The epic modern myth comes alive on Broadway through an innovative mix of animatronics, puppetry, music and stagecraft! It's 1931, the world is in the grip of the Great Depression, and New York City is a place of pressure, of desperation, but also of hope. Enter Ann Darrow, a fearless young actress with a will of steel and dreams that reach as high as the just-completed Empire State Building. After a brutal struggle just to stay on her feet, Ann finds her big break in the form of Carl Denham, a fast-talking filmmaker who promises to make her the star of his next big adventure movie. Throwing caution to the winds, she joins Carl on a voyage to the mysterious Skull Island. There, they encounter a wonder more astonishing than they could have possibly imagined: a 20-foot-tall, 2,000-pound ape known only as Kong.
To her surprise, Ann finds an unexpected kindred spirit in this magnificent, untameable creature. But when Carl hatches a plan to capture Kong and display him to the New York masses, she's faced with a terrible choice. Will Ann follow the call of her own ambition? Or can she find the strength to stand up for what's right? Roaring with heart-pounding action, KING KONG is a gripping and spectacular story of unlikely friendship, unshakable courage, and breaking free from the cages others put us in.
Directed and choreographed by Olivier winner Drew McOnie, KING KONG features an electrifying new score by Marius de Vries (La La Land) and Eddie Perfect (Beetlejuice The Musical), and a book by Jack Thorne, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Don't miss this exhilarating, emotional encounter with a legend that's always been too big to contain.
"You've never seen anything like King Kong on stage. Ever." (Entertainment Weekly).
Although his furrowed brow and expressive eyes register surprise and emotion, he's largely stationary during lengthy scenes when Ann is speaking or singing to him. It's only when designer Peter England's black-and-white projections roll by to simulate Kong scaling the Empire State Building or galloping with Ann in tow that the beast lives up to his promise. All said, he might feel more at home, and make a bigger fortune, in a Las Vegas spectacular.
Though loaded with flat, stilted dialogue, the biggest mistake of Thorne's book is to take away the tragic aspects of the film's two main characters, sapping them of empathy. The earnest and honest filmmaker Carl Denham is now a heartless villain who cons people with promises of fame and wealth. Ann Darrow, the role that made Fay Wray a star, is no longer fighting to survive the Depression -- stealing food to keep from fainting from hunger -- and willing to join Denham on his film shoot out of desperation. Now she's a young hopeful coming to New York with dreams of stardom and thinking this gig might be her big break. Unlike Wray, who screamed in terror for half the picture, this Ann reacts to the beast's roars by roaring right back at him and trying to relate on a deeper level. ('Anyone ever tell you you've got sad eyes?') Scenes between the two of them seem to go on forever as she voices her interpretation of every move and sound that Kong makes.
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