Honk!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Honk! is a musical retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, mixed with a theme of pro-tolerance. With a book and score provided by British songwriting duo Stiles and Drewe (George Stiles and Anthony Drewe) aimed mostly at children and their parents, Honk! opened in 1993 at The Watermill Theatre in Newbury, originally titled "The Ugly Duckling or the Aesthetically Challenged Farmyard Fowl". A revised version opened at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1997 under the name Honk!. The London premiere was a Royal National Theatre production in the suburb of Chapham on December 11, 1999, where it ran for several months. The musical won the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical, beating The Lion King. The show is frequently played by schools, as well as regional and community theatre groups in Britain, the U.S. and Canada.The Junior version is now currently being performed at numerous schools including St. James WO Cincinnati[1]
The story features an ugly duckling who discovers his inner beauty by becoming a swan, his tearful mother Ida, his dad, who 'ducks' his responsibilities, a gaggle of comical geese, a sly tomcat who just wants to play with his food, a wisecracking bullfrog, and other such barnyard creatures together with lots of 'fowl' puns that would make Shakespeare blush. Memorable songs include "A Poultry Tale," "Warts and All," "Look at Him," "Play With Your Food," "Now I've Seen You," and "Different". Honk has been performed in many cities and in many countries. The Junior version is now currently being performed at numerous schools including St. James WO Cincinnati.
Contents |
[edit] Scenes And Music
[edit] ACT I
- SCENE 1: Various locations around the duckyard. Spring.
- 1. A Poultry Tale - Ida, Drake, Turkey, Henrietta, Maureen, Cat, Grace and Ensemble
- 1a. Poultry Playout - Optional Instrumental
- 2. The Joy of Motherhood - Ida, Maureen
- 3. Different (pre-reprise) - Ida
- 4. Hold Your Head up High - Ida, Ugly
- 5. Look at Him - Ida, Drake, Ugly, Henrietta, Turkey, Cat, Grace, Billy, Beaky, Downy, Fluff, Maureen
- 6. Different - Ugly
- SCENE 2: The Cat's lair, inside one of the farm buildings
- 7. You Can Play With your Food - Cat, Ugly
- 7a. Lost - Ugly
- SCENE 3: The duckyard, later that evening
- 8. The Elegy - Company
- 9. Every Tear A Mother Cries - Ida
- SCENE 4: The marsh. A late summer morning
- 9a. Goose March - Instrumental
- 10. The Wild Goose Chase - Greylag, Dot, Snowy, Barnacles, Pinkfoot, Ugly, Cat
- 11. Act One Finale: Hold Your Head Up High (Reprise) - Ida, Ugly
[edit] ACT II
- SCENE 1: The Old Woman's Cottage. Late Summer
- 12. Entr'acte - Instrumental
- 13. It Takes All Sorts - Queenie, Lowbutt
- 13a. Tom Cat Sting - Instrumental
- 14. Together - Cat, Queenie, Lowbutt
- SCENE 2: The Duckyard. Late autumn
- 15. The Collage - Drake, Ida, Company
- SCENE 3: A collage, various locations.
- SCENE 4: A ditch on the moors. Late autumn
- 16. Now I've Seen You - Ugly
- 16a. Pre-Warts - Instrumental
- 17. Warts And All - Bullfrog, Ugly, Froglets, Company
- 17a. Warts Off - Instrumental
- 17b. Post-Warts - Instrumental
- 18. The Blizzard - Company
- SCENE 5: The open countryside. Late winter
- 19. Transformation - Ugly, Ida, Penny
- 19a. Melting Moggy - Cat
- SCENE 6: The duckyard. Early spring
- 20. Act Two Finale: Look At Him (Reprise) - Company
- 21. Curtain Calls (Bows) - Instrumental
- 21a. "Red Arrows" Bows Music - Optional Instrumental
- 21b. Curtain Calls: Warts And All (Reprise) - Company
[edit] Characters
- DRAKE - Ugly's father
- IDA - Ugly's Mother
- UGLY - The ugly duckling. Gawky and odd-looking, good swimmer
- CAT - Trying to eat Ugly, sly and cunning, hungry
- BARNACLES - A member of the Goose Squadron
- BULLFROG - Laid-back, self-confident frog
- BEWICK - A swan from Penny's family
- DOT - Female goose, Greylag's Wife
- DUCKLINGS - Ugly's siblings (Beaky, Fluff, Billy, Downy) high pitched cute voices
- FARMER (Voice Only)
- FATHER SWAN - Penny's father, Mother Swan's husband
- FISH- they swim
- FROGLETS - Children of Bullfrog
- GRACE - Most distinguished duck on the lake
- GREYLAG - Admiral Goose, Dot's husband, a considerably bad navigator
- TURKEY- The school's Headmaster
- HENRIETTA - Neighbor, Maureen's friend
