KING KONG - Previews- Page 8

[KnewItWhenIWasInFron]

Posted: 10/9/18 at 11:21pm

ArtMan said: "Sidenote: I actually enjoyed Spiderman."

I find this to be in very poor taste.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 10/9/18 at 11:25pm

Well that was a very long paced show. They really need to rethink this and re cast it’s leads. The boat ride to Skull Island took forever! I just wanted to yell get on with it! Skull Island could of been something, but that set ARGH. 

 Kong and the Kings Court worked their butts off. The puppet was astounding. Act two was much better. The act two opener, and the finale...hmm ....

Updated On: 10/10/18 at 11:25 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/9/18 at 11:41pm

I also saw the show tonight. and I thought Act 1 was significantly better than Act 2. Although the story takes place in the 30's, the score is very much 90's techno at times, which is very distracting. Neither the choreography nor the score do anything to serve the story (the choreography doesn't even serve the score). And I agree that the pacing is off. It takes too long to get to the island, and since Kong's appearance doesn't cap Act 1, there's no reason not to speed up his appearance (and trim the run-time). Despite all that, I didn't hate it, and I would definitely check it our again after the show has had some time to settle-in.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 12:17am

ArtMan said: "dramamama611 said: "ACL2006 said: "Let's not forget how bad SPIDERMAN was and it ran for over 1,000 performances. Tourists love a spectacle, even a bad one."

I feel as if Spiderman had a TON more press/buzz than this does."

Plus it had a score by Bono and The Edge. Sidenote: I actually enjoyed Spiderman."

I enjoyed Spiderman also. Even with a so-so score, Boy Falls From the Sky quickly became a favorite song and was  A memorable theatre moment for me. I also feel it was the most visually stunning production I have seen on Broadway. JMO

 

[theaterwiz414]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 8:28am

Kad said: "Even before the accidents that plagued Spider-Man, it had a massive amount of press. It was Julie Taymor (who, it must be remembered, was still riding adoration for her work on Lion King at the time) and U2 promising you the biggest spectacle ever. Spider-Man was going to be doing his thing right in front of an audience, and the question of “how!?” was tantalizing.

King Kong has a very impressive puppet."

Wasn't Spiderman also in previews for MONTHS? That's crazy! 

[boonanas]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 8:57am

I enjoyed the show overall, but I do see peoples points of the songs being unmemorable.  However, if you go into this thinking its going to basically be a circus/spectacle, I think you'd come out of it positively.  There were some timing issues with some of the more complex elements of the show but that is to be expected this early in previews.  I also adore the fact that the show actually had technical difficulties, and something happens later in the show that mirrored that.  They should definitely cut one of the songs from the Act 1 boat scenes, although that may mess up some of the staging that occurs in Act 2.  This is not high art, but it is fun art.

[seanmcdonagh121]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 9:56am

I must say I really did enjoy this show last night. Had there not been a technical glitch I would have liked it even more but that 30 (ish) minute break really threw me off and I sorta felt uneasy for much of the performance after that.

The leads are fantastic and really giving it there all. Some of the songs are nice but generally the score is serviceable.

The set design is very impressive as is the lighting.

I wasn’t crazy about the choreography as I felt it was too contemporary for this period piece.

While the house appeared to be 95% full at the start of the show, towards the end I noticed a good handful of people had walked out.

The puppet is truly spectacular and there’s something very interesting about watching all ‘Kongs Crew’ working together to make him come alive.

Don’t go into this show expecting a great musical but do expect a fun, entertaining night and you won’t be let down!

Also, the crowd was eating this show up.

[B.JAMES]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 10:16am

When I first heard this was coming, I'm pretty sure I let out an audible groan (you may have even heard my eyes roll). 

I attending the 3rd preview last night and I had a fun, enjoyable night TO myself.  I didn't want to bring anyone and face the backlash from dragging them to see this.  But I may find myself returning.

There were a few flaws with the music. A lot of it was forgettable. But the memorable moments were something I look forward to listening to if they record a cast album. I think the lead character has a little bit of an identity issue. But it isn't anything that the average tourist is going to care about.

I enjoyed the contemporary music with the 1930's backdrop.  But I love pop music, so maybe I am in the minority on here. I'm also a sucker for rhinestones. It's cheesy, but some cheese now and then is good! Oh yea... the snake was too much cheese. 

I was concerned at first when I saw the bulk of the set was a giant screen as a backdrop.  I saw Doctor Zhivago in that theater and HATED the projections.  And although I enjoyed Anastasia overall, their screen was a little distracting to me as well.  But I think it worked with King Kong.  Some of the background images and animation were GORGEOUS. 

