Honk! Jr.: The Musical, a play with a message of tolerance and lessons about bullying, hits the stage in song at The Belfry theater, 10690 Greenfield Ave., Noblesville, starting at 8 p.m. tonight.
Honk! Jr. is a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Ugly Duckling,” incorporating a message of tolerance. The book and lyrics are by Anthony Drewe and music is by George Stiles. The musical is set in the countryside and features Ugly, a cygnet that is mistaken as an ugly duckling upon falling into his mother’s nest and is rejected by everyone but Ida, a sly tomcat who only befriends him out of hunger, and several other barnyard characters.
Cavan Doyle and Katelyn King (Photo provided)
Producer Bob Hammett told The Reporter this play has been in production for over two months.
“We have 20 cast members ages 5 to 13,” Hammett said. “We also have eight or 10 student crew members including a student producer and student director. They are older kids ages 13 to 19.”
Turning a group of young actors with various levels of experience has been a challenge. The credit, according to Hammett, goes entirely to the three directors.
“It is a gift of the main director, the music director and the dance director,” Hammett said. “When the [young actors] came in, they generally acted their ages. Over the last few months the directors have molded them into a nice team of actors and dancers and singers. They have instilled confidence in them, letting them know that they can do it whether they think they can or not. The directors have showed them how to get to that level of confidence, which is really what the show is about. In the show, Ugly has to have confidence in himself even though every else around him doesn’t and they think he’s different. It’s the same process, believe it or not.”
Hammett got involved with the Belfry Theater last year and brings a great deal of experience to the table for this community theater.
“I went to the children’s musical, Camp Rock, last year,” Hammett said. “I’ve been involved with church theater for the last 30 years, but that was my first time going to community theater. I went in and introduced myself and have been involved in every play – except one – since then. I’ve acted, ran sound, assistant directed, built staging and worked stage crew.”
This time he is producing and mentoring several of the young people to learn how to design and run sound in a theater.
The production runs over the next two weekends, July 26-28 and Aug. 2-4. Tickets and showtimes are available at TheBelfryTheatre.com.
The show is performed in two acts with a 20-minute intermission.
“You can go out and get concessions during intermission,” Hammett said. “We are having a fundraiser where you can buy a duck and on the bottom of the duck is a winning number. Every duck is a winner. We are raising money for the theater. All the money from the concessions go to our scholarship fund. We give a scholarship to one of our apprentice players every year.”
Reservations are recommended for all performances. Walk-ins are welcome but will be placed on a waiting list for sold out performances. Whether a season ticket holder or not, it is always advisable to make reservations early to avoid being disappointed.