- LOWBUTT- Domesticated Hen, friend of Queenie
- MAGGIE PIE/JAY BIRD - TV Journalist, very "in your face", can be cast female or male
- MAUREEN - Ida(or Drake)'s sister
- MOTHER SWAN - Penny's mother, Father Swan's wife
- OLD WOMAN (Voice Only) - Owner of Queenie and Lowbutt
- PENNY - A beautiful Swan
- PINKFOOT - A member of the Goose Squadron
- QUEENIE - Domesticated Cat
- SNOWY - A member of the Goose Squadron
[edit] Story
[edit] Act I
The story of Honk! begins in spring with Drake, Ugly's rather irresponsible father, who opens the play by singing about life on the duckyard (A Poultry Tale). He is joined by a rooster, the Turkey and his wife Ida, and soon the everyone jumps into singing the song about life on their funky farm. Ida and Maureen pull off and begin to sing about the one problem on the duckyard, the Cat and his taste for baby ducklings. At this point the Cat jumps in, unnoticed by the rest of the ducks and sings his disgust for all of them (except for the ducklings of course). As the Cat dreams of eating the fresh newborns, Maureen finally notices him and Clucks at him in order to scare him off (the script calls for Maureen to say "Bagadhackada Bagadhakcerder" at that point). Soon the entire duckyard goes frantic and succeeds in scaring the cat away. After a sigh of relief the group continues there song and stops only for Grace, the most beautiful duck on the lake, Grace sings of her grandness and the song soon comes to an end.
As the song ends Drake attempts to sneak away form Ida but it's too late, Ida already saw him. Ida points out all the responsibilities Drake is ignoring. Ida and Drake's nest has five eggs in it that are ready to hatch. Four are normal duckling eggs but the fifth is a rather large brown egg. Drake believes it's a turkey's egg and Ida points out how ridiculous that sounds. In the end Drake leaves and Ida returns to her nest and awaits her new ducklings. She begins to sing about the joyous rewards a mother enjoys (The Joy of Motherhood) and is soon joined by her friend (and probably sister, it's hinted but never directly stated), Maureen. Neither can wait until Ida's eggs hatch and they talk about the wonders and fears a mother can experience about her ducks. They are stopped though by a tapping thats coming out of the eggs. Soon Ida and Maureen begin to mimic the tapping. The four "normal" eggs hatch to reveal four wonderful ducklings, Beaky, Downy, Fluff and Billy (Interesting side note- Ida never names her kids. She simply begins calling them by those names). Ida and Maureen are overjoyed about the ducklings. Maureen accidentally insults Ida by telling her how much the ducklings resemble their father. Ida, a little peeved, asks Maureen to go fetch Drake. Maureen admires the ducklings once more and heads off. The ducklings attempt to run off and explore, but Ida pulls them back in to set some ground rules. She quickly notices that only four of her five ducklings have hatched. The ducklings, ecstatic to find out that they'll have a new member to their gang soon notice that duck number five's egg is huge compared to their eggs. As they bombard Ida with "It's not fair" Drake jumps in and proclaims that he's the duckling's father.
It's time to teach the ducklings how to swim, but Ida refuses to leave her nest until all her eggs have hatched. Drake and the ducklings leave and Ida begins to sing about how the fifth duck is different (Different pre-reprise), and then it happens. The fifth egg hatches to reveal a gawky, nerdy duck who immediately screams "HONK!". Ida's in shock and tests him to see if he's a turkey ("If I say butterball, does that scare you?"). She's overjoyed that he is in fact a duck. She quickly begins to teach him to swim (Hold Your Head Up High). She begins to teach him the basics and soon realizes that he has an amazing skill at swimming. They are joined by dancing fish who immediately scare Ugly (again this duck is never formally named, he just begins being referred to as Ugly). The fish dance and sing. As we return to Ida and Ugly, Ida is exhausted from swimming but Ugly is just warming up. Ida soon realizes that she can't swim as well as Ugly. Exhausted, Ida pleads that they should stop. Ugly asks for one more lap around the lake. They continue singing about how no matter what you should hold your head up high.
