Monkey Journey To The West (I went!!)

I flew 800 miles, drove another 400 and braved near 100 degree weather...it was Victoria: Journey To The South. I finally got to see Monkey, after watching the Imagine documentary a year ago, and knowing about it for longer.

I have to say it lived up to all my expectations. The music was amazing, it gave me that dorky sensation you get when you have really huge expectations and then you hear something you recognize...and you get all overwhelmed and teary eyed...You know that sensation right? Right?

I loved everything about it, you could tell it was Damon's music...it had that old timey piano Londonish sound, and the bleepyness....but it was a Chinese Opera in Mandarin! Even though the vocals were all sung by the actors, the melodies were purely Damon, and you could easily imagine him singing any of it. The best combination of haunting music and vocal melody was the song Sandy sings when he first comes out, hopefully there will be a soundtrack released, or Damon's new album out in July will include something similar. I had front row seats so I could see the orchestra, which was pretty cool since I got to see the Klaxophone Damon invented...it consists of a bunch of car horns hooked up to a video game joystick thing.

The animation was fantastic too. It was a great combination of the original Chinese story and Jamie's spin on it. There's a thread through the whole thing of little touches that show it was a collaborative effort between East and West. One of the best parts of animation was a little bit showing Monkey's travels to find a magical weapon, where he visits all these different countries...but the people he meets are modern characters. The other really clever part was when Princess Iron Fan refuses to give her fan to Monkey. He turns into a bee and flies into her body...forcing her to agree. The actress acted out the scene, and behind her was an animation that looked like an x-ray of her insides. It shows Monkey as the bee buzzing around with a mischievous grin on his face. You can see it at about the 1 min 47 sec. mark on this video. It's just a video of their rehearsals for the Manchester shows (they changed a few things..Monkey's tracksuit ended up being yellow).


The costumes and scenery were also a modern take on the story, updated by Jamie. Monkey wears a kind of "Kill Bill" style tracksuit, and gets some nifty gold sneakers. It was a perfect representation of Monkey's character, a brash, impulsive, and foolish animal.

Everything went together seamlessly. The acrobatics were amazing, and didn't seem to detract from the storytelling. There were monkeys, spider women, and starfish doing death defying stunts from the ceiling...turtles spinning around in hula-hoops...and amazing battle scenes.

At the end, Monkey guides Tripitaka, Sandy, and Pigsy to the scriptures in India with their white horse. In doing so he attains enlightenment, something he's been trying to gain all along. The finale scene was incredible, with a giant Buddha set, amazing music, and plate spinner girls all marking the occasion.

So yeah, I loved it. I really want to see it again but until it comes to Chicago, once will have to be enough.
I think I fell in love with Monkey a bit!
O.k so there was no picture taking in the Sottile theater, but I got a Marquee shot, and one very blurry photo of the animation screen before the show started.

EDIT: Oh yeah and Damon WAS there, I think I caught a glimpse of him at the side of the stage after the finale..but I'm not sure. I'm gonna go with it being him though for the story. I asked one of the ushers if Damon was still in Charleston, and she said he was and that he took everyone out the night before! Lucky!