Monkey King   (Synopsis)

In the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, monkeys and Chinese birth-year animal beings are at play.  One of the monkeys showcases his legendary jumping skills.  His extraordinary talent with the staff secures his anointment as "Monkey King".

At a heavenly gala, the Jade Emperor's celebration is disrupted by an altercation with the rebellious God of Bulls caused by jealousy over the Fan Goddess.  Aggravated by the long-standing bad blood between them, Jade Emperor throws the vengeful God out of the heavens.  

Declaring himself as Wild Bull King, this dark lord trains his new army of hideous creatures while he seduces his consort, now the new Iron Fan Princess.  He vows to ruin both heaven and earth.

Gods in heaven make plans to deal with Wild Bull King.  The Goddess Guanyin is called by Jade Emperor to find a universal hero that would champion the cause of heaven.  Guanyin travels to the Garden of Flowers and Fruits to seek out a monkey with legendary skills.  Instead of being flattered by heaven's invitation, Monkey King duels with Quanyin and her Boy Messenger. Embarrassed by the defeat, Monkey King chases Guanyin with the aim of disrupting heaven itself.

Monkey King executes a solo assault on heaven.  Pride not withstanding, he is finally subdued by the four Heavenly Kings and gets crushed under a giant rock in the Valley of Virtue.  Gods decree that only a human without sin and with a sacred mission can ever free him from this eternal imprisonment.

At a different time and place, the Buddhist monk Tang Seng is on a missionary journey westward to seek the Scroll of Eternal Truth with disciples Friar Sand, Porky the Pig and White Dragon Horse.  The traveling envoy encounters the trapped Monkey King.  Tang Seng recognizes his potential and with the secret assistance of Guanyin releases Monkey King from his eternal imprisonment.

Wild Bull King and Iron Fan Princess attack the pilgrimage.  Monk Tang gets captured and Iron Fan Princess wants to eat the saint's flesh because it would grant her eternal youth.  The sudden emergence of the Princess of Icy Mountains and Skunky saves the day.  Skunky lures Wild Bull King away from the battle with trickery.  The Princess of Icy Mountains defeats Shadow Warrior, the unique weapon of the Iron Fan Princess.

In the Stone Forest, the Princess admires Tang Seng's handsome and God-like qualities.  As admiration turns into love,Tang Seng steadfastly holds onto his vows of chastity.  Porky and Skunky spy, and imitate the seduction.  Their bizarre courtship of course leads to a different ending.

The freeing of the Monkey King startles the Gods of heaven.  While debating the merits of monk Tang Seng, heaven is invaded by Wild Bull King.  A clash between good and evil occurs at the heaven's Great Hall.  As the villains lose, they flee and promise more turmoil and revenge.  At the Heavenly Palace, Gods debate the need for a new strategy.  Abandoning the use of a "universal hero", the Gods decide to place their hope solely on the mission of Tang Seng.

Intermission

Spider villains led by the Spider Queen dance and train in the Forest of Bloody Trees.  Directed by Wild Bull King, this weird entourage attacks the pilgrims.  Capable of limitless transformations, Monkey King converts himself into an army of preying mantis.  A giant battle of insects takes place.

In the Valley of Endless Waterfalls, Porky and Skunky indulge each other in courtship.  On a different front, unaware of his mentor's vow of chastity, Monkey King encourages the Princess of Icy Mountains to declare her love again to Tang Seng.  The Princess persistence brings the monk to the verge of submission.  Interrupted by the sudden appearance of Guanyin, Tang Seng comes to his senses and rejects his own desire.

At the Labyrinth of Death, Wild Bull King's grotesque angels of darkness celebrate evil's impending victory.  Wild Bull King and Iron Fan Princess orchestrate an orgy of ungodly proportions.

Heaven worries about the havoc caused by Wild Bull King and bemoans his increasing power.

Wandering away from the pilgrims at the Forest of Infinity, the Princess meets the Prince of Fiery Mountains, a chance meeting actually arranged by Guanyin as a replacement for her love lost.  Love at first sight progresses to a seduction of the most heavenly kind. While searching for the Princess, Friar Sand, White Dragon Horse and Skunky get ambushed by the Centipede God and other insect warriors.  They are captured while the Prince of the Fiery Mountains escapes.

