King Kong Musical Broadway-Bound

In news sure to make Great White Way fanatics go bananas: King Kong will soon be thumping his chest on the Broadway stage, if theater aficionados have their way.

Last week, producers with Global Creatures issued a press release revealing that work is underway on a Broadway musical version of the cinema classic — which first appeared as a Depression-era novella — called King Kong — Live on Stage.

The project to bring the 23-foot mechanical Kong to the live stage has been in development for the past two years. The production will be directed by Daniel Kramer and written by Tony nominee Craig Lucas, featuring a score composed by the Grammy-nominated Marius de Vries. Kong Live will feature a cast of more than 40 onstage actors, singers, dancers, and puppeteers, according to Carmen Pavlovic, CEO of Global Creatures.

“It’s Broadway bound — there’s no doubt about that in my mind,” Pavlovic said. “It’s a very concise story and we haven’t seen or felt any need to vary that story dramatically. It’s a perfect story, it’s an iconic story.”