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The Lincoln Center Festival, a summer rite for culturally inquisitive New Yorkers that kicked off three weeks of performances over the weekend, is usually an adults-only affair. Not in the sense that its programming regularly features bared flesh and blue talk, but because its mostly foreign-language productions cater to those who don’t have trouble sitting still for, say, a five-hour staging of an obscure Austrian novel, or an esoteric German modernist opera.
对于文艺的纽约人来说，林肯中心艺术节(Lincoln Center Festival)是每年夏季的惯例活动，它连续三个周末举办艺术表演。通常，这些表演专供成人观看。并不是因为节目中经常含有裸露肌肤的场面或者下流的台词，而是因为这些节目大多是以外语表演，适合那些能够忍受一动不动坐上5个小时，观看一部由晦涩的奥地利小说改编的戏剧或者一部难懂的德国现代主义歌剧的观众。
The festival’s centerpiece this year, the boisterous spectacle “Monkey: Journey to the West,” is a notable departure. With a mischievous simian for a protagonist, interstitial animation sequences, exuberant low humor (ooh! smelly shoes!), extended martial arts battles and circus-style acrobatics, the production aims to broaden the festival’s demographic to include families — and for that matter all fans of those populist entertainments.
该文化节今年的重头戏《美猴王：西游记》(Monkey: Journey to the West)非常热闹，与以往的节目大不相同。该剧的主角是一只淘气的猴子，幕间空隙播放动画片，剧中的幽默简单易懂（噢！臭鞋子！），有长时间的武术打斗场面以及马戏团风格的杂技表演。该剧的制作团队意图把文化节的观众群扩大到整个家庭以及所有喜欢流行娱乐文化的人。
陈士争导演的《美猴王：西游记》是林肯中心文化节的重头戏，与以往的节目大不相同。
Indie rock fans are a target audience, too: the show’s music is by Damon Albarn, best known as the songwriter for the 1990s British rock band Blur (now reassembled and back on tour), and the “visual concept, animation and costumes” are by Jamie Hewlett, Mr. Albarn’s partner in the virtual band Gorillaz. (Please don’t ask me what a virtual band is.) The participant most familiar to frequent festivalgoers is the director, Chen Shi-Zheng, a regular at the festival, having staged the epic opera “The Peony Pavilion” in 1999, in addition to three other shows.
喜爱独立摇滚的人也是该剧的目标观众：本剧的音乐作曲人是由达蒙·阿尔本(Damon Albarn)。他是20世纪90年代英国摇滚乐队“污迹”（Blur，该乐队现在重组之后重出江湖了）的歌曲作者。本剧的“视觉理念、动画和服装”设计师是杰米·休莱特(Jamie Hewlett)，他是阿尔本在虚拟乐队“街头霸王”(Gorillaz)里的搭档（请不要问我“虚拟乐队”是什么意思）。在这个创作团队中，经常观看该艺术节表演的观众最熟悉的是导演陈士争(Chen Shi-Zheng)，他是艺术节的常客，1999年导演过史诗歌剧《牡丹亭》，另外还导演过其他3部戏剧。
So, props to the festival artistic director, Nigel Redden, for extending an invitation to New Yorkers who might not normally find themselves engaged by this generally high-minded cultural smorgasbord. Now time for a spoilsport alert: As someone with a limited affection for Cirque du Soleil-style entertainments, which “Monkey” generally resembles, I found the show to be visually beguiling but anodyne, juvenile and a little tedious, even at the comparatively brief running time (by the festival’s standards) of under two hours. Which proves, I suppose, that in casting a wide net you risk having some folks fall through the holes.
该文化节的艺术总监奈杰尔·雷登(Nigel Redden)想吸引那些通常不会被这个比较高雅的文化节吸引的纽约人。现在我要说一句扫兴的话了：我本人不是特别喜欢马戏团式的娱乐表演——《美猴王》总体来说是这种类型的表演——所以我觉得该剧虽然在视觉上让人陶醉，但是平淡无奇，幼稚，还有点乏味。虽然它的表演时间相对较短（以该艺术节的标准来看），还不到两个小时，但依然给人冗长的感觉。所以我觉得，在撒开大网捕鱼时，你也有可能丢掉某些以往的观众。
Based on a 16th-century Chinese novel, “Monkey” relates a fable that is widely known in Asian cultures, drawn loosely from the historic pilgrimage of a priest from China to India in search of Buddhist sutras. In the novel, the troublemaking creature of the title accompanies the priest on his long trip in search of enlightenment.
