New Mills Amateur & District Operatic & Dramatic Society stage Honk! at town’s Art Theatre

This is the first show to be staged at the Art Theatre since the proscenium arch was recently restored.

The entire company are eagerly looking forward to performing this very different musical version of The Ugly Duckling fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.

Honk! begins on the farm with proud mother Ida and her husband Drake waiting for their five chicks to hatch; four ducklings hatch – but the last egg is very, very big and produces an enormous chick who ‘honks’ instead of quacks!

Ugly is so different to the rest and is shunned by all but his loving mother – growing up to believe that he is a very ugly duckling. Ugly strays from the farm and gets lost in the wilds, meeting various friends and foe on his journey: a wise-cracking frog, a fickle house cat, a squadron of RAF-style heroic geese and the show’s constant baddie - a devious cat who eyes Ugly up as dinner!

The cast are costumed in modern dress that hints at the animal characters, making for a very unusual production.

This first production of Honk! at the Art Theatre is a source of great pride to New Mills Amateur & District Operatic & Dramatic Society which is putting on the show.

For the show’s musical director, Debbie Woodruff, who is new to New Mills Operatic, it’s very much a family affair as her dad, Brian Barlow, was a long standing member of the society, and her grandson is playing one of the ducklings.

Performances run from June 16 to 20 at 7.15pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.15pm.

Tickets £9 and £7 with discounts for groups. Contact www.newmillsarttheatre.ticketsource.co.uk, call 0333 666 3366 or buy from the box office, which is open on Sunday afternoons in June. Tickets will also be on sale on the door before performances.