As the song ends, Drake and the ducklings walk in and are horrified about Ugly. Drake immediately believes it's a monster and tries to pull Ida away from Ugly. Ida points out that Ugly is Drakes son. Drake tests him to see if he's a turkey by, sneaking up behind Ugly and yelling "CRANBERRY SAUCE", but Ugly doesn't even flinch (for those of you that don't get it, the joke is that if Ugly is a turkey he'll be afraid of anything Thanksgiving themed).
It's now time for the ducklings to meet the farmyard, but Drake and the ducklings are ashamed that Ugly's part of their brood. As Ida tells them not to make fun of him. She also tells them to beware of the cat. They begin to point out everything about Ugly that they hate (Look at Him). It starts with simply the four ducklings pointing out his Ugliness, until Ugly yells at them for being rude. Maureen walks in and sees the brood. She adores the ducklings until she sees Ugly. She pulls Ida off to the side to get the scoop on what went wrong. Ida, offended, tells Maureen she's no pin-up duck either. Maureen gets offended herself and walks off to get some of the frenchbead that the farm children are throwing into the lake. Ugly jumps in and asks why the ducklings hate him so much, the ducklings, however, simply continue to make fun of him. Ida and Drake begin to fight over Ugly. Drake can't have Ugly ruining Drake's reputation, but Ida sees nothing wrong with Ugly. Henrietta jumps in and points out Ugly's faults. She begins to make fun of Ugly and claims he should just be thrown to the Cat. The Turkey jumps in and begins to point how ugly Ugly is by using cooking analogies. The entire group begins to point out his faults at once until the Cat jumps in. Again, the Cat goes unnoticed by the rest of the ducks as he points out how great a meal Ugly is and how easy it will be to lure Ugly away. This time Cat manages to sneak off unnoticed as Grace enters so the new brood can greet her. Ida tells her ducks to simply bow and quack. Billy, Downy, Beaky and Fluff bow and quack. Finally, It's Ugly's turn. He bows, comes up and screams "HONK!" Now everyone begins to gang up on Ugly and proclaim his hideousness. Ida has had enough and jumps in to stop everyone. Ugly is her son and she loves him. Everyone else is horrible for making fun of Ugly. She claims that the Duckyard would be boring if everyone was the same. This however doesn't help and everyone continues and they begin to physically gang up on Ugly. The song ends with Ugly surrounded by everyone pointing straight at him singing "Look at Him!"
Drake turns to the Turkey and claims if he's been messing around with Ida. The Turkey claims there's no way he could have a kid as ugly as Ugly. Ida, enfuriated, tells the Turkey that he won't be so full of himself come thanksgiving, causing the Turkey to shudder. Grace walks up to Ida and tells her how wonderful her brood is, except of course for Ugly. Ida respectfully, tells her that she wishes people would stop making fun of him. Then, Maureen jumps in, overjoyed about the frenchbread. Everyone runs over to try it, Ugly being left out. As he tries to Honk his way in Everyone looks at him and Grace tells Ida that she's going to have to do something about his Honking. They all run off stage when Maureen yells "Look, Croissants!". Ugly tries to follow but Beaky stops him and tells him He's too big for his age already. Ugly is in despair. Why is everyone making fun of him? He tries to Quack but each time he just ends up honking. He soon realizes he is simply different (Different). He doesn't understand whats wrong with being different. He sings that he simply wishes to get along. But everyone hates him and he doesn't understand. When he finishes, the Cat sneaks up behind him and begins to lure him away by pretending to be his friend. Ugly at first doesn't believe him, but after the Cat offers lunch to Ugly, he happily accepts the Cat's friendship but says that first he's going to ask his mother for permission to go to lunch. The Cat tries and fails to stop him. As Ugly tries to ask for permission Ida is too busy with the other four ducklings to listen. The Cat jumps in, and this time succeeds in luring Ugly away. Henrietta begins to continue the onslaught on Ugly's looks. Ida yells at her for making fun of her son when she realizes that Ugly is nowhere. Ida goes from being worried to being in a panic. Ugly is gone! Drake says that Ugly probably went to the lake to swim. The entire group breaks apart in order to find Ugly.
