Monkey: Journey to the West

28/06/07

It was with great anticipation and excitement that I entered the Palace Theatre in Manchester on the evening of the premier performance of “Monkey - Journey to the West”. The opera certainly succeeded in opening the Manchester International Festival with a truly original and inspiring work.

Damon Albarn clearly drew influences from the characteristics of Eastern music, for example remaining in one particular harmonic/ scalic environment throughout a single scene. But he also incorporated western musical idioms such as a march, which accompanied the principle characters on their “journey to the west”.

Although there was clearly some innovative ideas in the score, I felt it was the most unsuccessful part of the production. The lack of melodic focus throughout resulted in a misty and sparse field of static harmony and ostinato rhythms. This approach to the score was successful in some instances (The Volcano Scene), however for the majority it was quite tedious for the listener. The weakest part of the score was the opening overture in which there seemed to be a complete lack of development in the rhythmic ideas, especially the wood blocks, accompanied by the absence of a memorable melodic theme.

However, the overall work was most definitely an exciting and innovative spectacle with outstanding circus acts, costumes and set design. The production is definitely worth seeing just to experience these other factors, but don't expect an opera - it is certainly not the genre it falls under.

By Laura Bowler