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Downton Abbey’s Sophie McShera to join Back to the Future star Ben Joyce & Hamilton’s Georgina Onuorah in Shucked

Award-winning Broadway musical comedy Shucked is finally transferring to London, playing the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre this summer 2025.

The news was announced today during the venue’s 2025 season launch.

The Broadway director of the show, Jack O’Brien (Hairspray), will direct the London premiere, with Shucked running at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre from 10 May to 14 June 2025.

The show will star Monique Ashe-Palmer (Standing at the Sky’s Edge) as Storyteller 1, Ben Joyce (Back to the Future) as Beau, Sophie McShera (Downton Abbey) as Maizy, Georgina Onuorah (The Wizard of Oz) as Lulu, Keith Ramsay (The Play That Goes Wrong) as Peanut, Matthew Seadon-Young (The Baker’s Wife) as Gordy, and Steven Webb (Here You Come Again!) as Storyteller 2.

Further casting is to be announced.

Joining Jack O’Brien in the creative team are: Lucy Adams (Associate Lighting Designer); Myles Brown (Associate Choreographer); Nathanael Campbell (Associate Director); Ben Davies (Associate Set Designer); Aundrea Fudge (Voice & Dialect Coach); Jill Green CDG (Casting Director); Tilly Grimes (Costume Designer); Carol Hancock (UK Wigs, Hair & Makeup Designer & Supervisor); Jason Howland (Music Supervisor, Orchestrations & Arrangements); Olivia Laydon (Casting Associate); Ingrid Mackinnon (Intimacy Support); Caity Mulkearn (Associate Costume Designer); Mia M Neal (Original US Hair & Wig Designer); Jack O’Brien (Director); Sarah O’Gleby (Choreographer); Scott Pask (Set Designer); Michael J Passaro (US Production Supervisor); Greg Pink (Associate Sound Designer); Katy Richardson (Musical Director); Tom Shiels (Casting Associate); John Shivers (Sound Designer); and Japhy Weideman (Lighting Designer).

The country music musical has songs by Nashville-based composers Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, with a book by Robert Horn (Tootsie).

In the show, Maizy and Beau are getting hitched, when the corn that protects their small community starts to die. The town needs answers. But who will dare to venture beyond the borders of Cob County?

Songs from the show include ‘Woman of the World’, ‘Somebody Will’ and ‘Independently Owned’.

Shucked finished up at the Nederlander Theater in New York in January 2024, having opened in March 2023. It closed on Broadway despite running at 85% capacity and grossing around $750,000 a week. The show is now touring the US.

The Broadway cast of Shucked starred Alex Newell, who won a Tony Award for their performance in the show, plus John Behlmann, Kevin Cahoon, Andrew Durand, Grey Henson, Ashley D. Kelley, Isabelle McCalla.

Back in October 2023, the producers confirmed that the show was coming to London, opening at a Cameron Mackintosh-owned Delfont Mackintosh venue in winter 2025. There’s no current news of a West End transfer for the show following the Open Air.

Shucked on Broadway. Photo by Mathew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Shucked on Broadway. Photo by Mathew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Shucked is part of Drew McOnie’s first season as Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The director and choreographer joined the venue in January 2024.

Other musicals playing during Regent’s Park’s 2025 season include a new adaptation of Lerner & Loewe’s classic musical Brigadoon, starring Danielle Fiamanya & Louis Gaunt.

Last year’s musical at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre was Jordan Fein’s new production of classic Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. That show proved a huge success, and is transferring to London’s Barbican Theatre this summer, from 24 May to 9 July 2025.

Shucked is playing Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre from 10 May to 14 June 2025.

More about Shucked tickets at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London

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Main photo: Shucked The Musical - Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

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