{"id":4973,"date":"2012-03-08T13:31:30","date_gmt":"2012-03-08T05:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/?p=4973"},"modified":"2021-08-03T10:37:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T02:37:04","slug":"journey-to-the-west-%ef%bc%881987%ef%bc%89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/portfolio\/theatre-portfolio\/journey-to-the-west-%ef%bc%881987%ef%bc%89\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey to the West (1987)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA phantasmagorical, postmodern opera studded with archetypal images and ancient symbols\u2026It was only the most recent piece of evidence that Taiwan is creating the boldest Chinese art in Asia today.\u201d <\/em>- Newsweek<\/p>\n

This ground-breaking musical-drama was a complex visual and aural feast that presented the journey of modern China to the modern West, alluding constantly to the classical Chinese tale of The Monkey and Tripitaka, who journeyed to the ancient \u201cwest,\u201d which was India.<\/p>\n

The complex script had three parallel story lines, each with a leading male part: Monkey, who is seen from his birth to his imprisonment in the Five Elements Mountain; the first Chinese scholar to travel to America to study in the Ch\u2019ing Dynasty; a modern Taiwanese man who goes to America in search of a green card. The framework is actually three separate journeys by three personages from three different time-space environments, who journey through the same seven \"stations.\" The three lines move sometimes apart, sometimes together, with the theme of going west to bring back scriptures.<\/p>\n

The three journeys are presented in Beijing Opera, Opera, and experimental theater styles on the complex stage. In the seven acts, the sets by Alan Kuang-yen Nieh provided a striking visual background for the action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started out at the Five Elements Mountain, a beautiful mythical space, and when it gets to Act Seven, it has transformed into a nuclear waste facility. Human material and psychological waste has been sent underground and has disappeared.\u201d<\/em> \u2013Taipei Times<\/p>\n

Written and Directed by Stan Lai,
\nInspired by Wu Chen-en's Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West<\/p>\n

Music Composed and Conducted by Chien-tai Chen<\/p>\n

Cast:\u00a0Lee Li-chun, Ismene Ting, Li Chung-ming,\u00a0Ma Chuan (soprano), Chen Chien-hua (baritone) and others.<\/p>\n

Performance by\u00a0National Symphony\u00a0Orchestra<\/p>\n

Choir:\u00a0National Taiwan Normal University Experimental Chorus<\/p>\n

Scenic and Lighting Design: Alan Kuang-yan Nieh<\/p>\n

Costume and Makeup Design: Pamela Chin<\/p>\n

Original Artwork by Chen Chaobao<\/p>\n

Choreography by Luo Manfei<\/p>\n

Produced by National Theater<\/p>\n

Co-produced by Performance Workshop<\/p>\n

World Premiere: December 18, 1987, National Theatre, Taipei<\/p>\n

Performance Dates: 12\/18\/1987-12\/23-1987<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA phantasmagorical, postmodern opera studded with archetypal images and ancient symbols\u2026It was only the most recent piece of evidence that Taiwan is creating the boldest Chinese art in Asia today.\u201d - Newsweek This ground-breaking musical-drama was a complex visual and aural feast that presented the journey of modern China to the modern West, alluding constantly... Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theatre-portfolio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FCzk-1id","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18210,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973\/revisions\/18210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwshop.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}