On a brilliant September afternoon, a large group of us, among them many returnees from our earlier Introducing Monkey King I luncheon two months ago, were gathered at Signature Arts Building for the second installment on Monkey King.  There were also many young new attendees as well, attracted by the mounting excitement about SF Opera’s new opera on everyone’s beloved Monkey.  They were further enticed by the anticipation of a repeat offering of terrific pizzas prepared by Chef Aaron on his Ooni oven. 

Fortunately for us, the weather cooperated and offered ample sunshine.  Many attendees spent time on the large outdoor patio chatting, watching and helping Chef Aaron in turning out more than 40 pizzas. They were all consumed in record time!

Soon it was time to connect, via zoom, with our composer Huang Ruo.  He was delighted to see so many happy and excited faces.  Prompted by our resident China expert, Ann Waltner, as moderator,  Huang reiterated the importance, especially in our uncertain times,  of offering a portrait of a charming, mischievous, positive and all-powerful Asian superhero for the younger generations of Asian Americans.  He also talked about the significance of the underlying Buddhist themes and teachings, and the decision sing the Buddhist sutras in Chinese.  There was a lively engagement between him and members of our audience on some of the finer points in Buddhist teachings.  Huang also explained the rationale of using three characters (a singer, a dancer and a puppeteer) to portray the Monkey.  So much excitement was generated that we decided on the spot that we needed to come together again when SFO would be presenting a livestreaming of a premiere performance during the weekend of November 23!

We were excited and encouraged by seeing so many new faces in these two meetings and so much interest in our beloved Monkey.  Several also decided to come to San Francisco for Opening Night in November as well.  Content with delicious pizzas and excited to have met this age-old spunky Monkey, everyone felt ready for our November 23^rd streaming!