Review: The Monkey King

I said I would do reviews.
A day later, I wish I had waited to start this blog next month, because I feel I may not be up to the task of properly reviewing The Monkey King, which is billed as "the first chinese rock musical", purely because I have no idea what on earth is going on in it. I don't mean that as a negative--allow me to explain. There are stories, and characters so ingrained in our (read, western) culture, that you can identify them on sight: you see a little girl in a red cape and instantly you know that this is Little Red Riding Hood, destined to take a long trip to Granny's by way of a wolf's digestive tract. I think (think!)that Monkey King is the same thing to the Chinese: based on a centuries' old fable, called Journey to the West, it's fascinating, but I did spend a lot of time wondering who the heck everyone was, especially as the show is also presented in a very different style to what most western audiences are used to. There is no dialogue, and the majority of the songs are performed by an external narrator. Like a ballet, the characters sometimes stand in certain ways or hold their hands in a manner that I am sure must confer messages about their status and who they are or what they feel, but I have no frame of reference to know what they truly mean. In spite of that, it was still a feast for the eyes, and a showcase of the sort of physical stunts most people could barely imagine, let alone execute.
Monkey King was written, directed, and produced by Dennis K. Law, MD (yes, he's also a surgeon, apparently). Dr Law also gets billing as artistic director and lighting designer, as well as having taken all the photographs in the souvenir program. And he has written a book about extra-marital affairs in China, called Two Faces of the Moon. I have no idea what the last has to do with this production, but you can buy it at the merch counter in the theatre, so there you are. The only one of his many jobs that I'm not particularly enamoured of is the lighting, which is rather flat. My bigger complaint is that the lights stay up too long before the blackout at the end of each scene, so the audience isn't sure if they should start applauding or not. Irritating. Also, as a performer, I'm going to state for the record that I find it offensive that Dr Law has his name on the show program forall of his 5 jobs, but there is NO listing of who all the people up on the stage working their hind ends off for two hours are, which means that I can't tell you who any of them are, except by refering to them as character names. But enough on that front, me being irritated does not constitute a review.
The show itself is a series of dance/acrobatics/martial arts set pieces, each telling a peice of the story, and preceeded by a blackout, during which the subtitle LED screens will tell you what is about to happen. They are a bit glitchy, and sometimes repeat themselves, but that's about that i expect of an LED screen, myself. As best as I can figure, Wild Bull King(who can do the most insane things i have ever seen on a stage in terms of simply defying gravity) and his girlfriend, Iron Fan Princess (you can tell she is a bad girl because she is the only one in heaven who wears red and black, and has her dresses slit up to there),decide to defy the gods in heaven, and form their own club, which looks decidedly hell-like, and train up some (very Scary!) minions to wage war on heaven and earth, and eating small childeren along the way. The gods decide they need to find a "Universal Hero" to teach them a lesson. The first guy they try to pin the job on is Monkey King (played by at least 4 different people, so far as a can tell), a twitchy, itchy simian with amazing bo staff powers, and the ability to turns bits of his hair into helpful creatures--cranes, bugs, dragons, more monkeys--and it does not go well. He fails the godess' test, follows her back to heaven to work out his fustrations on the fine folks there, and ends up trapped under a five fingered mountain. Enter Monk Tang Seng (handsome of face, honeyed of singing voice, and buried under one of the most lavish costumes I have ever seen) who is on the journey to a western kingdom of knowledge, along with fellow pilgrims Porky (a pig, natch), White Dragon Horse (another amazing costume), and Friar Sand (don't know what the hell this guy is, but he has massive furry ears and sweet nunchuck skills that would make Napoleon Dynamite wet himself). They free Monkey, and go through a series of battle/adventures, each wierder than the next, until they end up being the champions of heaven, uniting the five elements of nature and winning the day. The most important other people that they hang with for the majority of the show are the Princess of Icy Mountains (scary flexible), and her sidekick Skunky (a girl skunk and maybe the cutest individual i have ever seen. She also has a baffling romance with the pig, but, well, I already told you I find this whole story a bit confusing)
Basically, this show is epic, and wierd. Epically wierd, even. But in the good way, like Japanese cartoons and t shirts with chinglish mesages ("No one is richer than the man of wisdom, or pooper than the man of ignorance")on them. The audience response has been extremely positive, and you could do much worse for an evening of colorful and culturally enriching entertainment. It is loud and colorful spectacle, and more than enough to keeps your kids engrossed the whole time as well. Speaking of kids, there are a pair of "Twin Child Kings" in the second act that made my jaw drop halfway to my knees with their big stunt.
I hope that this show manages to generate more of an audience before its run ends on March 28th. The producers showed a shocking oversight in the advertising department--as in, they didn't advertise. This show had line ups around the block when it played in Vancouver apparently, and it surely deserves to play to mare than 400 people a night here.

