Dancer Huiwang Zhang as the title role in Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King.”
Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
From a visual and theatrical standpoint alone, composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang’s superb new opera “The Monkey King,” drawn from a 16th-century Chinese novel, immediately ranks among the San Francisco Opera’s most thrillingly inventive offerings in decades.
Under the guidance of director Diane Paulus and a large production team, the stage is a riot of color and movement. The video projections, costumes and lighting give evidence of many, many imaginations working overtime to find the perfect effect or the most off-the-wall design.
Even if “The Monkey King,” which had its triumphant commissioned world premiere at the War Memorial Opera House on Friday, Nov. 14, had somehow lacked a score or libretto, it would still have been a magnificent spectacle. But come on — an opera without a score or libretto? Those are the best parts.