There was a technical error right before the big reveal.  So they halted the show for around 20 minutes. The audience seemed to understand and appreciate what was happening, and were thrilled when he did show himself after they picked the show back up. He got applause on a few different occasions.

All in all, I think it is worth seeing if you are on the fence.

[VotePeron]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 10:31am

I have an Audience Rewards ticket for tonight's 8pm preview I can't use because I'm sick . It's an amazing seat, orchestra M1. I'd sell it for $75, which is an amazing value given the points I used for it. DM me and I can make sure the ticket name is changed at the box office. Thanks guys :)

[Bro_on_Broadway]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 10:56am

Well Firstly.. Wow! The Kong they have created is truly remarkable and the 'puppeteers' are brilliant!

now, the rest..

oh boy. Yes, I was very much reminded of Paramour. Whenever the story is thrown in there you just keep thinking "lets get back to the monkey!". It doesn't have to be that way of course. The suspense build up to the reveal is great. The boat ride is superb (Although far too long).

They do need to recast the leads as they could not compete with the creature. Someone with a bigger presence like Raul Esparza would have been great and the perfect level of nice/slimy attitude. I would have also liked Ann to have had some kind of arc to her character, she stays one note the whole time and leaves nowhere to go to or come from. 

They could EASILY cut the whole scene with the snake and just have the boat crew shoot the ape and go straight to the top of the mountain. There are only so many times we need to see Ann tend to him. (And cut Lumpy out or rework that role, it kind of comes out of nowhere?)

I loved the chorus girl moment in front of the drape, but like someone else said, I want to see Kong rip that down before his rampage.

There are some good moments in this show visually, now the book needs to balance that and add some heart.

I'll definitely be back to see this after its open.

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:04am

seanmcdonagh121 said: "I must say I really did enjoy this show last night. [...] generally the score is serviceable. [...]I wasn’t crazy about the choreography as I felt it was too contemporary for this period piece.

While the house appeared to be 95% full at the start of the show, towards the end I noticed a good handful of people had walked out.

Don’t go into this show expecting a great musical but do expect a fun, entertaining night and you won’t be let down! [...]

Also, the crowd was eating this show up."

I think you must be an extremely kind person in real life (as well as here, in cyberspace).

It's hard to miss the contradictions in your post, though. The crowd was eating the show up, but a good handful walked out. You really enjoyed the show with its serviceable score and ill-fitting choreography. Although the evening will be fun and entertaining, this is not a great musical.

seanmcdonagh121 said: "The puppet is truly spectacular and there’s something very interesting about watching all ‘Kongs Crew’ working together to make him come alive."

I think you've (in the very kindest way possible) given an accurate depiction of what to expect.

My takeaway is that the best thing the producers can do to sell tickets is to re-name it, "The Monkey Puppet Spectacular Spectacular" That way, the creators of the show can ride the coattails of Moulin Rouge to lure a few more punters into the seats.

Updated On: 10/10/18 at 11:04 AM

[seanmcdonagh121]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:13am

John Adams said: "seanmcdonagh121 said: "I must say I really did enjoy this show last night. [...]generally the score is serviceable. [...]I wasn’t crazy about the choreography as I felt it was too contemporary for this period piece.

While the house appeared to be 95% full at the start of the show, towards the end I noticed a good handful of people had walked out.

Don’t go into this show expecting a great musical but do expect a fun, entertaining night and you won’t be let down! [...]

Also, the crowd was eating this show up."

I think you must be an extremely kind person in real life (as well as here, in cyberspace).

It's hard to miss the contradictions in your post, though. The crowd was eating the show up, but a good handful walked out. You really enjoyed the show with its serviceable score and ill-fitting choreography. Although the evening will be fun and entertaining, this is not a great musical.

seanmcdonagh121 said: "The puppet is truly spectacular and there’s something very interesting about watching all ?Kongs Crew’ working together to make him come alive."

I think you've (in the very kindest way possible) given an accurate depiction of what to expect.

My takeaway is that the best thing the producers can do to sell tickets is to re-name it, "The Monkey Puppet Spectacular Spectacular" That way, the creators of the show can ride the coattails of Moulin Rougeto lure a few more punters into the seats."

But is there a need to call out someone’s contradictions? I was sharing my thoughts about the show. Yes the crowd was eating the show up but there was also a handful of people who walked out. Yes the show has its problems and weaker moments but overall I enjoyed my night. 

[Mindfreak1400]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:17am

Updated On: 10/10/18 at 11:17 AM

[Mindfreak1400]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:19am

VotePeron said: "I have an Audience Rewards ticket for tonight's 8pm preview I can't use because I'm sick . It's an amazing seat, orchestra M1. I'd sell it for $75, which is an amazing value given the points I used for it. DM me and I can make sure the ticket name is changed at the box office. Thanks guys :)"

 

I just messaged you!

