Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling Review - Theatre Thursday

Last Saturday, my boys and I took a trip up to Red Bank to the Two River Theater for Opening Night of Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling. What an incredible show!

First, let’s talk opening night activities

Fabulous finger foods
Beautiful Ducky Centerpieces
Disco Duck Dancing
Projects to make and take
Balloon Play

With all these activities planned, my boys had no time to be bored before the show.

We found our seats and were impressed. The Two River Theater was beautiful. It was large enough to hold a nice size crowd but still small enough that every seat in the house felt like a good one.

You might think you know the story of the ugly duckling, but you’ve never heard it like this before. Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling tells the story of Ugly an odd-looking baby duck. With all the teasing Ugly faces for being ugly, even from his siblings and dad, Ugly looks to get away. As a result he is lured away from his home by a a trouble some cat. By the time Ugly realizes what is going on he is far from home without knowing how to find his way home. On his journey home he runs into several other animals.

A hilarious group of geese
a self-confident bullfrog
a domestic cat and chicken
and more

From the opening number when Ida (Kenita Miller) sang about waiting for her eggs to hatch we were in awe. Ida has an amazing voice that fills the theater. Through Ugly’s (Paolo Montalban) facial expressions and acting we could feel the emotions he was feeling. All of the characters were just amazing. Their acting, their voices, had the audience on the edge of their seats.

The four young children who played the roles of ducklings and the frog children were a pleasure for my kids to see. It was the first time they saw older children in that role. It was hilarious to see them hopping from trampoline to trampoline during the froggy song.

My boys loved Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling and as a mom I loved that while they were entranced with the scenery and colorful characters they were also learning important lessons.

Love – A mother’s love is unconditional and can get you through anything. Ida loved her little Ugly duckling even though he was different from her other ducklings. It was her love that kept them going on their search to find each other.
Safety – Don’t wander away from mom without letting her know where you are going. The road back home can be long and scary.
Trust – Listen to mom, you can’t trust everyone. Some will act nice but have ulterior motives. Tom Cat was always acting so friendly to Ugly. Ugly could not see through to the Tom Cat’s motives until later in the show.
Self-esteem – There is beauty in everything. Ida could see that in Ugly. Being different doesn’t make you ugly. It is our differences that make us special. As Ugly took his journey he found others along the way that could show him that. Yes, in the end he does turn into a beautiful swan, but more importantly he realized that it takes all kinds of animals or people to make a community and that each of them is special.

This holiday season this is a show you want to see! Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Ducklingis playing until January 1, 2012.