Meanwhile, in a farm building that doubles as the Cat's lair, the Cat is preparing to make Duck à L'orange. Ugly mentions that Ida must've been wrong when she told him to beware of the cat. The cat finds this comment funny and tells Ugly about comments the cat's mother had about life, (You Can Play With Your Food). As he is singing he asks Ugly what game he would like to play. Ugly begins to sing about playing childhood games but the Cat assures him that they should play "something sharp and witty". The cat continues to sing about playing with your food, but Ugly jumps back into childhood games that would be fun. The Cat returns to a game that'll end in lunch and he and Ugly have a Tom and Jerry-esque game of hide and seek that ends with Ugly in a pot ready to be cooked. The song ends with everything ready for the meal except for one dead duck, but before the Cat can finish the job, Ugly hears a noise coming from outside. The Cat recognizes it as Children playing outside in the farm and becomes side tracked ranting about how some people shouldn't keep pets. Ugly asks what people are and the Cat tells him that people are nothing but bad news. Finally the Cat is back on track and about to kill Ugly when the kids outside toss a ball through the window that hits the Cat in the head. Ugly jumps out of the pot to hide as the Cat falls in, unconcious. Ugly, thinking the Cat is simply hiding from the people, runs off to find a hiding spot himself and quickly gets lost.
Back at the duckyard, all hope is lost. No one can find Ugly and an elegy is sung, for his funeral (The Elegy). Everyone believes Ugly was eaten by the Cat, except for Ida. Just then Someone jumps in pushing everyone back and Jay Bird (This character can be boy or girl, however if it's played by a girl, then the character is called Maggie Pie instead of Jay Bird) interrupts and begins to interview Ida for "America's Most Feathered". Drake has called in Jay Bird to interview the family. He claims he did it to "Get one up on the Pelicans". Drake tries to get himself interviewed but Jay Bird is only interested in Ida, who is not interested in being interviewed. Jay Bird continues to push Ida to talk about Ugly and leaves the last few moments of the interview to Ida. Ida sings about what it's like losing one of your childeren (Every tear A Mother Cries). Ida can't stand it. She must go searching for Ugly. She leaves the other four with Drake and goes off to search for Ugly, but not before Drake hands her a cell phone.
Now in mid-summer, our story continues in a marsh, far far away from the duckyard, two geese are making their way through when they're stopped by a lost duckling. Ugly can't find his way home and begs for these two geese to help him. One of the geese, Greylag, simply ignores Ugly and tells the other goose, his wife Dot, to do the same. Dot, however, sides with Ugly and says that they should help him out. The Geese tell Ugly that they are migrating. They decide to go on a reconnasaince mission in order to find Ugly's farm. The only problem is that a shoot is going on in the marsh. Greylag decides they'll take the mission and calls the others by yelling "Company fall in!" and three other geese, Pinkfoot, Snowy and Barnacles come running in. Greylag, after yelling at them for their poor soldier skills, informs them of a dangerous mission they are about to partake in. Dot translates for the geese about Ugly getting lost and their need to find his farm. Greylag, begins to give his version of what they need to do (We're Off on a Wild Goose Chase). As they sing, Dot makes it clear that "his cabin lights are rather dim". When Dot asks Greylag how they're going to find Ugly's farm, Greylag says he'll navigate. Dot replies with "Thats what I was afraid of". As they continue to sing the Cat sneaks on stage and calls out to Ugly. However, Greylag immediately jumps inbetween them and thretens the Cat to back off, but Greylag doesn't scare the Cat. The Cat comes up with a dubious plan and offers to help the Geese's mission. The Cat offers to go to the shoot and tell Greylag when they're finished. Greylag unwittingly accepts his offer, but warns him not to try any funny business. The Geese continue to prepare for their mission and Dot gives a comedic monologue as if she was a stewardess. The Geese continue their song and once again are interrupted by the Cat who claims the shoot is over. Greylag and the Geese begin to prepare for their mission and Greylag hands the Cat a parachute. The Cat realizes Greylag has no intentions of leaving Ugly and the Cat alone and mutters "Oh, Cat Litter!". The Geese head off to the shoot which is still going on and get shot down. As Ugly, who didn't go on the mission with them (It's a reconnasaince mission, remember!) realizes the Cat had lied he begins to stress over what he should do next. At this point Ida shows up on stage singing Hold Your Head Up High (Hold Your Head Up High Reprise). Ugly hears her and joins in, but neither sees the other. In the song both of them claim that soley the fact that the other is out there somewhere will help them to get by, and until they see eachother again, they'll hold their heads up high. This song ends Act I
