The Monkey King @ War Memorial Opera House

[Drunk Monk]

My press passes were for row e on the house right aisle, near the percussion section of the orchestra pit. Stacy & Bri were were in the nosebleeds, eye level with the ceiling façade. The press room was nice - they offered coffee, tea, beer & wine, plus snacks like chocolates, cookies, cheese-its, almond cookies, power bars. Comfy couches. Ran into a dear doc friend from Rock Med (she’s in the dress circle and said it looked like crazy rich Asians there last night, instead of the usual crowd of old white people - she’s Asian too btw). It was a rush to get there because there were 2 accidents but we met up with Tara & Bri at Rad Radish, a veg burger place, that may become my new go-to for BGC shows (there was some disco edm show at BGC that the doc was thinking of hitting because the opera ended at 10).

Yau Kung Moon did an opening lion dance and had a fall off the benches (not a bad one). I hoped to see someone I knew but they were all youngens. The hall had some fun displays. Sold out show.

The production was complex - monkey king alternated between singer, dancer, & puppet. Didn’t care for the music much. Opera in English never quite works for me. When in some Italian or some other euro language, it heightens the surreality. In English, if often hits me like ‘listen to the incredible way I can shout sing these words.’ It was funny to hear the word ‘poop’ sung operatically.

[Drunk Monk]

The shows have been selling out and helped elicit a $5M donation. 

It was very ambitious. The staging, sets and costuming were fantastic. I liked how there were subtle nods to the original throughout, like one of the background Heavenly host references Nezha because he bears a hoop. The heavenly costumes were like Hunger Games meets disco, very shiny and metallic.

The opera is triumphant - a wonderful retelling of the classic, translated for an American audience, yet retaining its irreverence and magic. It was completely delightful.