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:32am

seanmcdonagh121 said: "But is there a need to call out someone’s contradictions? I was sharing my thoughts about the show. Yes the crowd was eating the show up but there was also a handful of people who walked out. Yes the show has its problems and weaker moments but overall I enjoyed my night."

Sadly, some people on here (and in life) are not extremely kind people. I, for one, enjoyed your post and found it informative. Thanks! 

 

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:34am

Bro_on_Broadway said: "Well Firstly.. Wow! The Kong they have created is truly remarkable and the 'puppeteers' are brilliant!

now, the rest.. [...]

I'll definitely be back to see this after its open."

I think that your's (and other's) suggestions for improvements are smart, and might have helped bolster my personal opinions about the show if the creative team were better suited for their jobs.

The interesting part of your post (for me) is your last line.  There's a kind of (maybe hopeful) implication that it might be changed, or improved in some way after "it's open".

This show has already opened and had a run in Australia. The bones of what makes the show work (the technical aspects of the Monkey Puppet and the use of the video wall) are still there. The parts that didn't (and still don't) work are the parts that traditionally should be the bones of what makes a musical successful: the book, the score and the choreography. Those aspects were very superficially substituted for the Broadway version.

It should seem obvious that this show will have no life after its Broadway run. How could it tour? (Well, it could, I suppose, but due to its technical needs, it could only play in limited spaces.)

Can you imagine how ludicrous it might be for any high school, regional, or community theater to try to produce this show? Would the rights for the "King Kong Jr." version include this?:



I wonder if the reason this show is playing on Broadway at all is to serve as an audition, in the hopes that Las Vegas or Universal Studios will come a-knockin' at the producers' door to offer a permanent attraction space for the Monkey Puppet. There would be a built-in draw because they could advertise it as "a Broadway sensation".

It's been seen before that any time the word "Broadway" is used to advertise a show that's playing outside the NY theater district (i.e. cruise ships, theme parks, regional theaters, etc.), tickets get sold...

Updated On: 10/10/18 at 11:34 AM

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:40am

seanmcdonagh121 said: "But is there a need to call out someone’s contradictions? I was sharing my thoughts about the show. Yes the crowd was eating the show up but there was also a handful of people who walked out. Yes the show has its problems and weaker moments but overall I enjoyed my night."

My intent was to (honestly) show that you are a kind person. But you're right in calling me out. I obviously didn't think it through enough if I've hurt your feelings. (Which should be obvious that you are again, doing very kindly!)

My apologies! My intent was to indicate that you've noticed flaws about the show, but expressed them in the kindest of ways.

[seanmcdonagh121]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:48am

John Adams said: "seanmcdonagh121 said: "But is there a need to call out someone’s contradictions? I was sharing my thoughts about the show. Yes the crowd was eating the show up but there was also a handful of people who walked out. Yes the show has its problems and weaker moments but overall I enjoyed my night."

My intent was to (honestly) show that you are a kind person. But you're right in calling me out. I obviously didn't think it through enough if I've hurt your feelings. (Which should be obvious that you are again, doing very kindly!)

My apologies! My intent was to indicate that you've noticed flaws about the show, but expressed them in the kindest of ways."

It’s forgotten about. 

I do believe some changes could be made for the better for this show. As others have said; cut part of the boat scene. It does begin to drag. I personally liked the cobra scene but if you’re sitting to the right of the house you miss a lot of Kong due to a set piece that isn’t necessarily needed. 

Mayge th show seemed long for me because of the tech glitch but I do think the entire show would benefit from a bit of a trim. 

The scene with the dancers in front of the curtain was also very good but if they could have Kong tear it down it would be very effective. 

Also it’s worth noting that they’ve cut the bit where Kong picks up a woman on the street and drops her (which someone said was in the first preview) 

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 12:10pm

seanmcdonagh121 said: "It’s forgotten about"

If there's anything good to be learned from my mistake, it's that the first line of my OP was correct: "I think you must be an extremely kind person in real life (as well as here, in cyberspace)." Thank you!

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 1:58pm

Well, this was a disaster through and through. An honest to god total mess of a “musical” if you can even call this one. Spider-Man may have been terrible, but at least it delivered on the spectacle and actually had a legitimate score (as bad as it was). The same cannot be said for King Kong.

The cast really only has three main characters - Anne Darrow, Carl Dehner, and Lumpy. Christiani Pitts sings 90% of the “score” (a vast majority of which is just REALLY bad underscoring). The songs are banal and the lyrics are chock full of cliche after cliche. Also, Christiani Pitts does not have the stage presence, charisma, voice, or acting chops to carry this show. She is giving one of the weakest performances I have ever seen an actress give in a musical in quite some time. However, I also realize she is working with some really horrible material.

