Our Ugly Ducklings

               When I tell people that I’m in a musical called Honk, most wonder if it’s some concept musical about cars. “Nope. Not even close. I’m pretty sure cars are not the only thing that honk,” I tell them. I take my time and explain that it’s an adaptation of the notorious Ugly Duckling. Everyone knows the story of The Ugly Duckling. We’ve all read or heard about how the ugly duckling isn’t actually a duck at all, but a swan. The ugly duckling shows us how beautiful our differences are. Before entering the show, this is all I saw. It’s truly a heartwarming story. But after exploring the show with my fellow ensemble, I’ve been able to see the story in a way that I never had before.

               Ugly is just different. Along Ugly’s journey, he meets those who accept his differences, and those who don’t. We not only see this in The Ugly Duckling, but in the real world as well. Many are rejected by the popular and accepted by the few. People like having someone to look down on. I know I do. It gives us security. So the moral of the story is very clear to those who are rejected by society: differences are what make us who we are and differences are what make us beautiful. But what about people who aren’t really that different? Now you must understand that I am definitely not normal, but I’m not really discriminated against in any way. I, Josh Gartin, am a tall, white, teenage male. So what am I supposed to get from the story?

               In The Ugly Duckling, Ugly’s mom, the frog, and the family of swans are the only people who like Ugly at first. It takes everyone else some time to realize that Ugly’s not so bad. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the frog and the swans are some of the most outwardly different characters in the story. I also don’t think that Ugly is the only focus of the story. Honk is a hard script because most of us who are in the show are given such stereotypical characters -- the “ordinary” people. The only problem is that nobody is actually “ordinary.” So we have to develop our characters in our own way to make them un-ordinary.

   People who are considered ordinary are really just hiding their differences. Throughout the story, we see good and bad examples of how to treat people who are different. Because everyone is truly different, we are given a choice on how to treat the 10% of obviously different people as well as the other 90%.

   In The Ugly Duckling, we are shown two things. Our differences are what make us beautiful and we’re shown how to treat those around us because everyone is different and beautiful.

  I’ve been in many Story Theater Company shows. I know when a show is going to be good. This show will be spectacular!

Josh Gartin

(Barnacles)