Monkey: Journey To The West - Palace Theatre - 28/06/07 by James Ellaby

In late 2005, Damon Albarn stood on the stage at the Opera House taking in a standing ovation for his part in a stunning live show by his 'virtual band' Gorillaz to kick off the countdown to the inaugural Manchester International Festival. You have to wonder, even then, if he could ever have dreamed of getting another ovation less than two years down the line, just up the road at the Palace Theatre, this time for his part in a Chinese opera of all things.

The idea of a former Brit Pop icon composing an opera sounds like a recipe for disaster, and we certainly wouldn't like to hear Liam Gallagher's efforts, but through Gorillaz and Mali Music, Albarn has showed just how far he has come since the days of Girls And Boys and Country House. But even so, this was a massive leap for him, because Monkey: Journey To The West is not a Tommy-style rock-opera, but is in many ways very classical Chinese opera, based on a centuries old legend and sounding absolutely nothing like anything he has ever composed before.

But of course, Albarn wasn't alone going into this, with Gorillaz partner Jamie Hewlett providing animation, visual design and costumes, while Chen Shi-Zheng provided the genuine Chinese feel with his direction. Even then, this was a big risk for them and for the Manchester International Festival, who used it as the opening event and one of the main attractions of the whole fortnight. The good news from the world premiere is that this was a gamble that paid off richly.

The storyline of Monkey is rather convoluted, as you'd probably expect from something that dates back hundreds and hundreds of years and is steeped in Chinese mythology. Your reviewer had tried to garner some idea of it from Wikipedia, only to give up in absolute bewilderment, so it's exceedingly helpful that the programme details the events, scene-by-scene. This was even more crucial on the opening night, because the subtitles were working very badly indeed, leaving the audience constantly wondering who was saying what and when.

But this is about a lot more than just the story, because visually, Monkey is one of the best shows you'll possibly ever see. The combination of Hewlett's gorgeous animation with his physical set and costume designs would be enough on its own, but Shi-Zheng brings every scene to life with great choreography, lots of wirework (characters are constantly flying around and leaping off things) and plenty of acrobats, contortionists and other ridiculously-talented performers. There is a risk here of it seeming a bit like a circus with a confusing plot, but Shi-Zheng manages to avoid that, and spontaneous applause breaks out at least twice in every scene, so clearly the audience were impressed.

But what of Albarn's operatic score? Well, if you didn't already know that it was the singer of Blur who had composed it, you'd never have guessed, which is probably the biggest compliment you can give him. A lot of it is quite traditional Chinese music, some quite atonal at times, but there's also some beautiful music, not least in the Heavenly Peach Banquet (reused again as the cast took their bows at the end) while he brings the sound right up to date during some of the later fight sequences with electronic beats joining the Chinese instruments, violins, trumpets, etc.

Whether you understand a single thing that is happening on stage or not (and hopefully the subtitles will work much better after these teething problems), Monkey: Journey To The West is a feast for the eyes and for the ears. At the end, Albarn, Hewlett and Shi-Zheng join the cast on stage to take several bows, and the delight on everyone's faces is clear to see, because the audience loved their show. It brought colour, excitement, and great music as well as a real Chinese experience to Manchester and that is what this International Festival is all about, so this was the perfect start.

Of course, in case you had lost your bearings inside, once emerging onto Oxford Road, there was Shaun Ryder (from the Happy Mondays) signing autographs, and it was absolutely pouring down. Yep, still in Manchester. However, (and while I would normally warn caution when a reviewer quotes 'somone leaving the theatre' at the end of their review) one lady walking out into the rain was overheard by this reviewer telling her friend: "When I was last in Beijing, I went to an opera. This was better."