The production received its world premiere as the opening show of the inaugural Manchester International Festival, on June 28, 2007 at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, where it ran until July 7. It was subsequently staged at the Thé?tre du Ch?telet in Paris between September 26 and October 13 2007. The production received its U.S. premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC in May 2008. A further run was planned for the in July 2008, but instead took place at the London Royal Opera House.
Billed as a "circus opera", the show is Hewlett and Albarn's first major collaboration since Gorillaz. Albarn composed the musical score while Hewlett designed the visual concept, set and costumes. The adaptation for stage has been written by Shi-zheng, who also directs the production. Dramaturgy is by David Greenspan. The show features Chinese singers and 70 Chinese acrobats and martial artists. The orchestra put together for the production includes members of the UK Chinese Music Ensemble , Demon Strings and Sense of Sound.
In addition to the production, the Manchester International Festival also ran a programme of educational workshops in local schools, in partnership with the Chinese Arts Centre. In the programme, local children were introduced to the tale of ''Journey to the West'', and learnt about various aspects of Chinese culture, music and dance, including mask-making, puppet-making, and Kung Fu.
Hewlett and Albarn included characters from ''Monkey: Journey to the West'' in an animation sequence titled "Journey to the East." The BBC used the sequence to introduce coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing.
Synopsis
* Scene 1: ''Birth of and His Quest for Immortality''
Monkey hatches from a stone egg and makes his home in the forest. Over time, he becomes obsessed with seeking immortality, and travels the world to find a teacher. He finds in the Mountain of Heart and Mind, who gives him the name - the Monkey with the Realisation of Emptiness.
* Scene 2: ''Crystal Palace of the and the Iron Rod''
Monkey dives into the Eastern Sea and comes across the Crystal Palace of the Old Dragon King, where he requests to be given a weapon. He is given a magical iron rod, and the Old Dragon King is also cowed into giving him his helmet, armour and shoes.
* Scene 3: ''Heavenly Peach Banquet''
Monkey travels to heaven to demand recognition of his newfound power. There he finds seven fairies preparing a banquet for the birthday of the . Incensed that he has not been invited, he begins to eat the Queen Mother's magical heavenly peaches, and fights off each of her divine guests who try to prevent this. The Queen Mother then calls upon Buddha to deal with Monkey.
* Scene 4: '''s Great Palm''
Buddha presents Monkey with the challenge of escaping his palm. Monkey is unable to do so, and so he is imprisoned by Buddha.
* Scene 5: ''''
Five hundred years later, chooses to go on a mission to bring back the from India. Pigsy, , the Dragon Prince and Monkey are chosen to accompany him.
* Scene 6: ''''
Believing she can achieve immortality by eating Tripitaka's flesh, the White Skeleton Demon adopts disguises in an attempt to fool Tripitaka and his companions. Monkey sees through the disguises, and on each occasion kills the White Skeleton Demon. Tripitaka, however, is horrified by Monkey's display of violence and expels him from the group.
* Scene 7: ''The Spider Woman''
Tripitaka and the other pilgrims travel to the cave of the Spider Woman, who tries to seduce Tripitaka. Pigsy is distracted by the Spider Woman's sexy companions, allowing the Spider Woman to trap Tripitaka. Sandy rushes off to find Monkey, who then defeats the Spider Woman. Feeling sorry for expelling Monkey, Tripitaka asks Monkey to rejoin the group and so he does.
* Scene 8: ''Volcano City''
The group travels to a volcano. The only way to pass is to extinguish the volcano using a magic fan belonging to Princess Iron Fan. She refuses to give the fan, and at first Monkey is unable to defeat her. With help from Guan Yin, he transforms himself into a bee, which the Princess swallows, and Monkey is able to defeat her from inside. He claims the fan, and the group continues on its journey.
* Scene 9: ''Paradise''
The group arrives in paradise, and is given the scriptures by Buddha. Tripitaka is created Buddha of the Purest Merit. Pigsy is made Janitor of the Altars. Sandy becomes a Golden-bodied Arhat. The white horse becomes the Dragon prince once more. Monkey is made Buddha Victorious in Strife.
2007 cast and crew
;Cast
*: Fei Yang/Yang Fukai
*: Yao Ningning
*Pigsy: Xu Kejia
*: He Zijun
*The White Horse: Chen Jihu/Wang Kai
*/Buddha: Liu Chang
*/Princess Iron Fan: Tang Ling
*/Guan Yin: Jia Ruhan
*:
*Spider Woman: Zeng Li
*The Volcano General: Yu Fengnian
;Crew
*Acrobatic Director: Yang Jiansheng
*Martial Arts Director: Zhang Jinhghua
*Aerial Director: Caroline Vexler
*Musical score: Damon Albarn
*Musical Director: David Coulter
*Conductor: André de Ridder
*Special instruments : Thomas Bloch
*Visual concept and design: Jamie Hewlett
*Dramaturgy: David Greenspan
*Libretto and direction: Chen Shi-zheng
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is only based upon, but not a direct recording of the musical. It entered the UK Albums Chart at #5 on release and Number 1# on the UK indie chart.
The track ''Monkey Bee'' entered the Top 200 UK Singles Chart based on downloads alone at #196.
Track List
# Monkey's World
# Monkey Travels
# Into the Eastern Sea
# The Living Sea
# The Dragon King
# Iron Rod
# Out of the Eastern Sea
# Heavenly Peach Banquet
# Battle in Heaven
# O Mi To Fu
# Whisper
# Tripitaka's Curse
# Confessions of a Pig
# Sandy the River Demon
# March of the Volunteers
# The White Skeleton Demon
# Monk's Song
# I Love Buddha
# March of the Iron Army
# Pigsy in Space
# Monkey Bee
# Disappearing Volcano
1 comment:
Listening to the CD, I have no idea where Pigsy in Space fits in. The booklet explains that Wuneng complains about it being hot, which leads me to think it's related to the fiery mountains. But space?
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