If I say, “HONK!”, you probably don’t think of a fantastic, Olivier-Award winning musical by the brilliant team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Nope. You probably think of car horns, clown noses and geese. If you do think of geese, you’re certainly on the right track.
You see, HONK! is a distinctly British musical based on the Hans-Christian Anderson tale of “The Ugly Duckling.” You know the story. A bunch of ducks are hatched one morning. One of the eggs is big, brown and ugly. The resulting duck is also quite big… brown.. and ugly. Everybody mocks him. He runs away. He has an adventure. His mother searches for him. In the end, he turns out to be a swan. He’s beautiful, and everyone rejoices. The end.
Although it may seem like a concept best suited for children’s theatre, HONK!, in the able hands of Stiles and Drewe (best known for their additional music in Mary Poppins) turns out to be a brilliant evening in the theatre for all ages.
In the case you have heard of HONK!, it’s probably due to the immense regional and community theater success it’s found in the United States. Music Theatre International even released a “Junior” version of the show, and it’s been a popular choice since the early 2000’s. Despite this, HONK!’s journey has been an interesting one to say the least.
The idea came to Anthony Drewe when he purchased an anthology of Hans-Christian Anderson tales, and realized that the story of “The Ugly Duckling” was, at its heart, a universal tale of acceptance and of being yourself. Before long, he and George Stiles “hatched the show” as a Christmas panto at the Watermill Theatre in 1993. By 1999, after some rewriting, a title change, and some new creative team members, legendary director Trevor Nunn shepherded the production into the West End. It became a giant hit, and went on to beat out both The Lion King and Mamma Mia! for that year’s Olivier Award for Best Musical.
Kind of a big deal, right? Broadway’s next, right?
Unfortunately for us, it wasn’t to be. Due to its extremely British sensibility, Stiles and Drewe thought it would be best to have some workshop productions in the U.S. before rushing into New York. A version was performed at the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, and soon after a revised version went up at the North Shore Music Theatre in Massachusetts. The latter would go into licensing, and the rest is history.
The show has always been hard to market. I mean, who wants to pay to see a musical version of “The Ugly Duckling”? It doesn’t sound too spectacular, and it’s understandable why Broadway has yet to be a welcoming home for HONK!.
It’s really too bad, though. Why? Because HONK! is a ridiculously great show. That’s why. Today, we always hear such a clamoring for the grand old-fashioned musicals. Where is the romance? The hummable songs? The witty lyrics? The lovable featured comedic roles? Get this- the happy endings? Well, HONK! has it all. It’s a musical with everything you want from an evening in the theater and more. Where else can you see an entire cast suddenly transform into a kickline of bullfrogs? Or a Tom-and-Jerry-esque chase sequence between the Ugly Duckling and a cat?
HONK! is one of a kind, and I hope that with it’s regional popularity, Broadway might just open its doors to the farmyard poultry in the near future. If nothing else, I hope this blog can serve as a small P.S.A., helping to continue to get the word out about this delightful piece of theater It may be the greatest musical you’ve never heard of.
Photo via RedBankGreen