Stage

Honk!

ECCT stages play based on The Ugly Duckling

Thom Fountain, photos by Andrea Paulseth |

The Eau Claire Children’s Theatre re-imagines the 150-year-old Hans Christian Andersen classic.
The Eau Claire Children’s Theatre re-imagines the 150-year-old
Hans Christian Andersen classic.

Even if you haven’t read the classic children’s fable The Ugly Duckling, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. However, you might not have heard this version coming to the State Theatre this month. Honk! is the musical adaptation of the famed tale of tolerance and the Eau Claire Children’s Theatre is bringing it to us over a weekend.

Despite being adapted nearly 150 years after Hans Christian Andersen penned The Ugly Duckling, Honk! stays true to the morals within the tale, but in a fun, less old-English kind of way. A refresher for those of you who might be a bit past the bedtime story phase: A mother duck has ducklings, but one is ridiculed by its family for looking different. It runs away and encounters many others who make fun of the ugly duckling. Finally he sees a group of swan and is surprised when he is accepted by them, only to discover he’s grown up to be as beautiful as the other swans.

The traditional storyline has been used for decades to teach acceptance and humility, but isn’t it much more fun to learn those lessons through song?

ECCT’s production will run March 1-3 at the State Theatre and tickets are available for $16 for adults and $8 for youth. For more information, check out ECCT.org.