Channel Frederator Blog

The stage version of Monkey: Journey to the West is currently being performed in London at the O2 Arena—actually, in a custom tent, featuring a restaurant, bar, and Chinese foot massage parlor. (Last spring, the show had a less extravagant run in the U.S. at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.)

This Chinese Opera adaptation of a 16th century novel is chock full of acrobatics, circus acts, and animated sequences by Jamie Hewlett (of Gorillaz fame).

Reviewer Adam Sweeting of The Telegraph says it’s “a kind of Cirque du Soleil with added layers of Buddhist karma and philosophical self-improvement.”

The music is by Damon Albarn (the other half of Gorillaz.) Jamie Hewlett is credited with design and animation.

Check out the official Monkey site for deep dish on various incarnations: performances, CDs, videos, etc.

Tix are on sale here. Interview with Albarn here. And there’s a MySpace page, of course!

You can a view a beautiful trailer for the show here.

After the jump, the opening sequence for a Monkey-inspired pop culture product of the past: the cult 1970s TV show Monkey Magic. And after that, the theme song from the 1990s animated series.

—Anne D. Bernstein