Monkey: Journey to the Grocery Store from Dan Conover on Vimeo.

On Monday I got a chance to ride with a van full of acrobats and singers from the cast of Monkey: Journey to the West to a great Asian grocery just north of I-526 on Rivers Avenue. This weekly grocery run is part of the Chinese cast’s survival strategy: The players have been on the road off-and-on in support of this production since May 2007, and finding food that tastes like home is a big deal.

It’s a lively, young, likable cast from a production that has all the color and excitement of a beloved Chinese classic, but without the super-serious “cultural treasure” tension that followed Peony Pavilion around the world. Here’s hoping you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed following them around.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Around Town, Festival humor, Music, Opera, Performers, Video.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.