Honk!: History and Key Facts

Honk! is a musical adaptation of the 1843 Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, incorporating a message of tolerance. The book and lyrics are by Anthony Drewe and music is by George Stiles (of the British songwriting duo Stiles and Drewe). The musical is set in the countryside and features Ugly – a cygnet who is mistaken as an ugly duckling upon falling into his mother's nest and is rejected by everyone but Ida (his mother), a sly tomcat who only befriends him out of hunger, and several other barnyard characters.

The musical opened at the Watermill Theatre in England in 1993. The West End production opened in 1999 and won the 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical

The show is frequently produced by schools, as well as regional and community theatre groups in Britain, the U.S. and Canada.

Source and attribution

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