GetOut Magazine

'Ugly Duckling' tale wins over family audiences
By MAX McQUEEN
Get Out
Oct. 15, 2002

It had to take a giant of a musical to beat out The Lion King for the 2000 Olivier Award for Londons best musical. Right?

Wrong. Actually, Disneys African extravaganza was outdone not by a lavish spectacle with a cast of thousands but by, of all things, a little show for kids: Honk! The Ugly Duckling While its not a particularly memorable piece, it is a clever, cute and slightly cynical song-and-dance take on Hans Christian Andersens "The Ugly Duckling."

Given its overt family friendliness and with-it sensibilities, Honk! has already been performed by local junior and senior high schools. But Valley Youth Theatres production is the first by a community troupe.

Mark my words, in the next decade Honk! will be mounted a dozen times in the Valley. However, director Bobb Cooper has already set the standard with a handsome staging of an admittedly slight show.

What was it about Honk! that bowled over Londons notoriously hard-to-please critics? Thats easy. Its cheekiness.

Not that writer Anthony Drewe skewers Andersens duckling with low self-esteem with tongue pointedly in cheek. Rather, he takes ever-so-gentle potshots at the stereotypes common to childrens stories. He pulls off the near impossible task of putting a sly twist on a fairy tale without resorting to high camp or below-the-belt mean-spiritedness.

Drewe introduces abandonment issues from the start by having Father Duck a Mr. Drake (smartly done by Maurice Dupree Green) leaving the nest as soon as the clutch hatches. That leaves poor Mama Drake (Alyssa Drake yes, thats her last name whose doting mother would turn June Cleaver green with envy) all alone to raise a brood, plus a misfit gosling aptly named Ugly. Surely, every human mom in the theater sheds a tear when Drakes heartbroken mom breaks out on Every Tear a Mother Cries.

With Uglys loner status firmly established, Brandon Rivard gets down to business as the honking title figure. The young Gilbert actor imbues Ugly with an unabashed sincerity that makes it easy for playgoers to join in this simplistic journey of a social outcasts search for a place in the sun, not to mention his family.

On his odyssey, Ugly meets helpful types such as a bevy of bullfrogs. Led by Anthony Jackson, they jump for joy on Warts and All. Other characters on Uglys sojourn would just as soon have the poor boy for lunch, if you catch my drift. That would be Cat, played with suave villainy by Chad Gilbert.

Well assume everyone knows Ugly turns out not to be a lowly mallard but a majestic swan. This self-discovery unfolds in Transformation, a climactic its-OK-to-be-different sermonette thats a little too preachy. Nevertheless, Rivard stays true to the materials earnest tone, not once being undone by the sheer honkiness, er hokeyness of it all.
Musical director Mark Feareys seven musicians buoy Honk! with a crisp sound, ably supporting the players with composer George Stiles catchy melodies. Costumer Karol Cooper has great fun with the wardrobe. Instead of hiding the actors in creature outfits, she gussies them up in human clothes appropriate to their characters attitudes and aptitudes. For instance, as the turkey, Or Skolnik dons a jacket suggestive of turkey feathers.

Robbie Harpers choreography serves the plays fowl movements well. His best work, however, is showcased on Warts and All, in which frogs seem to leap out of a Busby Berkeley spectacular. Set designer Greg Jayes woodland marsh is so inviting it seems to have popped out of a storybook.
The Oct. 13 matinee was packed with preschoolers who proved to be restless natives through much of the production. True, some of the inside jokes went over their heads, such as when some sweet gullible goslings are gunned down (off stage) it is hunting season, after all. However, the plays length and unfamiliarity likely taxed their patience more than the innuendoes geared for grown-ups did.

Honk! will probably be best enjoyed by 5- to 9-year-olds who appreciate fairy tales for what they are. That said, Honk! will also strike a chord with teens and adults who get a kick out of slightly fractured fairy tales that play the genre not for great belly laughs but for constant chuckles. Such is the case with Honk! This little musical that could is sure to join Annie, Charlottes Web and Grease as a staple for youth theater for years to come. We can only hope its not honked to death.

Honk! The Ugly Duckling

Who Valley Youth Theatre
Where: 525 N. First St., Phoenix When: 7 p.m. Friday, noon and 3 p.m. Saturday, 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Ends Oct. 27
How much: $12
Info: , Ext. 2
Grade:B