《美猴王》是根据16世纪的一部中国小说改编的，讲述了一个在亚洲广为人知的故事，故事取材于一个中国僧人去印度寻找佛教经典著作的著名朝圣之旅，不过这部小说跟历史有很大区别。在小说里，该剧标题中那个爱惹事的猴子陪伴僧人走过了漫长的取经之旅。
An opening animated sequence depicts the birth of the monkey, who is hatched from a stone egg that bumps across mountain peaks in time with the thundering opening bars of music. The scrim on which the video is projected then clears to reveal an exotic playground where Monkey (Wang Lu at the reviewed performance) frolics merrily.
开场的一段动画片描绘了猴子的诞生，它在一个石头中孵化，伴随着轰鸣的开场音乐，石头在大山之巅弹来跳去。投影到麻布上的视频清楚地展示了极具异国情调的乐园，美猴王（笔者评论的这一版本中由王璐饰演）在这个乐园里快乐地嬉戏。
“So much fun!” he exults as gymnasts in monkey suits perform elaborate acrobatics around him. “This is cool!” (The show is performed in Mandarin, with English supertitles projected above the stage.)
“太有趣了！”他欢呼道。一群穿着猴子戏服的杂技演员在他周围表演复杂的杂技。“太好玩了！”（该剧是用普通话表演的，英语字幕投影在舞台上方。）
Innocence dies quickly for our hero, however, when he is suddenly struck by the knowledge of the inevitability of death. Bummer! Being the brash, adventurous creature that he is, Monkey sets out immediately to achieve immortality. The journey takes many an exotic detour, and eventually evolves into an episodic story of a band of hardy sojourners fighting off enemies that resembles a Chinese version of “The Wizard of Oz.”
不过，我们的主人公很快就不那么天真了，他突然意识到自己必死的命运。太气人了！这只性急、爱冒险的猴子马上出发，开始寻找永生的方法。旅程充满奇异的波折，最终演变成一个由片段组成的故事——一群勇敢的旅行者打败了敌人，有点像中国版的《绿野仙踪》(The Wizard of Oz)。
After acquiring in an undersea kingdom a supply of magical accouterments — a golden rod and armor, cloud-hopping shoes — Monkey becomes the defender of the monk Tripitaka (Li Li) on his journey to India. They are accompanied by Pigsy (Xu Kejia), a lusty Falstaffian Daoist sage, according to the program note, and Sandy (Dong Borui), a disgraced general who has been banished to a river of sand. Together they eventually reach paradise, where the Buddha gives each a reward for heroism and endurance.
这只猴子在一个海底王国获得了一套有魔法的装备——金箍棒、盔甲和能腾云驾雾的鞋子，之后他成了三藏（李莉[音译]饰）取经路上的保镖。与他们同行的还有猪八戒（许克家[音译]饰）和沙僧（董伯瑞[音译]饰）。根据节目单上的介绍，前者是一个福斯塔夫式的健壮的道家神仙，后者是一个被流放到流沙河的大将。他们最终一起到达了佛土，佛祖因为他们的英勇和毅力而奖励了每个人。
As these fanciful descriptions suggest, the plot may be hard to follow for those who are not already familiar with the legendary figures. In any case plot is merely the scaffolding on which to hang a series of lavishly staged divertissements involving elaborate juggling acts and contortionists attired in bright costumes, hurtling themselves around the stage with irrepressible energy (if occasionally dicey precision).
仅仅根据这些怪诞的描述，不了解这些传奇人物的观众很难明白这个故事的情节。不管怎样，情节只是一个线索，用来展示一系列华丽的舞台表演，包括精心设计的杂耍和柔体表演——穿着闪亮服装的表演者以势不可挡的力量（偶尔看着有点悬）绕着舞台飞奔。
There are numerous aerial sequences, with demons and gods flitting back and forth high above the stage in flowing gowns, trying variously to tame Monkey’s outlandish behavior or defeat him. The climactic battle involves a drawn-out duel with Princess Iron Fan (Chen Jiaojiao), named after the implement that Monkey and his pals must borrow to make their way through a fiery volcano.
