If you saw a giant ape in Pleasantville recently, you must have been inside the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC). That”™s where the newest restored version of the original 1933 classic “King Kong” was screened before a packed house. After the film, some of the creative talent behind the new Broadway show “King Kong,” a musical version of the time-tested story, took part in a question-and-answer session about their production and the kind of effort it has taken to bring their vision of the cinema classic to the stage.
The RKO picture, produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, created a sensation upon its initial release and played simultaneously at Manhattan”™s Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy. Its place in film history was immediately assured. The film starred Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot, Robert Armstrong and, of course, Kong.
Both the film and the new musical show follow the ambitious young actress Ann Darrow and maverick filmmaker Carl Denham as they voyage from the bustling streets of 1930s New York to an uncharted island to capture the world”™s greatest wonder. At the center of the theatrical reimagining, due to begin previews at the Broadway Theatre in October, is an on-stage, highly mobile, 20-foot high, 2,000-pound, high-tech stagecraft gorilla.
The presentation at the JBFC was part of its Life on the Stage series, presented in partnership with The Actors Fund.
