My wife and I saw two musicals in six days at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady: Come From Away and Shucked. We have been waiting to see Come From Away for half a decade. Our subscription had us attending the show in September 2020, which obviously did not happen.
Then, the show was rescheduled for January 2022. I don’t remember whether we didn’t go because we had a conflict or COVID was still lingering. Albany County was in code red at some point in that month because our church choir wasn’t singing.
At some point, we were offered the opportunity to see the live performance of Come From Away, filmed at “the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City, where the Broadway production is staged, for an audience that included 9/11 survivors and frontline workers.” But I wanted to see people on stage.
Finally, on Sunday, March 16, we got to go right after church. It’s a remarkable story: “7,000 people are stranded in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland after all flights into the US are grounded on September 11, 2001. As the people of Newfoundland graciously welcome the ‘come from aways’ into their community in the aftermath, the passengers and locals alike process what’s happened.” Know that Gander only has about 9000 people.
The cast of about a dozen and half people played several roles, first the people in the town living their lives, the mayor’s negotiating with the bus drivers over a contract, etcetera. Then, they were the passengers on a plane who didn’t know what was going on and why they were landing in an obscure part of Canada until well after they landed.
It’s a very inspiring story in one act. Catch it on tour if you can. Afterward, I couldn’t help but wonder why the US’s current attitude toward Canada is so hostile.
Hee Haw
SHUCKED is corny, so your enjoyment may depend on your taste. From the New York Times article, I learned that Shane McAnally and [Brandy] Clark, “who composed the show’s music and wrote the lyrics, are two of Nashville’s most successful musicians. He’s co-written or produced 39 songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart, and she has 11 Grammy nominations.”
Meanwhile, book writer Robert Horn had been working on a storyline since 2011, commissioned to write essentially a musical of the syndicated television hit Hee Haw. The three developed “Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical” in 2015. It didn’t work, but it evolved with the addition of another team member, director Jack O’Brien, and was helped by the pandemic, which gave them more time to hone the story and music.
“The leading lady is named Maizy,” who, of course, is named after “her grandmother.” “She hails from Cob County, and that’s just the start. The show is both about corn, and corny in an audacious way.” The structure involves narration from two leading Storytellers.
“The good songs and jokes in ‘Shucked’ are so plentiful that secondary characters all have a spotlight or two… Beau’s brother Peanut’s punch lines are nearly Dada-esque.”
I went into SHUCKED blind, aside from knowing about its Tony pedigree. It’s a musical comedy meets prototypical hero’s journey. Why is the corn dying?
The music was great, the story was serviceable. Ultimately, I laughed a LOT, more than my wife, I observed. It’s scheduled to be performed at least through mid-2026.
For the past few weeks, I have received these wonderful missives from Bethlehem Indivisible labeled Today’s Actions. As a citizen who’s lived long enough to know voter suppression when I see it, the first item is particularly meaningful to me.
It’s always helpful to know one’s strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is that I am no good at April Fools. Every April first, I think about writing something humorous. I’ve thrown up some groan-worthy jokes, but creating a fictitious narrative? I got nothing.