Journey to the West

The Monkey King battles monsters in the BBC's Olympic title sequence

　　The result is Monkey: Journey to the West, a show which blends acrobatics, music, animation and martial arts to tell the story of Sun Wukong and his travelling companions on their journey of redemption.

　　Performed in Mandarin to sell-out crowds in London's Royal Opera House last week, the show is a stage adaptation of the famous Chinese novel Journey to the West.

　　"An unclassifiable extravaganza" was how The Guardian described the show, while another reviewer said it was a performance that "left no genre untouched and whose scale of ambition could only be marvelled at."

　　Indeed, for director Chen Shi-zheng, bringing the wildly imaginative Chinese tale to a 21st century Western audience was a creative challenge that allowed him and his team to mix together a wide range of influences.

　　The score was composed by British musician Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur and co-creator of the virtual cartoon band Gorillaz. It is played by an orchestra that uses both Western instruments and the traditional Chinese pipa, guzheng and zhongruan.

　　Another aspect which makes this show stand out is the use of animation, which is projected onto a large screen behind the stage. Director Chen said "the integration of animation and sound was really a work of genius."

The Monkey King, as Sun Wukong is known in English, as well as Pigsy, Sandy and a host of other characters and monsters are brought to life by 40 acrobats from the Dalian circus troupe.

　　Even though The Monkey King is less well-known outside North-East Asia, many British people fondly remember a cult 1970s TV series called Monkey.

　　And this isn't the last British people will be seeing of The Monkey King this summer.

　　The team behind the stage show have produced an animated title sequence for the BBC's Olympic coverage which shows Monkey and his friends battling monsters on their way to Beijing's Olympic Stadium.

　　GLOSSARY 词汇表

　　renowned 有名的
　　animation 动画
　　sell-out crowds （被）观众一抢而空
　　unclassifiable extravaganza 不能被分类的（带有华丽服饰的）娱乐表演
　　marvelled （感到）惊奇
　　creative challenge 集聚创造性挑战的
　　co-creator 合伙创始人
　　integration 合成
　　brought to life 被活灵活现的重现
　　title sequence 片头，开片
　　acrobatics 杂技
　　redemption 拯救，弥补
　　stage adaptation 改编成舞台剧
　　left no genre untouched 囊括所有艺术表现手法的
　　wildly imaginative 极富想象力的
　　score （音乐剧）配乐
　　virtual 虚拟的
　　a work of genius 天才制作
　　cult （被）崇拜
　　coverage 覆盖