Monkey: Journey to the West.

I was having trouble imagining what what kind of work could be spawned from the collaboration between Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett (who both previously collaborated on Gorillaz) and the Beijing opera...
I guess my main "worry" was that it would be too much "occidentalised". How could pop-style music fit with 1 of the oldest Chinese legends?
It wassn't really a worry as I can't call myself a purist or anything. I have enjoyed enough versions of The Journey To The West that might not have been entirely accurate... Hell even Dragon Ball is (at first at least) a spin off this legend!

Anyway the answer came with the 1st seconds of the show: the use of traditionnal instruments place the musical style as traditionnal Chinese music, with a hint of more modern and Occidental touches. But just so much to spice it up that's all.
As a whole, it's still pretty much a Chinese opera (or more the idea I have of one, as I haven't seen a real one so far...), deeply rooted in buddhism (as is the original story). And it was fully in mandarin (subtitled or more sidetitled) as well!

I feel it's very unusual to see such an uncompromised view as something that could be seen as another West-end musical. It only makes the whole experience more rewarding.

I feel to call this piece "awe inspiring" would even be an understatement.
The power of the story itself, seeing the monkey king punished by Buddha for seeking immortality and forced to team up with a priest and ua bunch of cast-outs to redeem himself, could already make anything look good.
But combined as it is with such designs, costumes, sets, singers/actors/acrobats it just reaches other levels. The Nirvana?

It's fun yet profound, action packed & contemplative at the same time.
The pictures shown, when all actors take a pause and stop for a moment, were beautiful.

The direction manages a few very clever tricks, using animations as transitions berween scenes and mixing it with the actual actors & sets. A times, characters also duplicate to carry a sense of agitation, etc.
Acting was impressive, along with the physical, gravity defying acrobatics. It was my 1st time seeing "live kung fu" and I had more than my money's worth. That sense of perfect control was also carried through to more quiet moments, especially with "flying" characters, moving gracefully through the stage.

The singing was also incredible. Again, very unsual compared to western opera standards. But incredibly impressive. Those guys (and girls) reach notes I didn't think I could hear!

I could go on & on & on about this, using superlatives... I'll stop here.
In case you didn't get the idea, it was an amazing (almost unbelievable) experience.