Directing the adventure-opera Monkey: Journey to the West has been an epic experience for Chen Shi-Zheng.He’s had to deal with switched cast members and a different conductor for the US version of the show; a smaller space and a different configuration to squeeze the extravaganza into the Sottile; and a lot of hype to live up to.
“It’s been a journey making this production,” Mr. Chen told me just before he left town last week. “From a childhood fascination with the legend to all this.” Appreciating that a show like this becomes bigger than one person’s enthusiasm for a story, he has collaborated closely with his young cast to pass on some of his passion for Monkey to the actors, acrobats and martial artists.
“I forced them to read Wu Cheng-en’s novel Journey to the West,” he grinned. Used to visual stimuli in general and Chinese cartoons in particular, the performers were reluctant to plough through a 500-year-old book. But it was part of their job description, and their appreciation for the tale grew as a result. “It’s a fantasy journey that’s an allegory for Buddhism,” said Chen. “The idea of multiple universes and realities is Buddhist. It will find its place in the world, because the character is one of a kind.”
Due to popular demand, Spoleto Festival USA announced today that they will add a performance of “Monkey: Journey to the West.” The new performance will be June 1 at noon.
The festival reminds us: Called ‘Simply a piece of musical theater of the most spectacular kind,’ by The Times of London, Monkey is the remarkable brainchild of an international team of three innovative artists: Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng, whose Peony Pavilion achieved great success at the 2004 Spoleto Festival USA and the British artists behind the award-winning animated band Gorillaz, Damon Albarn (composer) and Jamie Hewlett (visual concept and animation.)
A huge success at its premiere at the Manchester International Festival earlier this year and subsequent performances at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, this ‘circus opera’ makes its American premiere at Spoleto Festival USA.
Tickets for “Monkey: Journey to the West” and all 2008 Spoleto Festival USA performances are available online at www.spoletousa.org and by phone at )843) 579-3100.
So here’s something curious: How did Monkey: Journey to the West go from ‘opera’ at its festival premiere in England to ‘musical theater’ here in its American premiere?
Answer, delivered by Paula Edwards from festival producer Nunally Kersh: Spoleto USA figured it could sell more tickets to family audiences if it assigned Monkey a less intimidating category. So it’s opera… only funner?
Geoff was also down at the last dress rehearsal last night to watch the action.
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.
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