You call this modern Monkey, magic?

What does the Monkey King look like in Britain right now? At least not as beautiful as the monkey in the 1980s' Chinese TV series Journey to the West, that's for sure. In fact, a recent operatic adaptation of the ancient tale has given the legendary character a streetwise overhaul.

Based on a centuries-old Chinese myth, the rock opera is directed by Chinese film director Chen Shi-Zheng and features music composed by Blur frontman Damon Albarn, with visual concept and design by his co-creator of band Gorillaz Jamie Hewlett.

The opera has won rave reviews in Britain since its debut at Manchester International Festival this month, but it might spark debate in China.

Footage released of the opera, Monkey: Journey to the West, on Myspace shows the monkey born from an egg, which is hatched from a stone struck by lightning, as well as the scenes where he fights against demons.

Part gymnastics, part movie, part high-tech computer game, this multimedia spectacular sees the Monkey King sporting a David Beckham-style hairdo while collecting sacred Buddhist scrolls with his companions Pigsy, Sandy and Dragon Horse.

Albarn's music, performed by a band playing Western and Chinese instruments, is equally eclectic. The songs in mandarin are not clear for Chinese, and subtitles in English sometimes don't make sense for the production's British audience. In one scene, Pigsy swears to a sexy spider woman to love her "with all my liver".

The Times sang high praises of the opera, saying, "What's most encouraging is the sense of something new and exciting being created from the melding of many disparate styles - pop and classical, Western and Eastern, visual and aural."

The rock opera will also be staged in New York, Tokyo and Athens.

(China Daily 07/27/2007 page18)