Honk!
Written by: Anthony Drewe
Directed by: Steve Drinkall
June 2018
HONK! Is a wonderful musical for all the family, based upon the classic Ugly Duckling story by Hans Christian Anderson
When Ugly hatches it is clear he is 'different'. His mother loves him unconditionally but he is shunned or ridiculed by everybody else. The Cat befriends him, but he sees Ugly as a meal rather than a friend. Ugly escapes from the Cat and soon becomes lost. He journeys through the big wide world trying to find his way home and along the way he meets numerous characters; a pompous military goose, a domesticated chicken and her feline friend, a cheery bullfrog and a young swan. All these characters help Ugly in finding who he is and learning that 'different' doesn't matter. His journey is constantly shadowed by the Cat who still has gastronomic intentions! All the while his mother is searching for him, but as winter closes in her search becomes more and more desperate.
Will she find her son in time? Will Ugly be spared from the clutches of the Cat? Will Ugly's journey end happily?
HONK!
Music by George Stiles
Book & lyrics by Anthony Drewe
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with
Music Theatre International (Europe)
All authorised performance materials are also supplied by MTI Europe
Cast List
Reviews
This is a delightful story, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Ugly Duckling. Blackmore Players have produced a nice evenings entertainment with many of the cast playing 2 or even 3 different parts!
They all did very well, with plenty of variation between each of the characters they played. The three Principals were all good. Thomas Hughes played Ugly and he had the character perfectly. He had developed some very' duckling-like' mannerisms which made his performance quite memorable. It has been nice to see him develop over the years he has been performing with the Players and he did very well in his first lead role.
Matthew Pearson played the cat, quite different from how I've seen the character played in the past and I really liked this interpretation. He had a lot of energy on stage and this brought the menace of the character to life.
Lisa Rawlings played Ida, the mother duck beautifully. She held my attention when she was on stage and we felt for her anguish at not being able to find her 'other' son.
The rest of the cast worked extremely hard at all their characters and there were some lovely individual performances, notably from Bill Edwards as a truly memorable Bullfrog. Hilary Martin (Maureen) and Rosemarie Nelson (Grace) both produced nice characters. And a special mention for the three ducklings, Alana (Downy) Chloe (Billie) and Lucia (Beaky). Together they were a lovely team.
The set was simple but affective, however, although the Kit Kat Snack Shack looked great, I feel that the time it took to set it up and strike it was actually not worth the final effect. The rather long blackout and the noises off with the movement and set up slowed the pace if the show a little too much. Not to mention that it took po so much space on the stage that Matthew was very restricted in performing Play With Your Food. Such a shame as he was very energetic and could have done with more space to move about in.
The costumes were good, quite creative in giving the impression of the character without actually making them look like the animal, I liked that.
Overall the cast performed well, and the audience seemed to enjoy the show.
Tessa Davies, NODA