Honk!

There is a real feeling of community when you enter the doors of the Ingatestone & Fryerning Community Theatre. From the friendly front of house team to the lovely ladies selling charity raffle tickets, the audience enters into a welcoming environment created by local people for local people. After all, that is exactly what community theatre is all about. So “Honk! the musical was exactly the right choice to showcase not only the talent in the area but also prove what is possible when a community comes together to offer the skills and services needed to stage a show. Looking at the credits in the programme it is apparent how much of the success of this show is down to the cast themselves and also friends/family of the group.

 

Based on the famous tale of The Ugly Duckling, “Honk!” is very much about community too. How it can be difficult to fit in when you are “different”. It is a story of love, bravery, prejudice, acceptance and ultimately forgiveness. It also happens to be one of my favourite musicals! I know it inside out, have watched it many times and performed in it myself many moons ago. This means that I know this is actually a far more complex piece of musical theatre than it’s colourful and rather fluffy exterior would have you think.

 

Ingatestone found a well suited cast for this production – not always easy with a show that is pretty much an ensemble piece. I am sorry that I will not be able to mention everyone in this big cast but please be assured that without exception everyone performed well and committed to their characters.

 

Firstly I must applaud Deborah Fisher as “Ugly”. This is the first time I have seen the role played by a woman and I am aware that would raise some musical challenges. For the most part she was required to sing an octave up and Deborah handled this really well. Particularly during some challenging harmonies. I really enjoyed her sweet, knock kneed approach to the role and the audience genuinely had sympathy for the character. Really well done.

 

Ugly’s Mum, Ida, was nicely done by Denyse Donnell. Denyse came across as a very experienced performer. Her character was suitably motherly toward her ducklings, fiercely protective of Ugly and perfectly cutting towards, yet tolerant of her husband Drake. Denyse had some good solo moments and harmonised well. “Every Tear a Mother Cries” probably my favourite song in the show, was lovely.

 

Steve Critchell as Ugly’s reluctant Father, Drake, gave a jack the lad style portrayal and got lots of laughs from the audience. I enjoyed his interaction with the brilliant ducklings, Sydnee Donnell, Nina Battley, Olivia Battley and Ruby Cuff. Together with Denyse they made a believable family unit.

 

The plot of this show largely revolves around the evil Cat, constantly chasing Ugly, ready to fill his belly with various duck recipes. Jeremy Martin did well here in what is a challenging role. I appreciated how he was able to switch between accents for comedy value – from thick French accent to Cockney. Not easy but he made it seem so. Only little niggle here – I would have preferred more movement during the number “Play With Your Food”. There is room for so much comedy and physicality in this song. I also lost some of the dialogue but there were some microphone issues so it may have been down to that. But still a good performance that I really enjoyed.

 

Possibly the most loved and most memorable number in the show is “Warts and All”. Always a show stopper it was an absolute delight. Led by the larger than life Richard Nicoll as the Bullfrog who befriends Ugly and shows him that not looking a certain way doesn’t mean you can’t still be fabulous. Costumes in this number were fantastic and we could see how much the cast were enjoying themselves. It was a shame not to include a reprise/encore of this number as is usually done.

 

Other notable performances to mention, Anne Horemans as Ida’s best friend Henrietta, Richard Pennicard as Greylag, Sarah Dodsworth as Turkey, Lizzie Clark as Lowbutt, Emma Dyos as Queenie and Edith Cuff as the beautiful Penny. All well suited to their roles and adding to the overall success of this ensemble piece. Also a special mention to the talented Lulu Dodsworth in her role as Dot and as the soloist during the Blizzard. I have seen Lulu perform before and she is a joy to watch. Again, apologies for not being able to mention everyone in detail.

 

Costumes were good for the most part. The idea in this show is to give a nod to the look of the animals the characters are portraying without actually becoming a pantomime version. So for me there should not have been ears and tails for example – instead an alternative that could be structured to resemble a characteristic – in the hairstyles maybe or clothing. While Ida looked great I would have preferred to see her in white rather than yellow, perhaps with a cap to represent a beak. Yellow should be kept for the ducklings (who all looked perfect). However, I thought Ugly’s costume was spot on and the subtle changes to it during the performance were a great choice. Starting with a blazer and long socks, then switching to white tights and fluffy tank top. Subtle but these little attentions to detail are really appreciated. The swans also looked wonderful.

 

Set wise we were treated to some well designed projections that worked nicely. Not many scene changes here and the ones there were happened quick enough with just one or two that would have benefitted from some covering music from the band. The umbrellas used for Ugly’s final transformation were a nice addition but I would have preferred to see the ducklings hatching at the beginning from eggs. Just an opinion but I think it would have been more effective. Lighting was simple but added nicely to the scenery, particularly in act 2 during the winter scenes. The red lights during “Play With Your Food” were a little blinding and at some points shone directly into the audiences’ eyes making it tricky to see but otherwise lighting changes were timed and balanced well. Sound was a bit of an issue but I’m putting this largely down to it being opening night when these things always happen. A few of the microphones were distorted at times and there were several late mic cues but I have no doubt this will improve during the run. I really do appreciate the technical difficulties that come with putting on a full scale musical in a community venue.

 

The band, led by MD David Sherman, were all excellent. It was lovely to see how well they supported the cast during some difficult intros. The balance was a little out at times with some of the vocals feeling a bit quiet, especially in the ensemble numbers, but I could hear some nice harmonies coming through. I just wanted a bit more vocal volume so we as an audience could better appreciate them.

 

Choreography was kept simple but worked well and I liked how the different types of farmyard animals kept their characters during movement. “Wild Goose Chase” was superbly done and just how I hoped it would look.

 

I really did enjoy my first trip to Ingatestone. This is clearly a group that loves what they do and pulls together to bring a high standard of theatre to it’s community. I laughed, sang along and was reminded what a beautiful musical this is. It was also great to get to chat to Director Mike Dodsworth who seemed justifiably proud of his cast and creative team for their efforts. Thank you all so much for a lovely evening. In the words of Ugly “Now I’ve Seen You” … I hope to see you all again very soon.

 

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