Review by Jo Tomalin
ForAllEvents.com
11/22/25
The Monkey King Dazzles at San Francisco Opera World Premiere
Kang Wang as the Monkey King with members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus in Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King.”
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
There is something very special happening in San Francisco! The San Francisco Opera World Premiere of The Monkey King runs November 14-30, 2025, and there is still time to catch it if you haven’t yet seen it! An extraordinary group of artists and creatives have assembled and brought the much loved 400 year old epic story of The Monkey King to the War Memorial Opera House stage as an opera. The story is inspired by the novel called Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en. Sung in English and Mandarin with English and Chinese supertitles, the two act opera The Monkey King is composed by Huang Ruo, libretto by David Henry Hwang. Directed by Diane Paulus with puppetry and set design by Basil Twist, and costume design by Anita Yavich. Carolyn Kuan conducts the brilliant San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Chorus and cast. This is an unmissable opera!
The Prologue sets the tone visually and musically for what we are about to see. An exquisite floating tear drop gently lifts Guanyin, in long gossamer white robes across the stage high in the air while she sings beautifully. She is all goodness and encourages people to be calm and patient. The ethereal Guanyin is played by soprano Mei Gui Zhang in an extraordinary role in an extraordinary setting and Zhang as Guanyin returns several times in a highlight performance. The lighting (by lighting designer Ayumo “Poe” Saegusa) changes ever so slightly and groups of the superb San Francisco Opera Chorus (led by Chorus director John Keene) begin to show through on different levels which evokes another time and place. It’s a stunningly beautiful start to this opera.
Next, we meet the eponymous Monkey King, impeccably played by tenor Kang Wang who has such command of a wide range of facial expressions, emotions and mischievous subtext with agile physicality – while singing beguilingly in an outstanding performance.
Ruo’s melodic music is filmic and drives the story adding atmosphere such as rippling fast rhythms of expectation and intrigue or increasingly vibrant loud punctuations for battles. Instrumental sections in between arias are well timed for the audience to take in the visual atmosphere. Hwang’s libretto is relatable and modern including everyday phrases and words that keep us in the moment and surprise.
Joo Won Kang as Lord Erlang (center) with Christopher Jackson as King of the North, Chester Pidduck as King of the South, Jonathan Smucker as King of the East, and William O’Neill as King of the West in Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King.”
Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
Monkey King is irate because he has been imprisoned in a cave for five hundred years and wants to burst out of this prison. At this point, the story (his Journey to the West) does not happen because we are taken back in flashbacks to the beginning with Monkey’s birth from a stone and his journey as a troublesome monkey causing unrest everywhere he goes. In a series of vivid scenes with characters singing dynamic and pensive arias Monkey arrives in different places meeting the Jade Emperor, Supreme Sage Laojun and several nobles and kings who soon discover Monkey’s bad manners and each in turn says they must discipline this undisciplined one. The cast of soloists in each kingdom and land are exceptional in voice and emotive characterization: Master Subhuti/Buddha (Bass-Baritone Jusung Gabriel Park), Dragon King Ao Guang (Baritone Joo Won Kang), Crab General and Venus Star (Mezzo-Soprano Hongni Wu), Jade Emperor (Tenor Konu Kim), Supreme Sage Laojun (Bass Peixin Chen), Lord Erlang (Baritone Joo Won Kang), King of the North (Tenor Christopher Jackson), King of the South (Tenor Saint Louis Missouri), King of the East (Tenor Jonathan Smucker), King of the West (Bass-Baritone William O”Neill), Lord Erlang Dancer (Marcos Vedovetto).
The Monkey King puppet in Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s “The Monkey King.” Photo: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera
Richly theatrical in its visual storytelling, Twist creates outstanding mystical and imaginative locations with curtains that rise, fall, exit to the left and right in rapid succession, transporting us to an underwater realm with giant floaty jelly fish and projections with bubbles, to an ostentatious world in a gloriously surreal nightclub scene – and much more. Yavich populates these worlds and realms with equally impressive costumes that are as bold as they are intricate and colorful. Twist and Yavich are a formidable creative design team.
Twist’s puppet direction and set designs are original, effective and each is revealed and completely unexpected in look and feel. The amount of puppetry in this opera is perfect and exquisitely used to add dimension and humor, such as when swelling the ranks of the tribe of monkeys with human to miniature size monkeys; and especially as the Monkey King (who is triple cast: singer, puppet, dancer). This casting allows for visceral acrobatic moments by the puppet and dancer timed with Kang Wang’s masterful character performance, so we see a monkey King puppet flying or jumping with perfectly timed moments when Huiwang Zhang as the Monkey King dancer appears with exuberant turns, spritely jumps and fast changes of levels – matching Kang’s posture and stances – so the flow from Kang to dancer is seamless (choreography by Ann Yee). A highly creative scene with several white heavenly horses is a breathtaking master stroke! And the Mountain of Fruits scene, with the famous peach tree, is visually abstract and beautiful. The Monkey King is a magical sensory feast indeed!
More Information + Tickets:
San Francisco Opera
https://www.sfopera.com/
Originally from England Jo Tomalin is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is a reviewer for Dance & Theatre at www.ForAllEvents.com and works in the performing arts as a freelance movement specialist, director + actor. She is also a Professor of theatre performance in the School of Theatre & Dance at San Francisco State University, teaching Movement and Voice for actors, Storytelling and Acting.
Jo Tomalin studied Classical Ballet for 12 years. She graduated from London University’s Laban Centre teaching credential program in Modern Dance, Art of Movement & Choreography, then she trained in Physical Theatre, Masks, and Devised theatre at the renowned professional acting school “Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq” Paris, France. Jo studied Classical Acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), London; and holds an A.T.C.L. in Voice and Acting from Trinity College of Dramatic Art, London, and a PH.D. in Education from Capella University, MN, USA.
