Australian production company Global Creatures has announced that King Kong will open on Broadway in the Fall of 2018 in what looks on paper to be a substantial reworking of the 2013 Melbourne production. The new creative line up includes Jack Thorne, writer of the Olivier Award-winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Aussie singer, songwriter and cabaret performer Eddie Perfect who is contributing new songs. Choreographer and theatre-maker Drew McOnie, who recently rebooted Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom the Musical in the UK, comes on board as director.

“I’m thrilled that King Kong will be coming to Broadway next season led by Drew McOnie and Jack Thorne, who will bring a new dimension to the telling of Kong’s story,” said Global Creatures CEO Carmen Pavlovic. “Drew’s physical world will allow Kong to live in ways we never thought possible, propelled by Jack’s text and the score and songs written by Marius de Vries and Eddie Perfect.”

The original Melbourne production received decidedly mixed reviews with most crtics disliking Craig Lucas’s “clichéd” book, some lumpy dramaturgy and an eclectic score that placed 1930s period hits awkwardly alongside contemporary songs by the likes of Massive Attack. The majority reserved their praise for...