Mean Girls<\/a>\u201d adaptation,\u00a0brought a queer sensibility to the role that won Ellis over immediately,\u00a0even before the corn kick line could.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cWhen I saw him do it, I went, \u2018I have to play that part.\u2019 I didn\u2019t necessarily think like I have to play that part the exact same way\u00a0Grey did,\u00a0but I saw it done so successfully that it made me want to take a crack at it,\u201d\u00a0Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellis\u00a0brings his own authenticity to the role, enhancing\u00a0a character with no textual queerness.\u00a0He is excited to show that to his aunt, uncle and cousin who live in San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The quest for\u00a0the absolute best show every night\u00a0is not without reason. <\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien believes that getting people with opposing views and all walks of life in a room and laughing together is magic.\u00a0The tour has stops from Texas to Ohio.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is, I\u2019m as despairing and upset as anyone in the country at how far apart we have begun to move,\u201d\u00a0O\u2019Brien told the San Diego Union-Tribune. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at each other over a vast abyss and no one is moving. But if I can put 1,100 people together in a space and they all laugh, I\u2019ve done something, I think, to move the needle forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
New, yet nostalgic<\/p>\n
Despite rave reviews as one of the funniest musicals of all time, the cast of \u201cShucked\u201d have an uphill battle in reaching the audience, based on some metrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many of the Broadway shows successfully\u00a0making their production investments back\u00a0are revivals and classics.\u00a0New musicals and plays are\u00a0nearly always\u00a0based on\u00a0familiar source material, like the \u201cBack to the Future\u201d franchise or \u201cOutsiders\u201d book.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Amid a sea of adaptations, there are few success stories of wholly original works. <\/p>\n
\u201cShucked\u201d is one of the more recent. \u201cThere\u2019s that excitement, but there\u2019s also a big level of responsibility,\u201d\u00a0Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Newness aside, it still hits the\u00a0emotional comfort many crave when seeking out\u00a0classic musicals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis show makes me feel super nostalgic,\u201d Ellis said. He saw the show six times when it was on Broadway. \u201cIt feels like a golden age musical in terms of storytelling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The conman in a small town hearkens back to \u201cMusic Man.\u201d Book writer Robert Horn drew inspiration from variety TV show \u201cHee Haw.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nashville songwriters\u00a0Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally wrote music and lyrics in songs like \u201cIndependently Owned\u201d that are already being used as audition materials in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since it doesn\u2019t rely on animatronics and flashy sets, Ellis expects the show to be picked up by local and regional theaters. He says he can\u2019t wait for his own high school to stage it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In other words, it\u2019s a classic in the making. <\/p>\n
For those who want to see the fresh production by a top tier cast with its original director, buy tickets at broadwaysd.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Overview: Shucked Ellis\u00a0brings his own authenticity to the role, enhancing\u00a0a character with no textual queerness.\u00a0He is excited to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1144,81441,3549,7264,31459,1148,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-134841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-comedy","12":"tag-musical-comedy","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-shucked","16":"tag-theater","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115005582446712180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Shucked\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Tyler-Joseph-Ellis-as-Storyteller-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Maya Lagerstam, left, and Tyler Joseph Ellis performing as storytellers one and two in \u201cShucked.\u201d (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman\/courtesy Broadway San Diego)<\/p>\n