Honk Jr: A Twist on UGLY DUCKLING!

The "geese" were outfitted in the red baron look in their "flight suit" here in their bomber jackets, goggles, the mother duck is on the right with her farmdress and apron. In the background are the swans, all dressed in white.


A month or so ago, I drove a couple hours north to see my niece, Katie perform in a "high school musical" HONK. JR. a Broadway, Jr. Collection. This took place in a town near where they live.

This school district allows homeschoolers to participate in activities, which is really nice and since the population is so sparse in that county, it allows homeschoolers a chance to do things that can't be done in their homeschool groups because there's not enough students to even try something like a full-scale musical.

Here is Honk, Jr. as a "teen" and Katie, my niece, playing the part of a froglet in her light camo and behind them are the other bullfrogs from the swamp that Honk Jr. was "lost" in. They were outfitted in the most clever costumes!

Besides being able to see Katie, and thinking she was great (which she was, she has a great voice and can really act!), I thought the musical was an excellent production. Aimed at kids, it had plenty of fun for the adults in the audience and lots of good humor.

From the set, to the quality of the writing, clever songs (soundtrack here), excellent choral and solo singing, to the costumes, it was all superb! There were songs that were funny, songs that were serious, and the story line had its own twist, so it wasn't something that was boring or mundane because it went exactly like the children's book you'd heard as a kid.

Bullfrog, here to the left of Honk Jr. was an awesome actress and singer. Last Labor Day she was in an ATV accident, and she still has problems with her memory and severe headaches every day from a serious concussion she sustained in the accident; and in spite of all that she still remembered all of her lines and delivered her songs in fine style, she was one of the favorite acts and the outstanding character that night.

She received a standing ovation during curtain call and I was thrilled for her, even without knowing her story!
Her "smash" song of the night was called "Warts and All!" It was both hilarious and touching. Lyrics here.

The costuming was so creative: I mean, I'd pity someone who would have the job of realistically outfitting a whole cast in life-like duck, goose, turkey and hen costumes!? So...for the costumes I give it an A++! Someone had creative ideas that could be done easily and still be believable. I loved it!

Here Honk Jr. is pictured with a "flight attendant" who in the musical was a goose. I thought that was clever because you think of flight when you think of geese. The costumes were clever and inventive in face of a small budget and a small stage crew. There were only four or five people were in charge of the set and the costumes. The set was painted by one woman and her daughter: they painted the whole set did the barn and all the set decoration.

This high school only has 40-50 students per grade, so the whole senior high is less than two hundred students. An amazing outcome for such a small cast and crew. They had community involvement along with choir and other students could try out for parts because the choir was so small they couldn't fill all the slots!

Here is Katie in her role as a "baby duckling". All the baby ducklings wore yellow, except for Hank Jr. of course, he was different and dressed in brown.

Here are three of the "geese". Two of the kids are new to the area coming from Wisconsin.

Here's the "ducklings" again, of course I had to get my Katie in there! Love that girl!

It was so much fun to go watch Katie do her thing! Katie's siblings came from Illinois and Wisconsin to see the musical, and I was really happy to see them, too. I was very impressed with the quality of the singing, acting and set design. I enjoyed all the songs, the humor and the story.

I wish you all could have seen it with me, the quality was second to none!

Congratulations, Katie to you and all your castmates, you worked hard and did a wonderful job!

Great job, Katie and all the cast and crew!

Here are the "teen" ducklings.

The barnyard cat was hilarious and so believable, her funniest song "You can play with your food before you eat!" (Lyrics here.) She spent the whole play trying to "eat" Honk Jr, in spite of Mother Duckling's warning about the dangers of cats.

The barnyard "turkey" had pillows stuffed in her "skirt"...so clever!

The set was made to look like a pond at the outside with cattails. Loved that barn and wanted to bring it home.

Mother Duckling "Ira" with her "swan" son, "Ugly" when he was all grown up and ready to get married to the love of his life "Penny" who is in the background here with the white wedding dress and the long white gloves, a beautiful swan.

Thanks for a wonderful evening!