On a side note, I know how some memebers of the Toronto crowd love to just dash without applauding at the end of shows, and make of the doors while the lighs are down. I won't go into how rude that is just now, but trust me, you will do yourself a real disservice here. The 15 minute (!) curtain call is the most surreal, hilarious, and awesome-wierd time I think I have ever spent in a theatre. So stick it out.
Also, the cast will come out to the lobby for those who like to take photos of everything.

OH! This may be a once in a lifetime chance to take photos inside the auditorium of the Canon Theatre. Usually it's forbidden by copyright, but as long as you aren't using your flash or video recording, the Monkey King folks are cool with it.

Sur-reality.

A new show opened in our theatre tonight. It defines itself as a show that makes "the unreal real". I felt a little unreal myself, when I walked into the lobby and discovered the fallen corpse of "Anty" from Honey I Shrunk The Kids (Don't even try to tell me you don't remember that too!)lying on the floor next to the coat check. Then I remembered grade school science class, and that ants don't have, like, 20 legs.
Turns out "Anty" is a dragon, and there's not enough room for him backstage with the cast of The Monkey King. He has also since been relocated into the back of the coat check so as not to be stepped on, or manhandled by, the patrons. I did see him once more though: halfway through the second act, a group of what I can only describe as the world's most slovenly ninjas (clad in red and black tie-dyed footie pajamas, obviously...) ran through, picked him up, and dashed into the back of the house to run him down the aisle and up onto the stage.
However, as that was all I saw of the show this evening, my review of Monkey King will have to wait until tomorrow. I may spend some time at the matinee spooning with Anty behind the coat check first though.

Hello. Do you have your ticket?

Is it for today's performance?
Is it facing right side up so I can see it?
Will you kindly stop walking for a moment so I can scan it with this blasted machine that probably won't work anyway?
Thank you, and welcome to the show.

I am an usher, which means that i tread the line where art and customer service meet. Sometimes that line is a strange place to be, and that's where this blog comes in. I plan to use this as a place to tell you all the tales that happen between the point where you enter the front door (fyi: thats the address written right on your ticket) and the point where your ass hits that sweetly padded velvet cushion at G145...and also, what goes on during the intermission, post show, when your cell phone goes off....you get the point.
I'm also planning to occasionally review shows, both taking place in my own theatre, and other shows I happen to find a chance to catch, given my schedule. I figure my credentials can't possibly be worse than some of the people out there doing theatre reviews professionally--I have a post secondary education in theatre, studied dramatic literature, and have performed all across North America (of course, not in anything you would have seen). I've worked as front of house staff in multiple theatres in Toronto and NYC, and I've seen an awful lot of plays, good and bad. If a show has an extended run in my theatre, I may do a second review after a month, and let you know how it's holding up to the test of seeing it 25 or 30 times in a row--you'd be surprised how your opinion can change over time, and some of the more subtle things you spot after multiple viewings. Conversely, you'd also be amazed that ushers don't throw themselves over the balconies in protest more often.

You can call me Usher X. I can't tell you specifically what theatre I work in (because, well, I do want to keep my job...that should also explain the moniker), but it's a large, well known Toronto theatre, so if you follow me for more than three posts, you'll probably be able to make a pretty solid guess. I don't mean to offend anyone, so I hope everyone out there can take this blog in the manner it's meant: good humour, with an occasional side of good old fashioned bitching about "you'll never guess what some idiot did today"...because as in any line of work, you run into some real nutjobs now and then.

By the way, did I actually mention that I really do love my job? Because I do. I am the luckiest person on earth because I get paid every night to watch a show and be nice to people. And sometimes, i even get to tell them where to go.
Hell, most of the time, they ask me to!