The Broadway Theater, Broadway, New York
November 7, 2018

When King Kong opened in Melbourne back in 2013, for many it was a case of great monkey, shame about the rest. Global Creatures, who cut their teeth on the arena spectacular Walking with Dinosaurs, clearly knew a thing or two about puppetry, but their first attempt at producing a blockbuster musical seemed to have fallen at the first hurdle with book, lyrics and music all copping a pasting. Five years, and many millions of dollars later, the gorilla is back, and this time he’s on Broadway (ironically a mere stone’s throw from the very Empire State Building its protagonist is required to scale in the dying seconds of the match). So, have they pulled it off this time? Will the gorilla win through? To quote Evita: “and the answer is yes, and no, and yes, and no…”

Christiani Pitts as Ann and King Kong. Photo © Matthew Murphy

Let’s start with the basics. This is King Kong, right? Whether you work from the 1933 film or the subsequent novella, it’s a wafer-thin tale. Boy meets...