When a show describes itself as a ‘musical comedy' in its title, it really is setting itself up to live or die by the number of belly laughs it elicits from its audience.
In Shuck's case, its humour is steeped in American sitcom tradition. The jokes are quickfire and, similar to The Book of Mormon, it masquerades as sharp and edgy but, to British sensibilities, it is actually a gentle, quaint style of comedy.
And, in part, that is a good thing. Silly humour is clearly what the world needs right now by way of escapism. We are seeing that in our theatres, both here in London and across the pond.
While some jokes land and do get the belly laughs Shucked was accustomed to receiving on Broadway, others fall flat and fail to land even in a charming, irreverent fashion.
It is funny, but maybe just not as funny as it thinks it is and unfortunately falls short of the comedy standards set by recent shows such as The Comedy About Spies, Police Cops and even Operation Mincemeat.
But there is enough to keep audiences entertained and when one joke doesn't land, like a Jimmy Carr stand-up routine, there is another along at least 10 seconds later to try again.
However, the rapid-fire one-liners do start to wane to the point of becoming irritating by the end of this two-and-a-half hour show.
Thankfully, though, this is a supremely talented company and they work furiously hard to elevate Robert Horn's at times patchy book. Georgina Onourah (playing Lulu) predictably, for anyone who has seen her perform previously, steals the show with the show-stopping ‘Independently Owned'.
Meanwhile, Ben Joyce gives a standout performance as Beau, both vocally and by landing the comedy beats as well as anyone else on the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre stage.
Sophie McShera is spirited and vivacious as Maizy, a character who is desperately seeking help to turn around the fortunes of Cob County's corn. In doing so, she meets Gordy (Matthew Seadon-Young) and their chemistry sparks some of the show's funniest dialogue.
The show is framed as a fable told by two storytellers played by Monique Ashe-Palmer and Steven Webb, who work so well together but it does get a little pantomime in places.
Sarah O'Gleby's choreography is fun and really shines during the barrel-infused dance number ‘Best Man Wins', while Scott Pask's set design is imaginative, if under-utilised.
One of the stranger elements to the production, though, is how Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's score, which does have plenty of great numbers, feels so tonally disconnected from Horn's book. The book scenes are so pithy but the songs are, on the whole, quite sincere.
Overall, Shucked is good fun, you'll have more than a handful of laughs, but if you come expecting a knockout musical comedy to leave you rolling in the aisles, you may be a little underwhelmed by the end.
Shucked is playing at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until 14 June. For ticket information, see here.
Review: Tom Ambrose Photos: Pamela Raith