Monkey King and Tang Seng search and pray for their lost comrades across the Valley of Floating Mountains.  The Prince of the Fiery Mountains meets up with them and informs them of the disciples' capture.  The Prince recognizes Monkey King's potential and conveys to him his own power of fire.  Suddenly, the three of them are attacked by White-Boned Goddesses.  A battle of the most unusual kind occurs as Monkey King clones himself into fighting White Cranes, Monkey Warriors and Winged Dragons in order to win the battle.

The pilgrims continue onwards and meet a Magical Elf who leads them to the Magical Kingdom of Knowledge where all beings live in transcendental beauty and simplicity.  These beings of superior intellect, lead by the Twin Child Kings, advise the pilgrims of the secret location of the Scroll of Eternal Truth, the power of which can only be bestowed upon a special "voyager" without sin.  The people of the Kingdom of Knowledge will lead the pilgrims to the hidden location of the Scroll and test whether Tang Seng could be the anointed "voyager".

The pilgrims enter the cave with uncertain expectations. While they search for and await the verdict, suddenly the universe magically opens up before them as the power of the Scroll of Eternal Truth is revealed:"When the power of the five elements is combined as one, the force is eternally invincible."

Monkey King is dispatched to save the imprisoned comrades. All five pilgrims head to the Valley of Virtues where each is finally transformed into the respective power of their five elements of nature:Tang Seng (earth), Monkey King (fire), Pig (metal), Friar Sand (wood), White Dragon Horse (water). Meanwhile, the assault on the Labyrinth of Death has begun. The forces of goodness at hand are an inadequate match against the forces of darkness.  As the defeat of goodness seems imminent, the five Forces of Nature combined as one is at once revealed.  The Forces of Nature are indeed invincible!

A giant celebration takes place at the beautiful and harmonious Kingdom of Knowledge.  Heaven and earth rejoice over the triumph of goodness over evil and the eternal power of nature. 

Monkey King, Sight, Sound & Action’s most recent Action-Musical directed by Dr. Dennis Law, won another prestigious Dora Award for 2010 on 28^th June in Toronto.  Amidst stiff competition and nearly 250 shows eligible for Dora Awards this year, Monkey Kingwas honored to receive two nominations announced in early June for both Best Costume Design and Best Choreography.

At the awards ceremony on the 28^thJune, 2010, Dr. Law was surprised to receive the third Dora Award for his Action-Musicals.  This time for Monkey King, the Dora was won for Best Choreography by Jonathon Feng Han, Alyssa Xiaoli Wang, Chen Jia and Wen Qiqi.  Regarding receiving another prestigious international award for a Chinese show, Dr. Law said, “I was truly surprised that Monkey King received this recognition.  This year, there were numerous big shows including productions of opera, famous plays and dance art by well-known local companies.  As a multicultural show that played only for more than two weeks, we are indeed honored.”

Dr. Law continued, “Jonathon Feng Han and our show Tang Concubines have already won a Dora Award in 2008 for Best Choreography.  I felt that for Monkey King, we had to take our choreography and our “stage action” to another level.  Even though Monkey King had its world premiere during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I asked Alyssa Xiaoli Wang to head a new team to add a fresh dimension of choreography and action to showcase my concept of Action-Musicals for this tour during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.  Ms. Wang’s trusted understanding of my mindset allowed this new dimension of action on stage to be executed to its bests potential.  So I sincerely thank and congratulate the entire choreography team”.

To date, Dr. Law’s three shows, Heartbeat, Tang Concubines and Monkey King, have combined for seven nominations and three actual Dora Awards.  With this history-making background, the new Joseph and Loretta Law Society for Advancement of Performing Arts will present Monkey King at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre from 24^ththrough 30^th January, 2011.  This showing will be an eye-opener for Asian audiences anxious to experience an unprecedented fusion of dance, acrobatics and martial arts.

Sight, Sound & Action,

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