to cross the pond for its European premiere in London but, like those long, concertina queues we used to find ourselves in for the latest fairground attraction, it has been worth the wait.

The musical begins with a mysterious and headless girl circling the stage, singing a short song, dreaming of life. Cut to the even more mysterious ‘The Amazing Karnak’ (Edward Wu), a mechanical fortune teller, watching from on high. He is able to predict the exact moment and method of a person’s death. Even his own – which is very imminent, despite him already being in the afterlife (we can overlook this minor quibble) preparing himself to introduce the perished teenagers. Karnak has a game for them. Each will be given the chance to tell their story, in song, to win the chance to return to life. What follows is a cycle of song and monologue that occasionally baffles but always delights with its mix of absurdist humour, candid insight, bizarre ideas, emotional honesty and musical virtuosity. Irreverently frivolous one moment, genuinely heartfelt the next. Admittedly it borders on the saccharine at times, but the writers’ sharp knife always cuts through it in time.

Wu’s Karnak holds the fort like a camp and deadpan Greek God. First up is Ocean, played with real zest by Baylie Carson. Satirically self-important, she still manages to get the others’ backs up, especially best friend Constance (Robyn Gilbertson). We have to wait a while for Constance’s song – ‘Jawbreaker/Sugar Cloud’ – during which Gilbertson truly shines, revealing a deeper character than one who lost her virginity ‘just to get it out of the way’. A highlight of the show is ‘Noel’s Lament’, a gorgeous cabaret pastiche performed by Damon Gould with expert dancing and a velvet voice as he dreams of being a French prostitute. The eclectic quality of the musical numbers is demonstrated when Bartek Kraszewski’s Mischa brilliantly launches into a gangsta rap number complete with a flourish of breakdancing, while Grace Galloway’s headless girl lends her gorgeous operatic soprano to ‘The Ballad of Jane Doe’; a stunning waltz number that induces goosebumps. Then there is Ricky, whose dream of becoming an intergalactic saviour of sexy cat women (don’t ask) is brought to life in song; stunningly performed by Jack Maverick.

Director Lizzi Gee amazingly manages to bring cohesion to this disparate and totally bizarre concoction of life stories. Her choreography is meticulous, adapting itself to each and every genre and musical style seamlessly. There are moments when the inter-song monologues outstay their welcome, but the overall ride still remains on the peaks rather than the troughs. Musical Director Ben McQuigg’s five-piece band mixes power with clarity, and embraces the variety of the repertoire with panache. Every cast member has the vocal, movement and acting skills to tackle the material, making this eccentric show appear to be the most natural and obvious idea for a musical imaginable.

It is a thrilling ride, one which has that sense of danger even though you want to laugh out loud, right up to its upbeat finale. You come away feeling slightly giddy, but feeling good. Against all better judgement you find yourself wanting to join the queue again for another go.

SHUCKED

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

★★★★★

“The fun factor is dolloped on as thick as melted butter on crispy corn on the cob”

You can imagine exactly whereabouts in the United States Cob County (the fictional location for the musical comedy “Shucked”) would lie. Somewhere on the border of Arkansas and Oklahoma, where the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye, and the town-folk, dressed like raggedy scarecrows, can’t see beyond the wall of maize that shields the outside world. ‘People don’t leave Cob County’, we are told. Well, hey, if I found myself there, I’d never want to leave either judging by the sheer joy even just two hours in their company can give.

Regents Park Open Air Theatre is the perfect backdrop for this real gem of a musical. A score of catchy tunes; a Prairie-sized dose of charm and compassion; a wagonload of amazeballs song and dance and the corniest jokes you dare to imagine, all roll into town, via Broadway, to give us a night we’re going to remember for quite some time. Robert Horn’s book openly celebrates its own richly flavoured cheesiness by packing it full of puns and punchlines, while Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s country-tinged music and lyrics keeps the smile firmly on our faces with their mix of foot-tapping, bluesy reels and soul-stirring ballads. This formula really shouldn’t work. The story is preposterous, the final message unbelievably schmaltzy and some of the jokes as old as the American Outback; yet we are ‘shucked’ into loving it (a hasty qualification needed here – some of the one-liners are, in fact, surprisingly audacious and shockingly risqué, and would mercifully go over the heads of the younger members of the audience).

We are introduced to the Midwestern community by way of Storyteller One and Storyteller Two; Monique Ashe-Palmer and Steven Webb respectively – a joyous pair whose comic timing and flair keep the narrative in check with a rancher’s whip-cracking skill. At the heart of the story is Maizy (Sophie McShera) whose wedding vows to Beau (Ben Joyce) are interrupted by the corn crop suddenly and mysteriously dying. An unsolved mystery – which, in fact, is just a mystery – Webb tells us. Maizy dares to venture beyond the county limits in order to find a solution to the crop failure. She winds up in Tampa, an exaggerated, greeting-card-type metropolis where she meets grifter Gordy (Matthew Seadon-Young), a corn doctor (of course). Gordy is in debt to some not-so-gangsterish gangsters, and he sees in Maizy an opportunity to do some good ole shucking and shake off his creditors. Maizy, on the rebound from breaking off with Beau, is lovestruck, and the two of them head back to Cob County. What follows is a messy mix of misdirected romance, deception, and a full-on, heart-on-sleeve parable about the strength of community, family and belonging, and the triumph of good over bad.

To put it simply, the cast is outstanding. McShera’s Maizy has a real sense of the comedy but layers it with a steely tenderness that refuses to suffer fools. And a voice to match. Joyce’s literal-minded Beau is a delight, seeing the world in black and white but colouring it in with splashes of charisma and slapstick empathy. And a voice to match. His side kick and brother, Peanut – played by the terrific Keith Ramsay – has the burden of the corny jokes but he carries them all with an ease, delivering them with a deadpan hilarity. Meanwhile, Maizy’s cousin, the whisky-brewing, sassy Lulu is a tour de force of a performance in the hands of Georgina Onuorah. And a voice to match (have I said that?). In fact, Onuorah’s voice soars above all else. Seadon-Young is slick as oil as the slippery Gordy wishing he was better at being bad, though his performance couldn’t be better if he tried. Director Jack O’Brien brings out the best in all of them, including the ensemble – highlighting Sarah O’Gleby’s inventive choreography which occasionally verges on the acrobatic – and some perilous use of barrels and planks.

The music worms its way into our ears and takes root. At once familiar in its mix of pop, musical theatre, country and some serious balladeering; but unique enough to sound fresh and lyrically holding its own against the onslaught of wordplay in the book. From the rousing opening number ‘Corn’, through the obligatory ballads (mostly given to McShera); Seadon-Young’s bluesy ‘Bad’ and Onuorah’s showstopping ‘Independently Owned’, the numbers are a delight. This isn’t high art, but the spirit (and the corn) is sky high. An elephant’s eye wouldn’t come close. The fun factor is dolloped on as thick as melted butter on crispy corn on the cob. If it’s possible, this musical is tastier even. Sweeter, cheesier and packed with joy. One taste and you’ll be wanting to go back for more.

RIDE THE CYCLONE

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★★★

“You come away feeling slightly giddy, but feeling good”

RIDE THE CYCLONE

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 19th November 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Danny Kaan

Recently reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

RIDE THE CYCLONE

RIDE THE CYCLONE

RIDE THE CYCLONE

SHUCKED

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

★★★★★

“The fun factor is dolloped on as thick as melted butter on crispy corn on the cob”

SHUCKED

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Reviewed on 20th May 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Pamela Raith

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SHUCKED

SHUCKED

SHUCKED

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