There\u2019s a new hero in the world of opera, one with amazing superpowers, an unstoppable mission \u2014 and a tail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Monkey King,\u201d created by composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang, hearkens back to the 16th-century Chinese novel \u201cJourney to the West.\u201d It\u2019s a classic story, but this new opera\u2019s premiere Nov. 14 at San Francisco Opera promises to endow the original with an unparalleled fusion of ancient traditions, Eastern and Western-themed music, and jaw-dropping 21st-century stagecraft.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco Opera production, starring tenor Kang Wang in the title role, is a seamless blend of Chinese literature and new music, dance and projections, Buddhist sutras, fantastic costumes and puppets by the acclaimed puppet-master Basil Twist. Diane Paulus is the director, and Carolyn Kuan conducts. Performances \u2014 in English and Mandarin, with English and Chinese supertitles \u2014 run Nov. 14-30 at the War Memorial Opera House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Monkey King\u201d continues the company\u2019s interest in Chinese sources; in 2016, \u201cDream of the Red Chamber\u201d received its premiere at the War Memorial to great acclaim. In a recent interview, company General Director Matthew Shilvock said the lure to continue visiting these works was powerful. \u201cWe saw just how deeply it resonated with audiences who\u2019d grown up with that work, with that piece of Chinese literature, and found a real sense of belonging because of it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt also drew new audiences \u2014 like me \u2014 who encountered that work of world fiction for the first time. If \u2018Dream of the Red Chamber\u2019 was one of the four great Chinese novels, we thought we should look at the other three as possible avenues for another Chinese commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shilvock said his first step was meeting composer Huang Ruo. It was 2017, and Ruo had great ideas for the work. \u201cHe grew up with these novels, including \u2018Journey to the West,\u2019 and was passionate about telling that story on the opera stage,\u201d Shilvock recalled.<\/p>\n
Since then, the composer\u2019s score, he added, has exceeded all expectations. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great story, and \u2018The Monkey King\u2019 gives him full rein in all aspects of the musical style that he\u2019s really made his own. This is his tenth opera, and he has this ability to write for a choral ensemble that hits you right in the heart, from the highly propulsive rhythms of battle sequences to these glorious, sublime melodies we hear throughout the opera.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruo and Hwang, collaborators on earlier projects that included the 2022 opera \u201cM. Butterfly,\u201d proved enthusiastic and well-equipped to work together again, joining a large cast and many production artists for this new work.<\/p>\n
The results, said Shilvock, have been outstanding. \u201cThe Monkey King\u201d music has an epic span, from the fierce, highly propulsive rhythms of the opera\u2019s battles\u201d \u2014 Dave Maier directs the production\u2019s essential fight scenes \u2014 \u201cto sublime, glorious melodies.\u201d Shilvock also mentioned during a recent interview that \u201cwe just had a flying rehearsal earlier today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flying rehearsal?<\/p>\n
Yes, among the opera\u2019s many battles and special effects, Shilvock explained, are some breathtakingly ethereal moments. It was Chinese soprano Mei Gui Zhang, one of the cast\u2019s singers, he added. \u201cShe was up on the Lotus Flower, flying across the stage. It was just this glorious moment, moving in three-dimensional space around the stage in the air.\u00a0\u00a0Really, it was just sublime.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Monkey King\u201d has been in the works for nearly a decade, notes Shilvock, and, like its title character, has taken the company on a thrilling, one-of-a-kind journey. The Monkey is a trickster, but he also dedicates himself to elevating his tribe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ve come to love about the Monkey is this: he uses warcraft, certainly in the opera\u2019s many battle sequences. But he also has this extraordinary Everyman-Everyperson sense in the way he\u2019s looking for safety, a sense of belonging. In the beginning of the opera, the Monkey Nation is being incredibly put-upon, incredibly Othered, and he\u2019s looking for a place for them to live. His antics are really in service of his community \u2014 not just for himself, but for his Monkey Nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo there\u2019s an incredible resonance, particularly as we\u2019ve gone through these years of Asian hate in America, and seeing the story emerge that stands tall in the face of that.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a statement about extraordinary resistance and resilience. For me, that\u2019s what I love about \u2018The Monkey King\u201d \u2014 it just has that secret sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Georgia Rowe at growe@pacbell.net.<\/p>\n
\u2018THE MONKEY KING\u2019<\/p>\n
World premiere, music by Huang Ruo, libretto David Henry Hwang, presented by San Francisco Opera<\/p>\n
When: Nov. 14-30<\/p>\n
Where: War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco<\/p>\n
Tickets: $29-$447; sfopera.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a new hero in the world of opera, one with amazing superpowers, an unstoppable mission \u2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[184,7,7974,967,971,330,395,101,396,103,102,104,106,105,1058,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-51562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-classical-music","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-peninsula","15":"tag-san-francisco","16":"tag-san-francisco-county","17":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","18":"tag-san-francisco-news","19":"tag-sf","20":"tag-sf-headlines","21":"tag-sf-news","22":"tag-theater","23":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51562","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=51562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}