King Kong theatre review

You have to see it to believe it.  This brand new musical at Melbourne's Regent Theatre is a most spectacular spectacular.  I thought I had seen most of the things that stageshows can achieve - and this introduced me to all sorts of new effects.

As a show and a spectacle, there is nothing like King Kong.  As a musical...it is a little baffling.

Marius de Vries' original music and arrangements of familiar songs are commanding, and often rather catchy. Our lead actress, Esther Hannaford, is given the most opportunity to demonstrate her vocal prowess - and that she does.  She sings with a modern blues/jazz sensibility that is easily accessible and feels true to both the 1930's period and today.  What lets the songs down are the banal lyrics.  When I could make out what they were, I was frequently non-plussed.  What is she singing about?  Why does she feel that way?  How does this relate to what we just saw?  There are a lot of songs, and the only two I am sure I understood are the lullaby sung to soothe King Kong (no metaphors or anything...it's just a lullaby), and the one in which our love interest explains to our heroine that his father built the Golden Gate Bridge out of vanity.

The rest of the music was lovely but hollow.  There is not much more substance to the script.  Really, this show is about an eight metre tall puppet.  

As it happens, though, the giant puppet is a fine actor.  It looks incredible.  It tells the story.  It got all of my sympathy.  The best moments all belong to Kong, and so they should.  The 17 puppet operators seem able to achieve any action, and any emotion - and the movements all look fluid and natural.  It's a marvel of engineering.  Kong's co-stars struggle to keep up.

Kong's greatest rival for attention is the bold and busy lighting.  There are an array of projections that create virtual sets, and alter costumes to make them something altogether new and exciting.  To be honest, I couldn't really figure out what the lights were doing or how.  Whatever it was, though, has me in awe.

Stray observations:

- I have no idea what the opening number was about, but it should have been about the opening of The Empire State Building.

- The prophetess who occasionally appears, sings, and covers a set-change seemed to have wandered in from one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's more gothic musicals.

- I found the song about The Golden Gate Bridge compelling because it was so unusual.  Perhaps it would have meant more if it had been about The Empire State Building.
- Weirdest makeover montage ever.

- I wanted more The Empire State Building.

See this theatrical production if you want a unique experience.  The puppet steals the show, but it is a feat of engineering that is more than a vanity project: it may change the face of theatre.