剧中有很多在空中飞舞的片段，妖怪和神仙穿着飘逸的袍子在舞台上空飞来飞去，用各种方法试图驯服或者打败猴子。打斗戏的高潮是与铁扇公主（陈娇娇[音译]）的漫长决斗。猴子和他的同伴们在取经路上要翻过一个炽热的火山（实为火焰山——译注），必须跟铁扇公主借扇子。铁扇公主就是因她的这件宝物得名的。
As portrayed by the impishly funny Mr. Wang, wearing a yellow track suit and a floppy tail, Monkey exudes animal spirits that are more or less untameable. When the Buddha himself intervenes in Monkey’s fate, stretching forth a giant blue hand to tamp down his unruly excesses, this ornery creature has the nerve to urinate in his palm, for which he pays a heavy price. Even at his lowest points, he finds the energy to keep scratching away at his crotch and emitting the high-pitched oo-oo-ing and ah-ah-ing that signify monkeyhood.
王璐扮演的美猴王十分调皮好玩，他穿着一身黄色的运动服，拖一条松垮垮的尾巴，散发着有点难以驯服的动物野性。佛祖本人后来也被请来制服猴子，他伸出巨大的蓝色手掌压制猴子不守规矩的过分行为，这只坏脾气的猴子居然还有胆量在他的手掌上撒尿，他为此付出了沉重的代价。即使在他最落魄的时候，他还有力气不断抓挠自己的胯部，发出尖利的“呜呜——”“啊啊——”的声音，那展现出了他的猴性。
Mr. Albarn’s ambitious and inventive score will probably not please rabid Blur fans expecting throbbing electronic pop songs. Sometimes taking on the trancelike qualities associated with composers like Philip Glass, it is firmly rooted in Chinese styles of music. (Mr. Albarn has said he drew primarily on the Chinese pentatonic scale.) The eclectic score — which includes such oddities as honking car horns and the (recorded) sound of an elevator bell ringing — is capably performed by the New York group Ensemble Signal, which specializes in the work of contemporary composers.
阿尔本雄心勃勃的、别出心裁的配乐很可能不会让“污迹”乐队的粉丝们很高兴，因为他们期待的可能是激动人心的电子流行音乐。有的音乐听起来很迷幻，跟菲利普·格拉斯(Philip Glass)等作曲家的风格有点接近，但实际上它深深植根于中国的音乐风格（阿尔本说他主要从中国的五声音阶中寻找灵感）。其中的电子配乐——包括汽车喇叭和电梯铃声（是录制的）等古怪的声音——是由纽约乐队Ensemble Signal精彩出演，该乐队善于演奏当代作曲家的作品。
The singing sometimes superficially resembles the style of traditional Chinese opera, with its eerie pitches, but the performers eschew a regimented style of performance for a looser, more physically fluid and natural approach that’s more accessible to Western audiences. They all give vivid, animated performances as the tale’s whimsical assortment of seekers after wisdom.
剧中的某些唱段是从表面上模仿传统中国戏剧的风格，比如怪异的高音，但是表演者并没有受限于那种风格，而是采用更松散、姿态更流畅、更自然的方式，这更符合西方观众的口味。他们的表演生动、活泼，就像故事中各种异想天开、追求智慧的人们那样。
For all its enticing visual flourishes, however, “Monkey” didn’t supply the food for thought or emotional engagement that might make for a truly memorable experience. Perhaps because there wasn’t much to draw me in, I found myself idly pondering the bits of gnomic Buddhist thought that occasional flashed onto the supertitles, only to disappear before their paradoxical ideas could be properly digested.
尽管该剧的视觉效果华丽迷人，但是它没有提供精神食粮，也不能引起情感上的共鸣，所以并不是一场真正让人难忘的表演。也许是因为剧中没有太多吸引我的地方，我发现自己在漫不经心地思索那些偶尔出现在字幕中的精辟的佛家箴言，只不过还没等我看明白那些自相矛盾的语句，它们就消失了。
What to make of notions like “the bodiless body is the true body, and real form has no form,” or “a grain of sand the whole universe holds,” or “no difference, no sameness, real or unreal”? Like the picaresque tale of “Monkey” itself, which may delight those already familiar with its colorful characters, these obscurities are no doubt best appreciated by those already well-versed in the tenets of Buddhism.
“无身之身是谓真身，无形之形是谓真形”，“一沙一世界”，“无同无异，亦真亦幻”——这些话到底是什么意思呢？本来就熟悉这些有趣人物的人可能才会觉得这部讲述冒险传奇故事的《美猴王》很好看；同样地，只有本来就熟知佛教箴言的人才最能欣赏这些隐晦的语句。
翻译：王艳
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