Going into this show, I was so excited for the spectacle that I was sure would be in store. Well, the set consists of two giant pieces of industrial strength scaffolding that fly in and out and a massive curved LED screen that encompasses the stage. That’s just about it. The projections are constantly moving and even gave me a little bit of motion sickness.

Now, onto the Kong puppet. Is it impressive? Sure. Is it revolutionary and worth sitting through the rest of this pile of dreck for? Absolutely not. In fact, I would say King Kong is only onstage maybe 25% of the time. It takes him way too long to make his first appearance. Whenever he is not onstage, the audience is subjected to treacherously long, boring, and truly terrible book scenes.

There is so much more I could say about this (especially the shockingly awful choreography, but I think that’s already been covered in here), but I will finish by saying this is a colossal mess of the most epic proportions.

[angoradebs]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 6:42pm

seanmcdonagh121 said: 
Also it’s worth noting that they’ve cut the bit where Kong picks up a woman on the street and drops her (which someone said was in the first preview)"

Interesting! I wonder if it's just because they couldn't get the timing right, or if there was some other reason. I could be wrong, but I think that was the only time we actually witnessed Kong cause the death of a person. It was certainly implied he killed/injured others, but I don't think we actually saw anybody but that woman. I wonder if they took it out to make Kong seem more like a victim. It'll be interesting to see if they put it back in

 

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 7:19pm

It'll be interesting to see what changes, if significant, are made from the first preview to opening night. 

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 10/10/18 at 11:36pm

Just saw this evenings performance and my thoughts are pretty much in line with what everyone else has said. I read nothing about the show before going in so I had no prior thoughts of if it was being well-received or not or how they would do Kong.

I was sitting front row orchestra and Kong was utterly amazing! Truly a sight to behold and an incredible feat for the puppeteers to accomplish. I am being completely honest when I say that Kong gave the best performance in the show, which is both a testament to how brilliant the puppetry was as well as how poor the actual actors performances were. Somehow his face was more emotive than the real people. You actually feel sorry for and care about Kong whereas the people were all one-note caricatures. I wanted more Kong and less Carl! (Any why is Lumpy even there? He has no real purpose. And his monologue to Ann in act two is a real downer that doesn’t fit.)

The music was OK. I liked some of the numbers in act one but the opening and closing songs for act two are DREADFUL! Whyyyy did the end the show the way they did!? When it went black it was like “...wait was that the end?”

 

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OK so Ann is on top of the Empire State Building and then suddenly all these random people are on the stage standing next to her? But, she’s still on the top so aren’t they in the sky? What? Consistency, people!!

Even with all that, I actually would recommend it, solely because of Kong! He’s that good. It’s just too bad that the rest of the show is so flat. Oh and there were no malfunctions or anything tonight, it all ran super smoothly.

[FunBobby2]

Posted: 10/11/18 at 8:35am

Long time lurker, first time poster! 

I’m sure I’m regurgitating a lot of what has been said above, but this show was a hot mess. If it were a sixty-minute-long attraction at Universal Theme Park then I would have been satisfied — they overcame the big hurdle of getting me to empathize with the puppet because I truly did. However, this was supposed to be a two-and-a-half-hour long Broadway musical, and I think the creative team forgot that after they saw how cool their puppet looks.

Thinking that you have to go big in everything around the puppet to overcome its spectacle is a good thought, yet they managed to put all the emphasis in the wrong places. You’d think a show this big would want a strong book and a soaring score to really put the spectacle in perspective, but instead I saw an over-choreographed, expensive looking—yet vastly overproduced—shell of a show. Everyone on stage is doing their job well enough, but I was searching for a human who had “just a touch of star quality” to keep me attached to the story, but the only time I found it was in the one ensemble member who stayed on stage the entire time during the Phantom-esque “show to distract everyone from the disaster.”  I’m sure this will sell well, but I’d be hard pressed to tell anyone to run and see it.

[MyLife]

Posted: 10/11/18 at 8:57am

I echo most of what was said here but:

1) I thought Pitts was outstanding. Her voice may have been a little tired but she hit several money notes and her comic timing was great. I also think she and the gorilla have great chemistry. She makes bad material tolerable.

2) The other two guys, on the other hands, are truly awful. They make bad material even worse. 

3) The Kong puppet is as amazing as everyone says. But maneuvering him takes so long that all his scenes feel like they're in slow motion. Since the show is already so slow-paced, I found myself somewhat bored by the second act Kong "action" scenes. The spectacle somewhat wore off, I was tired, and I was bored. I think for this reason Act 1 > Act 2.

4) The show is over choreographed at times but there are some really cool moments in the show's choreography. I think they'll cut some unnecessary stuff and tighten it up. The ensemble is truly great.