Monkey: Journey to the West

Monkey: Journey to the West
Promotional artwork. Image by Jamie Hewlett
Music	Damon Albarn
Lyrics	Chen Shi-Zheng
Basis	Journey to the West
Productions	Manchester International Festival (2007), Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris (2007), Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston (2008), Royal Opera House London (2008), O2 Arena, London (2008/9), Lincoln Center New York (2013)

Monkey: Journey to the West is a stage adaptation of the novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. It was conceived and created by the Chinese actor and director Chen Shi-Zheng along with British musician Damon Albarn and British artist Jamie Hewlett.

In 2004, Chinese opera director Chen Shi-Zheng approached Jean-Luc Choplin of the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, about staging an opera based on Wu Cheng'en's 16th-century novel Journey to the West. Chen had worked with the writer David Greenspan on an outline dramaturgy, but had not identified a composer for the project. Choplin spoke about the proposal to Alex Poots, director of the Manchester International Festival, who suggested a number of composers he had worked with, as well as the British musician Damon Albarn.

Gorillaz, comprising Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, were around this time involved with the Manchester International Festival in planning a residency under the auspices of the festival at the Manchester Opera House. Albarn was interested in the idea of writing an opera for the festival, and so he and Hewlett met with Poots and Choplin to discuss a collaboration with Chen. Albarn and Hewlett then travelled to China to meet with Chen. Chen took them into the Chinese countryside, where they took photographs and field recordings of folk musicians as a basis from which to develop musical and visual ideas for the production. Albarn and Hewlett returned to the UK and worked separately on its musical and visual aspects. Chen undertook casting auditions in Beijing, assisted at first by Hewlett and David Coulter, who was to be a musical advisor to the project.