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Honk!

Since it first hatched in 1993, Honk! – a charming twist on Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Ugly Duckling’ – has winged its way around the world in over 11,000 productions, 1,100 of which were in the UK and Europe.

Honk! was the first ever new British musical to be produced in the history of the National Theatre.

Seen by over 6 million people, Honk! has won multiple awards including the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical, beating The Lion King and Mamma Mia!

This show has also been adapted for young performers and a separate license is available for that version below.

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"Imagine the colour and wit of Disney’s Jungle Book, mixed with the vivacity of ‘40s Hollywood musicals, exuberantly staged, and you still only have some idea of how stonkingly brilliant this treat is..."

Time Out

Story

Spring has come to the farmyard. Drake, the Mallard duck, and his long-suffering partner, Ida, await the birth of a new brood, but the nest seems to contain one inordinately large egg this year.

Sure enough, it cracks open to reveal a chick who looks nothing like his siblings and who makes a strange ‘honk’ sound instead of the expected quack.

Ida warms to him, though, and takes him out for his first swim on the lake and finds him to be a prodigious swimmer.

The other farmyard fowl, however ridicule him, driving him into the eager paws of The Cat, who invites him back to the “Kitty Kat Snack Shack” for lunch.

Ugly escapes by the skin of his teeth, but with night falling he becomes lost. On his quest to find his Mum, he encounters a squadron of Geese, the delightfully barmy Queenie & Lowbutt and a Tyranassaurus-rexy Bullfrog. Between them, they cheer Ugly’s spirits and teach him to look on the sunny side of life.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, a very concerned Ida insists that Drake and the others launch a search.

Before winter sets in, Ugly encounters Penny, a beautiful young swan who seems to have a connection with him, but she’s forced to migrate with her family. All seems lost with the onset of a terrible blizzard and the return of the famished Cat. With the arrival of spring, however, Ugly, Ida and Penny are happily reunited before their triumphant return to the farmyard.


History

HONK! first hatched in 1993 at the Watermill Theatre, with the title The Ugly Ducking or The Aesthetically-Challenged Farmyard Fowl. 

In 1995 it was seen for the first time in the USA at Sag Harbour, Long Island.

In 1997 Julia McKenzie came on board as director and persuaded Sir Alan Ayckbourn to programme HONK! at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough that Christmas. With designer Peter McIntosh and choreographer Aletta Collins, a blueprint for the show was created under it’s new title, HONK!

HONK!’s big break came in December 1999 when Sir Trevor Nunn invited Julia to re-stage her production in the National Theatre’s largest space, the Olivier Theatre. It was the first ever, new British musical to be produced in the history of the NT.

In 2000, to everyone’s amazement, HONK! won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical – beating both The Lion King and Mamma Mia to the prize.

Since then it has been produced globally as it is published by MTI.




Audio Files

Store

Warts And All Buy Sheet Music
Now I’ve Seen You Buy Sheet Music
Together Buy Sheet Music
Every Tear A Mother Crys Buy Sheet Music
Play With Your Food Buy Sheet Music
Different Buy Sheet Music
Look At Him Buy Sheet Music
Hold Your Head Up High Buy Sheet Music
The Joy Of Motherhood Buy Sheet Music
A Poultry Tale Buy Sheet Music
Honk! Libretto Buy Now
Honk! Songbook Buy Song Book
Honk! Cast Recording Buy CD
Honk! Demo Recording Buy CD Available on iTunes