A delightful family show, Honk, has just opened at the Union Theatre, where I often direct.
It’s 20 years since this early musical by George Styles and Anthony Drewe was the unexpected choice for a major production at the National Theatre and an even more unexpected choice to win the Olivier award for best musical, defeating the newly opened Lion King and Mamma Mia. All this was unexpected not because it isn’t a very good show, it is, but because on the surface it’s such a sweet unassuming little piece; however beneath the slight story of a lost ugly duckling who discovers he’s a swan is a powerful anti-bullying message.
With the Almeida’s acclaimed production of Hamlet about to transfer to the West End there’s never been a better time for first timers to discover this fascinating play.
In the season of two plays and a musical I’ve directed this winter I’ve attempted to programme work in which great writers have reflected on similar issues to those we face today. This January, at the Union Theatre, with many of us feeling politically impotent in the face of dismaying election results, Chekhov’s play Three Sisters felt unusually immediate in its depiction of the obsolete intelligentsia of 1900. This was followed by a rare revival of Sondheim's expressionistic musical Anyone Can Whistle in which one half of the electorate regard the other as dangerously insane, the topicality of which speaks for itself.
This musical is Broadway's story about Broadway; those for whom it is home and the starstruck, from-out-of-town wannabes eager for their big break, a slice of success in the spotlight and with a bit of luck, (or someone else's misfortune), a fleeting dalliance with stardom.
Two major West End productions have announced cast changes over the last few days.