Pitchfork: Damon Albarn-Scored Monkey Circus Opera Tours

Damon Albarn-Scored Monkey Circus Opera Tours
The Good, the Bad, and the Simian

Eff that Cirque du Soleil racket. What your date really wants to see this season is Monkey: Journey to the West, the previously mentioned "circus opera" from director Chen Shi-Zheng, featuring an original score by one Damon Albarn and visual design work by Gorillaz artiste Jamie Hewlett.

Yes, Monkey: Journey to the West-- with "over 40 Chinese acrobats, Chinese vocalists and performing martial artists" and a story "based on an ancient Chinese legend" (so says the MySpace)-- will bring you miles closer to your date's heart and/or pants than the usual Chinese takeout and Big Trouble in Little China viewing (on VHS, of course). Good news for aspiring lovebirds in Manchester, Paris, and Berlin: Monkey is heading to a performance space near you!

As mentioned last time, the circus opera premieres as part of the Manchester International Festival at that city's Palace Theatre beginning June 28 (with what looks like a preview performance the night before). It continues its run there through July 7. The stage spectacle then opens at Berlin's Staatsoper on July 31 and dazzles the Germans until August 7. And smitten kittens get double the amore in already romantic Paris: Monkey helps facilitate hookups at that city's Theatre de Chatelet for a full month: September 13-October 13. Showtimes and such may be found here.

Or, er, maybe your date actually wants the fruits of another Hewlett artistic endeavor?