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CTC Family Guide 
Honk! The Ugly Duckling Musical 
A detailed description of the play, including things to do and think about, for parents to share with their families.
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A Synopsis of the Story
At the beginning of a glorious summer day, out behind the farmhouse by the pond, Drake, the duck, is singing of the charm of farm life. Ida, his missus, is sitting on a nest of eggs and their fowl friends join them in anticipation of the new brood. There is also a Cat, whose anticipation of the ducklings is strictly epicurean. There are five eggs: four are what you'd expect to find in a duck's nest, one is anything but. It's big, it's brown, and it's late.
Four ducklings hatch while Drake, a less than devoted daddy, is off with the rooster counting chickens, but the big egg just sits there. Drake comes home in time to give the foursome a swimming lesson. Ida remains on the nest and soon is rewarded with a crack and a "qu-onk" as Ugly hatches. Oh my word! She tests him to see if perhaps he is a turkey and is relieved to find that he can swim and has no negative reaction to the word "Butterball." He's a fabulous swimmer, in fact. She's never seen a duckling like him, and loves him straight away, but her response is not shared by Drake or the ducklings. In fact, the entire barnyard is confused, and not in a good way. None of the others accept him. They won't let him get at his share of the croissants the children toss. Only the Cat likes him, saying, "Now that's what I call a snack."
When the Cat befriends Ugly and asks him home for lunch, he is bamboozled and goes along. Ugly is hungry. So is the Cat. While Cat begins preparations for a supersized portion of Duck a l'Orange, the ducks realize Ugly has gone missing and begin to search. It's a little boy's baseball that saves Ugly, though, knocking the Cat out cold just at the right moment. Ugly runs in the wrong direction, and he is lost.
Ida and Drake go on America's Most Feathered, to make a plea for their missing son. Drake seems to want his face on television more than anything else, but Ida is heartsick. She sets off in search of Ugly and leaves Drake to watch the ducklings. Meanwhile, Ugly runs into a gaggle of geese. Greylag runs his flock with military precision. His mate, Dot, humors him. The geese are keeping a low profile while hunters roam the marsh, but eventually the squadron decides on a mission of reconnaissance and reunification. In other words, they will fly up and find the farm so Ugly can go home. The Cat has been tracking Ugly, and pops up unexpectedly. Cat tricks the geese into flying directly into enemy fire. There is a huge volley of gun shots and a single white feather falls from the sky. Ugly is utterly dejected.
Six months later, Drake is tired of being a stay-at-home dad, and Ida is still looking for her son. Far from home, Ugly finds a beautiful, young female swan, Penny. She's not much older than he is, and she's tangled in fishing line, trapped. He frees her just in time for her to migrate with her family. She invites him to come along, but he can't fly yet, so she promises to come back in the spring. He doesn't believe she'll return. Why would anyone as beautiful as Penny remember such a homely ugly duckling? When he tells his troubles to a Bullfrog, however, he doesn't get much sympathy. Face it, says the frog, "they don't come much more aesthetically challenged than me." Bullfrog convinces Ugly that somewhere out there is someone who is going to love him - warts and all.
Just as things are looking up, a farmer drops a net over Ugly, thinking he'll make a nice Sunday roast. Cat pops up once more, frees Ugly, and promises to take him home. Sure he'll eat him once they get there, but at least Ugly will get to see his family one last time. On the way home a winter storm comes and buries the cat and bird beneath a huge drift. Ida finds them this way and weeps for her son. The swan family enters, and they encourage her to continue. The warmth of her tears will melt the ice. It does, and when Ugly emerges from the drift and sees his reflection in the puddle of melted snow, he realizes he is a swan! Penny tells her parents that this is the cygnet she told them about, who saved her last spring. Ugly is astonished to find out she knew he was a swan all along.
Ugly and Ida agree that he should migrate with the swans; he should be with his own kind. The swans invite Ida to come along too, but she feels entirely too dowdy to associate with such elegant creatures. Besides, Drake and the ducklings need her at home. The swans fly away. But then Ugly and Penny come back! They decide to make their home in the farmyard. Ugly can't leave Ida behind. He doesn't care whose egg he came out of, Ida is his mom. She raised him, and that's what counts. Besides, it takes all sorts to make a world, there have never been swans on the farm pond, and Ugly decides he will like being different after all.
| AS YOU GET READY TO SEE THE SHOW |
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 Read Hans Christian Andersen's story, The Ugly Duckling...and several other versions as well. Notice how the same story can be told many ways. Ours will be yet another.
I'm just different
They're like peas from the same pod
No wonder they make fun of me
Life's harder when you're odd
But different isn't scary
Different is no threat
And though I'm still their brother
They forget
Different isn't hateful
Different could be swell
Different is just...well
Different
-Ugly, from Honk!
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| | What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? |
| THINGS TO TALK ABOUT |
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What does it feel like to be different than everybody else? Do you ever feel that way? Do you think we are all more alike than we are different? What are some of the ways that might be true?
The ugly duckling doesn't really turn into a swan does he? Ugly is a swan from the moment he is born...he just doesn't know it right away. What would make you feel like a swan? An idea: Draw it.
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| THINGS TO DO |
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How would you make a costume for a person to play a duck, turkey, swan, or cat? Draw a picture of one or more of your costume designs.
Have a Barnyard Banquet where everyone in your family chooses to be a different farm animal. What will you eat? How will you talk to one another? For instance, how does a pig say, “Pass the bacon!” or a cow, “Butter, please.”
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