The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2018–2019
Broadway spent $35M on King Kong — the ape got better reviews than the show
The $35M King Kong musical opened on Broadway on 8 November 2018; critics savaged everything but the 2,400-pound puppet, and it closed on 18 August 2019.
King Kong musical · 2019-08
What happened
The plan was to put a real Kong on Broadway. After a 2013 premiere in Australia, the musical arrived at the Broadway Theatre with a $35 million capitalization and a six-metre, one-tonne animatronic ape — steel, styrofoam and air-powered 'muscles', suspended from a 17-ton crane and worked by 15 people, ten of them onstage puppeteers on ropes. Previews began on 5 October 2018; the show opened on 8 November.
The reviews landed like a falling gorilla. Critics called Jack Thorne's book 'stupefyingly banal', Eddie Perfect's score forgettable, and the production a 'gorilla-sized mess' — while almost everyone agreed the puppet itself, designed by Sonny Tilders, was a marvel. The Kong was onstage for only about a quarter of the show, and no amount of engineering could carry the rest.
The closing notice came on 25 June 2019: King Kong would end its run on 18 August, after 29 previews and 324 regular performances — less than a year on Broadway. The Tonys gave the puppet a Special Tony Award and the show nominations for scenic, lighting and sound design. The ape left with more hardware than the musical left with money.
Why it happened
- A $35M capitalization built around one spectacular effect left no margin when the book, score and direction drew savage reviews.
- The puppet — the only universally praised element — was onstage for roughly a quarter of the show.
- Opening-week grosses of just over $1M against a $35M cost gave the production no runway to recover.
The lesson
A $35M musical built around a 2,400-pound puppet won raves for the ape and jeers for everything else. King Kong ran 324 performances and closed a year later.
Aftermath
Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company won a Special Tony Award for the puppet; the production ended its Broadway run without a transfer.
Sources
- New York Post, 8 November 2018 — Broadway's 'King Kong' is a gorilla-sized mess ($35 million musical opened Thursday night on Broadway; animatronic puppet called a marvel with 'soulful eyes' and a 'rafter-rattling roar' but onstage only a quarter of the show; book by Jack Thorne, music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie, orchestrations by Marius de Vries; Christiani Pitts as Ann Darrow; plot 'could fit on a postage stamp'; leads gave 'shrill, one-note performances')
- NPR, 7 November 2018 — 'King Kong' On Broadway Is The 2,400-Pound Gorilla In The Room ($35 million production; puppet 20 feet tall, 1.2 tons, operated by 15 people — 10 onstage puppeteers on ropes plus operators in a balcony booth — suspended by a 17-ton crane; steel, styrofoam and air-powered bags; puppet designer Sonny Tilders; opens Thursday night on Broadway)
- Wikipedia — King Kong (2013 musical) (Broadway production at the Broadway Theatre; previews began 5 October 2018, opened 8 November 2018; 29 previews and 324 regular performances; closed 18 August 2019; overwhelmingly negative reviews — Jack Thorne's book 'stupefyingly banal', Eddie Perfect's lyrics 'forgettable' — while the puppet was widely praised; opening-week gross just over $1 million; Special Tony Award to Sonny Tilders and Creature Technology Company; nominations for scenic, lighting and sound design; puppet six metres tall, one tonne)
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