This November, it’s Broadway killed the beast.
The producers of “King Kong,” the musical that will bring the iconic otherworldly ape to life at the Broadway Theatre, recently announced the first round of principal casting. “A Bronx Tale” star Christiani Pitts will take on the role of Ann Darrow (the monster-moving character made famous by Fay Wray), while Eric William Morris will step into the movie producer’s shoes of Carl Denham.
“When we first saw Christiani Pitts, she blew us away,” producers Carmen Pavlovic and Roy Furman said in a statement. “Christiani embodies everything we aspired to in creating a female protagonist who is relevant in 2018. She is an Ann Darrow for our time — plucky, courageous and the master of her own destiny.”
Of Morris, the producers called the “Mamma Mia!” actor “a dynamite performer who will bring a fresh energy to the character of the shifty film producer Carl Denham.”
The stage adaptation of “King Kong” comes from a script by “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” scribe Jack Thorne, with a score by Marius de Vries (“La La Land”) and songs by Eddie Perfect (“Beetlejuice”).
“This is an epic story but also a really intimate one — about the limits of ambition and the cages we’re put in,” Thorne said. “Thankfully, in Christiani and Eric we’ve two remarkable talents who’ll lead our incredible company beautifully.”
The production will feature a 20-foot high, 2,000-pound version of the titular beast operated by a “mix of robotics, puppetry and stagecraft.”
Preview performances begin Oct. 5.
