KING KONG Musical Eyeing Broadway for 2014? Foxwoods Theater First Choice?

The thrill of the big Broadway dance number will be revived under John “Cha Cha” O’Connell’s (Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, Enchanted) direction, in a wide choreography palette that includes thirties classics, Fosse-esque moments, a hint of the NY Rockettes and a nod to Beyoncé.

Production designer Peter England (WWD and HTTYD) will create the many worlds of the story: from a burlesque theatre, to the loading docks of NYC, to a ship in an unchartered ocean, to a primeval jungle, to a mountaintop, to a beach, to a Broadway theatre and finally to the top of the Empire State Building.

Creature designer Sonny Tilders and his team have undertaken a hugely complex journey in their creation of Kong. An imposing, stylised silverback of exaggerated proportions, he is a highly sophisticated animatronic/marionette hybrid that will be controlled by the integration of hydraulics, automation and the manual manipulation from a team of puppeteer/aerialists (The King’s Men) on stage, and off.

With burlesque dancers, Carl Denham’s showgirls, Skull Island inhabitants, burly NY construction workers and, of course, the story’s heroine Ann Darrow - Roger Kirk (The King And I) will pull out all stops with extravagant, sexy, 30s fashion meets MTV-inspired costumes.

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