[edit] Act II
Act II begins in autumn at the house of the Old Lady (VA) letting her two domesticated animals, Queenie and Lowbutt, inside while she sweeps the leaves from the front porch. Ugly, seeing the door was open has decided to come in to shelter from the cold. He hears the Old Lady and hides from the people under some pillows on a couch. Queenie and Lowbutt come in preparing for a quiet afternoon. However, Queenie notices that there are several muddy footprints left on the shag carpet. Lowbutt and Queenie soon realize that there is an intruder in their house. Lowbutt notices that whoever snuck into their house burst one of their pillows. At this statement, Ugly pipes in "Hey, I'm not a burst pillow!". Due to the way he looks, Queenie and Lowbutt are unsure what he is. When Ugly claims to be a duck, they point out that he might be too ugly to be a duck. Queenie says "Well she must've been sick as a parrot when she saw you". At this, Lowbutt laughs and calls Queenie a funny cat. Ugly, realizing from the statement that Queenie is a cat, cowers in front of her and pleads not to be eaten. Queenie becomes offended claiming how disgusting eating birds is and compares it with simaltaneously eating and flossing. Ugly also asks Lowbutt why a chicken wouldn't want to be outside. Lowbutt claims that the most comfortable place is on the couch. Queenie and Lowbutt begin to sing about the great difference among everyone and how they only like their kind (It Takes All Sorts). In the song Queenie and Lowbutt claim that the best place in the entire world is inside, on a couch, but Ugly disagrees. After the song is over the three begin to talk about their favorite things to do. Queenie and Lowbutt love indoor things like sewing but Ugly loves outdoor things like swimming. Just then, the grandfather clock rings, Lowbutt and Queenie are missing the antique show. As they turn on the TV Jay Bird and Ida show up, continuing their story on the missing duck. Ugly recognizes his mama and Queenie runs into the kitchen to call the station and inform Ida where Ugly is. Just then the doorbell rings and in comes the Cat, this time he's disguised (poorly) as Drake, Ugly's father. Ugly sees through the disguise and tries to warn Lowbutt, but Lowbutt truly believes that the Cat is Ugly's father. The Cat tries to drag Ugly away when Queenie comes running back in. The Cat immediately falls in love with Queenie, but Queenie only sees him as another duck. The Cat removes his Drake disguise and Queenie realizes him as a cat. She too falls in love. The Cat, not wanting to lose Ugly, ties him up. Lowbutt has now figured out that Queenie and the Cat are now hopelessly in love. The Cat and Queenie begin to sing of their happy lives together (Together). As they sing Lowbutt pushes them apart and tries to snap Queenie out of it, but to no avail. Queenie only has eyes for the Cat now. The Cat and Queenie continue to sing and Lowbutt has no choice. If Queenie won't snap out of it, Ugly will just have to lure the Cat away. Lowbutt runs over to Ugly and unties him while the Cat doesn't notice. Ugly runs out the door and Lowbutt begins to pretend that Ugly escaped. The Cat listens in horror as Lowbutt sings of Ugly's escape. The Cat must now choose, Ugly or Queenie. In the end, the Cat chooses Ugly over Queenie and runs out the door, leaving Queenie in tears. Lowbutt goes to Queenie and consoles her, singing how together, they will overcome this heartache.
Back at the farmyard, Ida has left the other four ducklings under Drake's care. Drake is forced into some responsibility and now that the ducklings are almost a year old, their beginning to give Drake a hard time as teenagers. Drake sings about how he finds no "Joy of Motherhood" (The Collage). He begins to realize how Ida puts up with all the problems of Motherhood on top of the problems he created.
The scene switches to Ida now singing about her determination to search everywhere for Ugly, (This song is still The Collage). The ensemble sings about the slim slim chance of her finding Ugly. The song is interrupted when Drake and the Turkey talk of Ida not calling drake (and sending him a rather peculiar postcard), and again when Ida runs into Greylag and Dot, who give Ida a map, and agian when Ida runs into Lowbutt and Queenie, who believe Ida is just another Tomcat in disguise. The song ends finally with Ida on the cell phone that Drake gave her. Ida claims to know where Ugly is heading. However, the Cat begins listening to her conversation and figures for himself where Ugly is. Ida realizes who's listening to her and chases the Cat offstage.
