'King Kong' musical will close in August on Broadway

Nancy Coleman

June 26, 2019 2:21 PM

The production marked the first traditional stage production from Global Creatures, the Australian company whose realistic animatronics brought life to arena shows like “Walking With Dinosaurs” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”

'King Kong' musical will close in August on Broadway

NEW YORK — “King Kong,” the big-budget musical driven by its massive namesake puppet, will close Aug. 18 after less than a year on Broadway, the show’s producers announced Tuesday.

It arrived in New York later than expected. After a run in Melbourne, “King Kong” initially aimed for a 2013 opening, then 2014, before eventually announcing its 2018 arrival in spring 2017. Various creative teams were attached along the way.

“King Kong” was capitalized for up to $36.5 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That sum — enormous by Broadway standards — has not been recouped.

The show eventually opened to stinging reviews, with most of the praise going to the towering title character himself, a colossal marionette clocking in at 20 feet tall and 2,000 pounds. For the week ending Sunday, it grossed just shy of $783,00 at the box office, only 53% of its potential take.

Fourteen performers operate the lifelike ape, whose innovative expressions and movements extend beyond what most audiences have typically seen from puppetry on Broadway, and were recognized with a special Tony Award this month.

The creative team for “King Kong” included writer Jack Thorne, who also scripted “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” and director and choreographer Drew McOnie. The score was written by Marius de Vries, with songs by Eddie Perfect.

At the time of its closing, the show will have played 324 performances and 29 previews at the Broadway Theater.

“King Kong” will live to rampage through another city, however: The show is slated to open in Shanghai in 2021, and a news release Tuesday promised a North American tour and productions in Japan and Spain.

Meanwhile, the next Global Creatures show to arrive in New York — “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” — begins preview performances Friday at the Al Hirschfeld Theater.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Nancy Coleman