Entertainment

Gorillaz bandmates make ‘Monkey: Journey to the West’ a barrel of fun

The cheeky Monkey (Lu) confronts the Buddha’s giant hand.

The cheeky Monkey (Lu) confronts the Buddha’s giant hand.

Wang Lu (left), as Monkey, is the center of this acrobatic and kaleidoscope-like adaptation of a 16th-century Chinese folk tale from composer and director Chen Shi-Zheng and the rock duo Gorillaz. (Stephanie Berger (2))

As operas go, “Monkey: Journey to the West” is no “Aida.” But this circus-like extravaganza — an East-meets-West collaboration between the men behind alt-rock’s Gorillaz and the Chinese composer of “Peony Pavilion” — is a barrel of fun.

Opening last night, the most buzzed-about show at the Lincoln Center Festival was inspired by a 16th-century Chinese folk tale of a sassy Monkey, who uses his magic powers and awesome kung fu skills to retrieve holy scriptures from India.

The episodic plot’s not easy to follow, but it’s basically “The Wizard of Oz,” with Monkey and his ragtag companions off to see the Wizard — or, in this case, Buddha.

Sometimes “Monkey” feels like a children’s theater show, other times like a brassy Broadway “Lion King,” and some of it’s a dead ringer for Cirque du Soleil.

This unevenness of tone shouldn’t be a surprise, given its offbeat creative team: composer Damon Albarn and designer Jamie Hewlett, the Gorillaz guys, and librettist/director Chen Shi-Zheng, whose arty 20-hour opera “Peony Pavilion” played Lincoln Center back in 1999.

Albarn’s songs, set to Chen’s Mandarin lyrics, layer the simplistic melodies of Chinese folk music over pounding dance beats. The eclectic orchestration features traditional Asian instruments like the zhongruan — similar to a guitar — along with the Western klaxophone, made up of honking car horns.

The score peaks in the final tableau of Buddha’s paradise, achieving a shimmering serenity worthy of Philip Glass. Unfortunately, that’s just when director Chen serves up a corny plate-spinning routine that feels like an outtake from an old episode of “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

Happily, the earlier sections of “Monkey” delivered some eye-popping moments: richly robed ladies-in-waiting flitting through the air in the “Heavenly Peach Banquet” ballet, a lithe silk acrobatics routine for the seductive Spider Woman, and a climactic full-tilt battle for the whole 40-member company.

Best of all was the star turn by Wang Lu as the badass Monkey, an explosion of punk energy whether dancing, fighting, singing or — in one of the saltier episodes of the tale — urinating in Buddha’s giant, outstretched blue hand.

Matching him in fierceness — and hand-to-hand combat — was Chen Jiaojiao as the haughty Princess Iron Fan, a villainess down to the tips of her lacquered nails. Making a case for the good guys, Li Li warbled in a sweet soprano as the monk Tripitaka before joining Chen Yijing’s Spider Woman for an aerial pas de deux.

Despite its occasional dramatic detours, “Monkey: Journey to the West” is worth a trek — if not to India, than at least as far as Lincoln Center.