SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 A rascally superhero born from a stone egg, the Monkey King is beloved in Chinese mythology, appearing in everything from a 16th century epic to modern comics, animated movies and video games \u2014 even in poetry by Mao Zedong.<\/p>\n
And now he\u2019s the star of an opera.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Monkey King,\u201d with music by Huang Ruo and libretto by David Henry Hwang, has its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera on Friday with performances through Nov. 30.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s adapted from \u201cJourney to the West,\u201d a 100-chapter novel inspired by the true story of a 7th-century Chinese monk who traveled to India to find Buddhist sutras, or scriptures, and bring them back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s essentially an allegory of how Buddhism came to China,\u201d Hwang said.<\/p>\n
His libretto, in both English and Mandarin, is based on early chapters of the epic, portraying Monkey King\u2019s birth and daring exploits, as well as the arrogance and pride that lead him to be imprisoned for 500 years until he learns humility, compassion and discipline. At the end of the opera he is finally worthy of accompanying the monk on his journey.<\/p>\n
For Hwang, part of the Monkey King\u2019s appeal is the way he undercuts stereotypes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone associates the Chinese persona with respect and deference and conformity,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Monkey represents this whole other side that doesn\u2019t normally get expressed in terms of being individualistic, being rebellious, being egotistical.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso given the fact that Monkey is rebelling against a corrupt administration, people can look at that however they want to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCreating magic on stage in \u2018The Monkey King\u2019<\/p>\n
Mounting the opera is an ambitious undertaking for the company, which has a long track record of producing new work but faced unique challenges in bringing Monkey\u2019s fantastical adventures to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s flying on clouds, diving underwater, soaring to the heavens,\u201d director Diane Paulus said. \u201cI thought, oh, my gosh, how are we going to do this on the stage? How do we realize this and in what style?\u201d<\/p>\n
One answer was to collaborate with puppeteer Basil Twist, who designed the sets as well as puppets, making extensive use of his trademark silks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole notion of the ephemeral and letting go of things and the power of transformation to me is beautifully expressed by silk that can become water that then disappears and becomes clouds, and then becomes a giant column,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tAn opera that gives the tenor a workout<\/p>\n
Since Monkey King has to perform supernatural feats, engage in acrobatic fighting, shift his shape at will, and also \u2014 this is an opera, after all \u2014 perform arias accompanied by full orchestra, the creators represent him by three different figures: a singer, a puppet and a dancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call it the Holy Trinity of Monkey King,\u201d said Kang Wang, the Chinese-Australian tenor who sings the title role.<\/p>\n
While that spares Wang from having to perform backflips or other complicated dance moves, it doesn\u2019t mean he can stand up straight the whole time. Whenever he\u2019s not singing full out, he has to crouch in a semi-squat the way a character would who is half-monkey, half-man.<\/p>\n
The company engaged Jamie Guan, a Peking Opera specialist, to train Wang in the proper gestures and body language. And he has to convincingly perform complex tricks twirling a magic staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy,\u201d said Wang, who is more used to singing Verdi and Puccini roles. \u201cIn rehearsal I\u2019ve been like taking a shower on stage with my own sweat. My colleagues were telling me they could see me losing weight. \u2026 It\u2019s like a CrossFit session every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other characters in the opera include the corrupt Jade Emperor, sung by tenor Konu Kim, and Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy who guides the Monkey King, sung by soprano Mei Gui Zhang. Carolyn Kuan conducts the orchestra, chorus and soloists.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Monkey King\u2019 mixes East and West in the orchestra<\/p>\n
Huang Ruo, who has composed several other operas as well as concertos and chamber music, was born in China and studied music there before moving to the US. He uses a Western orchestra for \u201cThe Monkey King\u201d with the addition of a pipa, a Chinese four-stringed lute.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said I\u2019m not going to write a Western opera, or a Chinese opera, but I\u2019m going to call it a magical Kung Fu opera,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause we have singing, and orchestra, all the good things, story-telling, emotional moments, all this from the operatic art form. But we also have Kung Fu fighting, operatic dance, and puppetry, and mixed media to convey this magical world.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Matthew Shilvock, the company\u2019s general director, the score is \u201cincredibly propulsive \u2026 but also lyrical.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep going in and out between two different sound worlds,\u201d Shilvock said. \u201cThere\u2019s all these hijinks with the Monkey in the battle sequences where he is taking on the gods \u2026 and then you have these moments of incredible serenity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shilvock is hopeful the opera will appeal to audiences across cultural lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor people who grew up with the Monkey King there\u2019s a huge sense of nostalgia about it, so it\u2019s tapping into something deep,\u201d he said. \u201cFor people who are getting to know it for the first time you\u2019re being introduced to this extraordinary piece of world literature\u2026 so there\u2019s a wonderful sense of discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Huang Ruo has his way, this may not be his last opera about the Monkey King.<\/p>\n
Borrowing inspiration from Richard Wagner whose \u201cRing\u201d cycle stretches over four operas, the composer said he and Hwang \u201chave this pipe dream to create the Monkey King Cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we get to the last opera, they reach the land of bliss, where Buddha and his disciples live,\u201d he said. \u201cThe journey didn\u2019t start yet. It\u2019s just the beginning of the story-telling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 A rascally superhero born from a stone egg, the Monkey King is beloved in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[29795,31524,5167,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-48668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-ap-entertainment","9":"tag-ap-world-news","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","13":"tag-san-francisco-news","14":"tag-sf","15":"tag-sf-headlines","16":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}