Honk! is a musical retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, mixed with a theme of pro-tolerance. The book and lyrics were written by Anthony Drewe and score by George Stiles (of the British songwriting duo Stiles and Drewe). Aimed primarily at children and their parents, the story is set in the countryside (originally "a backwater of England", although American productions usually relocate this to the United States). It features an ugly duckling who discovers his inner beauty when he becomes a swan, his tearful mother Ida, a drake who 'ducks' his fatherly responsibilities, a gaggle of comical geese, a sly tomcat who just wants to play with his food, a wisecracking bullfrog, and other such barnyard creatures, together with a great many "fowl" puns.