Somers Middle School goes to the ducks for telling of fairy tale

Feathered friends take the stage Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18, at Somers Middle School in a “poultry tale” of self-discovery in “Honk Jr.” 

Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, “The Ugly Duckling,” “Honk” centers around the story of a duckling named Ugly.

In a duckyard by the farmhouse, Drake and Ida (Hunter Michell and Ellie Norton) have produced a new brood this year, with five ducklings, Billy (Kenzie Kilduff), Beaky (Ellie Barrett), Downy (Courtlynn Lehman), Fluff (Zoey Hanson), and Ugly (Rose Ford), but Ugly struggles to fit in with the others. With sneers and jeers, the Duckyard (Emma Feeney, Savannah Hutcherson, Navie Norton, and Kylie Stednitz) isolates Ugly, until a new “friend,” the Cat (Addie Fox) steps up with an appetite for tender juicy balls of fluff. With malicious deceit, the Cat tries to turn Ugly into Duck L’Orange, yet with the help of a fearless goose squad (Jade Marr, Piper Sund, Hollis Tufly, and Emma Feeney), Bullfrog (Viola Carey-Louden) and an ensemble of Froglets (Hayley Feeney, Kelsey Scott, Eirelyn McClure, and Nehemiah Hay), and a family of Swans (Londyn Hutcherson, Phinney Valdespino, and Lily McCauley), Ugly learns that different can be wonderful.