Interview

Anthony Drewe & “Honk!”

Onlangs was Olivier Award-winnaar Anthony Drewe, de schrijver van "Honk!", aanwezig bij de Nederlandse premiere in Apeldoorn. Musical World was erg nieuwsgierig naar hoe deze Engelsman de voorstelling had ervaren en stelde hem dus enkele vragen terwijl hij in Los Angeles zat.

Brian: What made you want to write Honk?
Anthony Drewe: I had been offered two other Hans Christian Andersen projects, “The Red Shoes” with Jule Styne (“Gypsy”) and “Thumbelina” with Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (“Les Miserables”), both of which fell by the wayside for various reasons. In researching these two projects I had bought a complete works of HCA book, and decided to tackle one of his stories, using everything we had learned with “Just So”, to write a family friendly musical. My choice of “The Ugly Duckling” was also influenced by the fact that two of my nephews, who are mixed race, were receiving racist comments in their playground at the age of 5 and 6 and I thought a musical about being ‘different’ might have a resonant message for so many people for so many reasons.

B: Are George Stiles (composer) and you at all surprised that Honk! has been able to transcend all cultural boundaries?
AD: We are amazed that the show has travelled the world and been seen in about 2500 different productions, in many different languages. But the Ugly Duckling is one of those classic stories that transcends cultural boundaries - and for that we thank Hans Christian Andersen. We are also grateful to him for being out of copyright!

B: You contacted the Dutch producers yourself about attending the premiere. Could you please explain why?
AD: With so many productions around the world it is impossible for me to see very many of them. Occasionally I will send a good luck message if I hear about the production in advance though, to be honest, I only usually hear about them after they are over when the royalty cheque arrives. In the case of the Dutch production we had been approached by the producers a while ago (through our publisher) asking permission to perform the show with recorded rather than ‘live’ music. I had forgotten when exactly the show was going to happen until a friend who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote to me telling me of the dates (She is a huge HONK! fan and literally plans her holidays around where HONK! might be playing! - she is seeing the Dutch version in February and is very excited about it). As I have only been to the Netherlands once before, and as I was free from my commitments to “Mary Poppins” on Broadway, I thought I’d pop over to Apeldoorn and see the show for myself. I’m very glad that I did.

B: You wrote the piece for 4 actors, 4 actresses and 4 children. What was it like seeing it performed by an ensemble of six?
AD: It was great! When they told me there were only 6 in the cast it was about half an hour before the show started. During that half an hour I was wracking my brains thinking “How can they do this scene?” and “What will they do for that?” - but the whole show was staged so inventively any concerns quickly melted away.

B: Could you please describe how you experienced the Dutch performance as you don’t speak the language?
AD: That’s the weird thing! By the interval my cheeks ached from smiling and laughing so much - yet I couldn’t understand a word! I could, however, recognise good perfomances, comic timing and the pure delight of the inventiveness of the production, all of which I could appreciate without speaking Dutch.

B: Can you recall a favorite moment from the Dutch production?
AD: I loved the girl playing the ‘normal’ duckling [Sabine Beens, red.] and the way in which she and her father [Vincent de Lusenet, red.] ganged up on the Ugly Duckling. I also laughed out loud when the Cat [Ara Halici, red.] first appeared on his bike with the cat tail sticking out the back.

B: You have staged Honk yourself in a couple of countries. Is there anything about the Dutch staging which you found particularly inventive.
AD: I think it’s inventiveness was driven by the fact that there were only 6 in the cast. I loved the bikes, which I guess is a very Dutch thing.
The cast were terrifically versatile - most of them playing many different roles, which I think is fun for both the actors and the audience alike.

B: Please describe the most weird ever staging of “Honk!”. And the most incredible.
AD: I think the Dutch production is right up there in both categories! It was so different with only 6 in the cast, and I’ve never seen the show performed on bikes before. (though I did once I see the Ugly Duckling on roller skates in the Finnish production, but only him, not the rest of the cast)

B: What can we expect of Stiles & Drewe in the future?
AD: Well I am typing this while sitting in the departure lounge at Los Angeles airport having just had some great meetings about the possibility of HONK! The Movie, which would be fantastic. We have also had some other meetings about songs for films, as well as stage shows from movies. I think we have an exciting year or two ahead of us. We are also very keen to get our new show “Soho Cinders”, on stage. We finished a first draft this year, in between “Poppins” commitments, and are now ready to take that script to the next level.

N.v.t.
Officiële website
honk, ara halici, ivo chundro, vannessa timmermans, sabine beens, anthony drewe, george stilles, mary poppins