MADISON, Wis. — Packed with more than 180 jokes, “Shucked” is making its Wisconsin premiere this year, as its first national tour travels across the country.

The show — which yes, does center around corn, which of course could appeal to many Midwesterners — earned nine Tony nominations and a Tony win.

Danielle Wade, who plays Maizy, is no stranger to tour life. Counting “Shucked,” she has now worked on three national tours.

“It’s a whole different life, in the best way,” she said when asked about being on the road.

Danielle Wade as Maizy in "Shucked." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

“Packing your life in two suitcases is quite the adventure.”

She’s no stranger to Wisconsin, either. She lead the “Mean Girls” first national tour as Cady Heron, which made stops in Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton in 2022.

When she was on the road in “Mean Girls” her then-boyfriend, now-husband, was also on tour with the show, performing alongside her. However, now he’s back in New York working on a Broadway show. While he’s able to come visit Wade often at various cities she’s performing in, she admitted it is hard to be away from him.

However, “Shucked” was an opportunity she just couldn’t pass up.

We caught up with the actress before the show makes its Wisconsin premiere to find out what makes “Shucked” so special to her:

Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin: What got you interested in “Shucked?”

Danielle Wade: I saw the show on Broadway when it first came out. I loved it. It was one of those shows where I had no idea what was happening or what it was about before I got there, and I walked in and I was like, “This is amazing. This is so sweet, so funny. Everybody is so talented. How do I get to be a part of this story?” And I had actually attended with my agent and we both turned to each other at intermission and I was like, “I gotta do this,” and he was like, “You gotta do this.” So we figured out how to do it.

I originally auditioned when they needed a Broadway replacement and I didn’t end up getting it. I auditioned again for the tour. I think I did three rounds of auditions for that and you read for the writer, and then you get seen by the director and the whole creative team. You do one final callback with the company that they are trying to assemble and you see if you’ll match each other and you hopefully get a call in a couple days and you don’t go too crazy and wait to see if you get the job or not.

Spectrum News: How did you react when you found out you booked the role?

Wade: Oh, I was so excited [when I found out I booked the role]. It was one of those auditions — I don’t have them very often — where I was like, “If I don’t book this, I don’t know what else I could have done.” And I think that’s a really good place to be. You feel like you did your best, you did what you wanted, and I was like, "I think that’s it. I think that’s all I could have done." So either way I was proud of myself.

Danielle Wade as Maizy and Erick Pinnick as Grandpa in "Shucked." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

Spectrum News: If someone asked you what the show was about, and they had never seen “Shucked” or knew nothing about it, what would you tell them?

Wade: I mean, it is about corn, but it is about a lot more than that. I keep trying to explain it to somebody, like an Uber driver, and they were like, "Well, it’s about corn."

It’s about this small town called Cobb County and it’s entirely encased in corn and on my wedding day, to my childhood sweetheart, the corn starts to die. So I call it off. I decide to leave Cobb County, which no one has ever done, and save the corn. And I go to the only logical place: Tampa. I meet this man named Gordy Jackson, who is a con man, but I don’t know that and I bring him back to Cobb County, and then chaos and hilarity and all of the things ensue.

The cast of "Shucked." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

Spectrum News: And how would you describe your character, Maizy?

Wade: I think [Maizy] is very brave and I think she’s braver than she even knows she is. It’s just a fun thing to play. What a beautiful element of a person to play because she’s making choices without ever knowing the answer but she’s doing it anyway. She’s very kind and she leads with kindness in her heart and it definitely gets her all confused sometimes.

Danielle Wade as Maizy and Miki Abraham as Lulu in "Shucked." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

Spectrum News: Do you relate to her in any way or have you learned anything from your character as you’ve stepped into the role?

Wade: I think both. I think I am very very similar to my character. But I also, she does things that I would never do in a million years, but I kind of love it. I’m like, "Wait, maybe I should have a little more bad decision in my life than I do. Let myself get a little crazier than I ever have." But the beautiful part about the whole show is every character is flawed, just like every human is flawed in real life and they don’t know their flaws in the beginning of the show but they know them by the end. And they know how to navigate the world in the body that they’re in which I think is really quite beautiful for a musical about corn.

Jake Odmark as Beau and Danielle Wade as Maizy in "Shucked." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

Spectrum News: What do you hope people take away from the show?

Wade: The goal that we’re trying to accomplish up there, all of us, is one, it’s just a good time. Life’s not that serious and we can laugh, in a time where we need to laugh a little more than usual. And, to accept other people… It’s to accept others for what they are. You don’t have to like ‘em. You don’t have to love ‘em, but you don’t have to be mean to them either. 

"Shucked" runs at the Overture Center for the Arts from Feb. 4 to 9. Find ticket information, here.