Honk! is a musical retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, mixed with a theme of pro-tolerance. With a book and score provided by British songwriting duo Stiles and Drewe (George Stiles and Anthony Drewe) aimed mostly at children and their parents, Honk! opened in 1993 at The Watermill Theatre in Newbury, originally titled "The Ugly Duckling or the Aesthetically Challenged Farmyard Fowl". A revised version opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1997 under the name Honk!. The London premiere was a Royal National Theatre production in the suburb of Chapham on December 11, ...Read More
Honk! is a musical retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, mixed with a theme of pro-tolerance. With a book and score provided by British songwriting duo Stiles and Drewe (George Stiles and Anthony Drewe) aimed mostly at children and their parents, Honk! opened in 1993 at The Watermill Theatre in Newbury, originally titled "The Ugly Duckling or the Aesthetically Challenged Farmyard Fowl". A revised version opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1997 under the name Honk!. The London premiere was a Royal National Theatre production in the suburb of Chapham on December 11, 1999, where it ran for several months. The musical won the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical, beating The Lion King. In Ireland the show won Best Musical in 2003 from the Association of Irish Musical's and came second place in the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera in the same year. The show is frequently played by schools, as well as regional and community theatre groups in Britain, the U.S. and Canada.
The story features an ugly duckling who discovers his inner beauty by becoming a swan, his tearful mother Ida, his dad, who 'ducks' his responsibilities, a gaggle of comical geese, a sly tomcat who just wants to play with his food, a wisecracking bullfrog, and other such barnyard creatures together with lots of 'fowl' puns that would make Shakespeare blush. Memorable songs include "A Poultry Tale," "Warts and All," "Look at Him," "Play With Your Food," "Now I've Seen You," and "Different". Honk has been performed in many cities and in many countries.
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