Honk!

What a delightful way to spend snowy December afternoon in the company of an enthusiastic and talented group of young people.  Although this musical, based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of the Ugly Duckling, was not originally written for young performers, it translates well to youth theatre with its storyline eventually celebrating individuals’ differences.

As always with this group due to time constraint of use of the performance venue, it had a very basic set with furniture as required and good use of lighting to create the various changes of location.  There were some lovely ideas; the television watched by Lowbutt and Queenie was effective and I really liked the snowstorm, simple but clever.  The show started with a bare stage with a raised platform with reeds and rushes around the edges and five ‘eggs’, complete with nappy pins, there were four ‘eggs’ the same size and one ’egg’ which was much larger.  The open stage was able to accommodate the large numbers of chorus members but with careful lighting did not seem too large with smaller groups.  Most of the costumes were fairly simple and most of the main characters were recognisable, but I could have done with a bit more help in trying to identify some of the birds.  It was a clever transformation from Ugly Duckling to Swan.

The ensemble of poultry, fish and frogs was made up largely of younger members of the group, were well disciplined as they sang and danced their way through their numbers.  They were relaxed and obviously enjoying being part of the production and always well supported by the older more experienced members.  The named characters were mostly confident in their roles, with everyone acting well but with a little less confidence and volume with some of the solo singing.  All the duets and ensemble numbers were well sung.  My favourite avian group in this show is the geese and they certainly lived up to my expectations.  They had smart military uniforms worked with military precision when in formation, and were very funny in the drill, which was reminiscent of Dad’s Army; their departure in plane formation with the swivelling propeller was lovely.

There was a great deal in this show to appeal both to adults and children, and everyone had worked so hard to bring the audiences a delightful and entertaining show.  Well done everyone and thank you for an enjoyable afternoon.

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