STAGE REVIEW : Play Fails to Amuse Children

Moments before the San Diego Chinese Center’s production of “Monkey King and the Spider Women!” began Wednesday morning, the 400-plus children in the audience were getting antsy.

“When is it going to sta-art?” whined one young girl from the balcony. The show was running all of three minutes behind schedule.

Seconds later, a child in the orchestra section coughed voluminously, prompting another youth across the theater to mimic his outburst. Almost immediately, more than half of the kids in attendance joined the coughing chorus, creating a thunderous din of faked hacking and giggling as teachers and chaperons hurried to shush the children.

Make no mistake about it--children are a tough crowd, but they are also exceedingly fair and honest. If a troupe puts on a good show, children will give the performers their undivided attention; if the production is lacking, children will communicate their disinterest by talking, yawning or fidgeting in their seats.

During a Wednesday showing of “Monkey King and the Spider Women!”, a children’s production running at the Lyceum Theatre through Sunday, the kids lost interest fairly quickly. Their collective criticism was warranted--this show boasts some sporadically engaging work, but it has too many structural problems and performance shortcomings to maintain a child’s elusive attention.

“Monkey King and the Spider Women!” is an original play written by Kent Brisby based on a Chinese tale called “Journey to the West.” The story deals with a Chinese monk named Sanzang (Ed You) who travels to India to bring the teachings of Buddha back to his homeland. “Monkey King and the Spider Women!” focuses on one episode from “Journey,” a conflict between Sanzang’s fellowship and a cannibalistic tribe of spider-like females.

As the travelers--Sanzang, Monkey (Dwight Love), Pigsy (Alan Goya) and Sandy (Lorenzo Rivera)--head west to India, they set camp one night and discover they are out of food. Sanzang heads out to beg for something to eat and is captured by the Spider Women. Pigsy and Sandy attempt to rescue the monk, but they, too, are quickly captured. Eventually, Monkey combats the vicious arachnid-ladies. He loses, but is later saved by a spirit called Vairambha (Gingerlily Lowe).

Most children’s stories possess an overt, easily accessible theme designed especially for impressionable minds. “Follow your dreams,” is a common strain. “Obey your parents” is another. “Monkey King” doesn’t deliver much of a point. Following the deus ex machina climax, Vairambha delivers the strangely obtuse message of the play: “You win some and you lose some.”

The one-hour show is a long way to go for very little.

Director-playwright Brisby fared much better with last year’s production of “Monkey King.” The 1991 San Diego Chinese Center’s show was a more focused effort that stressed the importance of working with others and featured some clever, concise writing. This year’s show seems under-rehearsed and confused.

A bulk of the problems stem from the troupe’s choice of material. The San Diego Chinese Center has elected to chronicle the episodic “Journey to the West” story in bits and pieces from year-to-year. Last year’s segment was a thorough, self-contained story with sufficient degree of character development and a poignant message. This year’s offering is more of a transitional tale, a link between more relevant passages. Further, Brisby’s production assumes the audience already knows about the characters and their mission, which creates some confusing behavior and awkward sequences.

Music director Cecilia Bao crafted some pleasant music for the one-hour show, but she needs to pick her spots a little better. During the opening sequence, Bao, who performed her compositions on an electronic keyboard during the show, blasted away at a tune and completely drowned out some important narration. Later in the show, Bao banged out a staccato drum beat on her electronic keyboard to accompany a rap number. This attempt to appeal to the youngsters failed as Bao struggled with her cadence and the actors rapped in discordant disunity with the rhythm.

The few bright spots in the production include Love’s strong, athletic performance as Monkey, Cheryl Lindley’s cheery, exotic costumes and some elaborate fight choreography. Love, in particular, is a crowd-pleaser, especially during the battle sequences. The Kung Fu expert leaped and twirled and kicked with exuberant grace throughout the show and extended the audience’s waning attention span with his athletic prowess.

Still, these few competent components did not make up for the overall shoddiness of the production. When the show ended, the children--perhaps following their elders’ lead--applauded out of politeness rather than earnest appreciation.

Hopefully, the San Diego Chinese Center can return to its 1991 level in future offerings.

“MONKEY KING AND THE SPIDER WOMEN!”

Adapted and directed by Kent Brisby. Sets by Dung NguyenCQ. Costumes by Cheryl Lindley. Lights by Keoni . Music direction by Cecilia Bao. Stage manager is Steven Soden. With Gingerlily Lowe, Dwight Love, Ed You, Alan Goya, Lorenzo Rivera, Anna Ng, Catherine Dao, Keiko Kawashima, Roselyn Lowe, Natalle Turman, Linda Castro and Cindy Chan-Phillips. At 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, through Sunday. Tickets are $5-$10. At the Lyceum Stage, 79 Horton Plaza. Call 234-4447.