Theater: New Victory Theater / 209 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036
Synopsis:
"Don't think like an ugly duckling--dingy, drab and woebegone. Beauty needs unbuckling. Embrace your inner swan!" sings Goosetella to Serena, a fashion-challenged fowl searching for stardom in this glitzy rags-to-runway musical created especially for the elementary school set. Doo-wopping ducks and other birdie beauties belt out show-stopping pop-soul numbers from the musical team behind Side Show and the composer of Dreamgirls. With crisp choreography, live musicians, virtuosic "Glee"-full vocals and sassy satire, Lucky Duck hits all the right notes.
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March 19, 2012: Too sophisticated for its intended audience and too shrill for the grown-ups in tow, “Lucky Duck” is a rare miscalculation for the New Victory Theater. This raucous reboot of “The Ugly Duckling” fable ends up nestling uneasily between bratty and brainy. It’s neither fish nor waterfowl.
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March 16, 2012: Listen, I get it. You want to see a show called “Lucky Duck” as much as you want a root canal. But here’s the deal — it’s actually a lot of fun, and it’s even got a Broadway pedigree. Henry Krieger (“Dreamgirls”) and Bill Russell (“Side Show”) collaborated on the songs for this children’s musical from Kansas City’s acclaimed Coterie Theatre, and playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (“Three Viewings”) co-wrote the book.
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March 18, 2012: "Cinderella" meets "The Ugly Ducking" in "Lucky Duck," a fluffy children's musical with a score by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger, the songwriters of "Side Show," about the importance of accepting everyone. It's what's on the inside that matters, and a good heart trumps a pretty face. However, this valuable lesson gets muddied when the show introduces concepts unfamiliar to its young audience members. While director Jeff Church keeps the energy up and the youngsters entertained, Russell and Jeffrey Hatcher's book reuses standard fairy-tale devices and teaches kids ideas they don't need to be learning yet.
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March 17, 2012: The Ugly Duckling meets Cinderella in the delightful Lucky Duck at the New Victory Theater. And while the show aims for the preschool and early grade school audiences with a goofball broadness, there's enough sophisticated whimsicality in this new musical to make it a more than satisfying experience for the adults bringing their little ones.
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March 18, 2012: If TV shows like American Idol ruffle your feathers and most children's stage shows bore you and your family to tears, that's understandable. But don't let your previous experiences with either sour you on Coterie Theatre's production of Lucky Duck, the delightful musical by Jeffrey Hatcher, Bill Russell, and Henry Krieger that's playing at the New Victory Theatre through next weekend. Not only does this terrific little adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" belong in the upper echelon of recent kids' shows, it's one grown-ups don't have to be afraid of either.
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