Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King,” based on “Journey to the West,” brings an old superhero to the opera stage.
Underestimate the Monkey King at your peril. Part trickster and part savior, he can tame the oceans and threaten the power of heaven itself. He is, basically, a superhero.
And as superheroes go, he’s one of the oldest, with a story preserved in the thousands of pages of “Journey to the West,” a classic Chinese novel from the 16th century. Over time, he has appeared in comics and graphic novels, TV shows and movies. Even in video games.
Now, his tale has been turned into a spectacular new opera by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang, “The Monkey King,” which premiered on Friday at San Francisco Opera. It’s a production that has been given resources to pull off a jaw-dropping feat of music theater, making a thrilling case for the vitality and potential of opera on a grand scale. And everyone can see it: The Nov. 18 performance will be streamed live online and available on demand later.