The next scene begins with Penny in late Autumn, a rather pretty swan who has unfortunately been tangled up on some left over netting in a ditch on the moor. As she screams "Help!", Ugly runs in and sees her. Ugly falls in love with Penny, but with him being so ugly he's afraid to say anything, for fear of what she will say. Ugly helps Penny get untangled and Penny's mother calls from offstage. Penny is on her first migration and needs to head out but she doesn't want to leave Ugly by himself in the cold, especially when Ugly tells her that he hasn't seen his flock since last spring. Penny tells Ugly to come with her but Ugly refuses, claiming he can't fly as well as Penny. In the end Penny leaves Ugly. As soon as Penny leaves, Ugly spews his feelings for Penny out to the audience (Now I've Seen You). As he finishes, he realizes someone as beautiful as Penny wouldn't remember someone as ugly as him. Just then, a Bullfrog comes hopping by. Ugly waits for the Bullfrog to call him ugly and run off laughing, but the Bullfrog claims to be ugly as well. The Bullfrog begins to teach Ugly how to look "on the sunny side of the lilypad" (Warts And All). The song teaches Ugly that no matter what someone out there will love you. The Bullfrog is soon joined by his froglets who continue the song with him. Ugly begins to feel better as the song progresses and joins in himself. As the song ends Ugly feels ten times better and thanks the Bullfrog for his time in helping Ugly feel better about himself. The Bullfrog hops offstage and Ugly begins to hum the song to himself. Suddenly, a net drops on Ugly's head. The Farmer (VA) has caught a plump little duckling for his family's Sunday roast. Unfortunately for the Farmer, he has left his knife in the car and walks off to get it. While he's gone the Cat sneaks back onstage. He notices Ugly's predicament and offers a deal. The Cat will lead Ugly back to the farm and let Ugly see Ida, but then Ugly has to promise to be the Cat's lunch. Ugly agrees to this deal and both of them head back to the farmyard.
As the two are heading back to the farmyard they get caught in a mid-winter blizzard. The chorus is in the backyard singing to their deadly endeavor through this blizzard (The Blizzard). Ida unfortunately has gotten caught in this blizzard as well and passes right by Ugly without even noticing him. Unfortunately Ugly and the Cat freeze in the blizzard. As Ida notices two lumps of snow, she runs to the one of Ugly and pulls out his head. Ida believes Ugly is dead and bursts into tears. Penny, her parents, and Bewick come to Ida and tell her to cry, that her tears of hope will save Ugly. Ida wishes she could believe Ugly was alive, but she can't and she bows her head and cries. Soon Ugly begins to move, slowly he moves more and more and soon he's completely free of the snow. Ugly is no longer a duck, Instead he is now a beautiful swan. When he realizes this he lets out a large "Honk!" He sees Ida and yells "MAMA!" The two begin singing about how the fact that the other was out there helped them get by, and now they will continue to hold their heads up high (Transformation). Penny notices Ugly as the cygnet who saved her earlier. She begins to sing of how she feels about Ugly. Ugly returns her feeling of love and the two kiss. The swans tell Ugly it is now time to come with the swans and learn their ways, but Ugly refuses. He wishes to stay with Ida. Ida however pushes him towards the swans and eventually Ugly chooses to go with the swans. As they fly off Ida sings of Ugly and how he was different. As she watches the swans fly off she counts them, "One...Two...Three...". Suddenly Ugly reappears on stage with Penny and yells out another "Honk!" He and Penny have decided to go with Ida and be the first Swans on the lake. Ida accepts happily and the three head off, but Ugly stops them. He has one more lick of business. Ugly frees the Cat who has remained frozen this entire time. As the Cat notices Ugly is not a duck but a swan. The Cat goes insane and begins to sing messed up versions of different songs in the play. In the end the Cat runs away screaming "Take me to the Betty Fuur Clinic".
The play ends when Ugly Penny and Ida return to the lake.(Look At Him Reprise) Everyone loves Ugly now that he's a swan. They ask for his forgiveness for making fun of him and the four ducklings ask him to be the leader of their pow-wow. Ugly happily accepts their apology and introduces his new mate, Penny. Even Grace walks in and decides that Ugly is now the grandest bird on the lake. The song continues to say that no matter what believe in yourself, even if it's hopeless. If you do that then in your own way you too are a swan. The play ends when everyone yells "HONK!"
[edit] References
- Information about Honk!
- Review that includes historical information about the musical
- Review that includes a discussion of the score of the musical
