"Monkey: Journey to The West" is the name of the opera, for which Blur frontman Damon Albarn composed the music and Jamie Hewlett designed the visual concept, set and costumes. What you hear is Albarn and what you see is Hewlett - It is their first major collaboration since Gorillaz.

It's directed by Chinese-born New Yorker Chen Shi-Zheng and has a young, Chinese cast. Premiering in Manchester, England in 2007 before making its debut in the U.S in May this year, the performance is coming to London's Royal Opera House.

The opera is an adaptation of the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, which has a catchy storyline about a monkey king, who gains immortality after leading a revolt against heaven. It's a mixture of animations and live-action circus acts, such as acrobats, silk dancers and puppets.

So if you'd like to see a stroke of musical and visual genius, buy your tickets quickly!

Monkey: Journey to the West runs at the Royal Opera House from Wednesday the 23rd - Saturday the 26th of July 2008.

London Kicks
2008