What a quacker of a show! Woops, sorry, mustn't do that! For puns per square inch, Honk is already top of the pecking order. And as librettist Anthony Drewe's musical is based on Hans Christian Andersen's classic, The Ugly Duckling, the puns are awfully ornithological.

For its first production this season BROS has taken wing and migrated to ART, the new Arthur Cotterell Theatre in Kingston, where the combination of Wesley Henderson Roe's set and Edward Pagett's lighting created a shimmering blue lake next to a muddy farmyard.

Here Ugly and his four siblings emerge from their eggs, to the pride of mother duck Ida but to the mixed feelings of Drake, energetically played by Jim Trimmer.

Most of the farmyard animals, such as Maureen the moorhen (Janet Simpson) and Turkey (Chris Morris) are repelled by Ugly, but the aristocratic mandarin duck, Grace (Lynne Shirley) is more diplomatic.

The trouble is that Ugly, played with bemused innocence by Andy Clarke, is "different". Nevertheless, a mother's love is blind and Ida dotes on him, as is made clear in their duet, Hold your Head up High.

Lizzy Ross delicately spiced this comic role with piquant pathos and superb singing in solos such as Every Tear a Mother Cries.

Nevertheless, Ugly is lured away by The Cat, seductive, sleek and suave. Bryan Cardus excelled in this role. His powerful signing voice spelt out the menace behind the silvery sheen. His duet with Ugly, Play with Your Food, was a joy.

Fortunately for Ugly, The Cat is distracted by Queenie, the female of the species ... and how! Sue Astbury oozed with feline sensuality and their rumbas and tangos were purr-inducing. Lowbutt, the pedigree hen (Karen Prior) is not amused at the prospect of her companionship with Queenie being usurped.

Zo Harvey-Lee's costumes and Louise Turnbull and Lauren Mathis' hair styling and make-up wittily hinted at the character of each animal. And Ugly meets many animals who try to reunite him with his family, while back at home the TV press in the form of Jackie Daw, played by the ever exuberant Robbin Pierce, exploits Ida's distress at the loss of her chick.

Among those who befriend Ugly, is an air-force squadron of geese, led by Greylag, robustly played by Carl Smith. However, their nimble manoeuvres, choreographed by Edz Barrett, come to grief at the end of the humans'shotguns, due to the treachery of The Cat.

As another friend, Bullfrog, who was complete with Noo-Yark accent and be-sequined bowler, Lawrence Keal shone with iridescent irrepressibility in a sparkling performance.

Of course Ugly transmogrifies into a wonderful swan and meets a beautiful lady swan, Penny elegantly portrayed by Clare Smith.

They do all live happily ever after because they stay on the lake with foster-mum Ida instead of leaving on the migration with Penny's socially mobile family.

Musical Director Nick Saunders with his skilled sextet of musicians gave a lively and well-balanced performance of George Stiles' highly animated score.

Director Clare Henderson Roe has hatched and incubated a fully-fledged swan of a show.