OK, quick mini-review...
It's been an age since I went to an opera, and I'd forgotten that it's actually quite a challenging artform, especially in the shape of Monkey, which combines elements of martial arts, modern and classical dance, Chinese langauge opera, comic book art and that rare thing a credible crossover score between trad Chinese and Western pop music. The opera was divided into 9 acts, taking in most of the relevant pieces of the original stories. Clearly divided into it's mystical first 1/3 which combines Hewletts still and animation work with interludes of live action during which time we see Monkey born from his stone egg, becoming the monkey king and pissing Buddha off and being trapped under His hand.
The actual story of the journey to the west is all live action, from the collection and stories of the companions, 3 of the main trials (White haired demon, spider women, Princess Iron Fan and the fiery mountain) before Monkey and his companions reach paradise. My main gripe is that while Monkey is a very, very well developed character, the other companions don't really get much stage time (Sandy's trial isn't even touched).
Monkey himself it brilliantly portrayed - he's truly irrepressible in all aspects.
If anyone is going it's worth remembering that this is a proper opera - it doesn't dumb the form down or attempt to make itself accesible to the audience musically, narratively or figuratively, so expect to have to think about some of it!!
