King Kong – Live on Stage has been five years in the making, and it’s not hard to see why. It has a six-metre animatronic silverback title character, which takes 35 on and off stage crew to operate as well as another 41 crew and over 50 actors, singers and dancers. It is definitely one of the biggest productions Melbourne has ever seen.
The exclusive Melbourne season began on June 15, 2013 at the Regent Theatre following previews that began on May 28. Originally ending in July the show has now extended it’s run for the fourth time until early December.
King Kong stars yet another one of my favourite musical theatre actors Esther Hannaford in the main role of Ann Darrow, who rose to fame in Hairspray, playing Penny Pingleton. Joining Hannaford is Adam Lyon as Carl Denham, Queenie Van De Zandt as Cassandra, Richard Piper as Captain Engelhorn and Chris Ryan as Jack Driscoll.
The musical is directed by Daniel Kramer, music by Marius de Vries, choreography by John O’Connell, lyrics by Michael Mitnick and Craig Lucas, and the book is also by Lucas. It is based on the 1933 film King Kong and is produced by Global Creatures.
Although visually and technically mind-blowing the story really lets down the show. Having not seen the film version I felt as though I was lost and the writers of the production assumed everyone had seen the film prior. The characters never really develop throughout and the musical numbers often felt awkward and forced, like they really weren’t needed or didn’t belong.
Performance times:
Tuesday – 7pm
Wednesday – 1pm & 8pm
Thursday – 8pm
Friday – 8pm
Saturday – 2pm & 8pm
Sunday – 3pm
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster
The Razzle and The Dazzle 