--FILE--acteur afro-américain Apollo Levine, gauche, effectue les musicales de style Broadway Da Meng Shen Hou, ou grand rêve de singe magique pendant un rehears
--FILE--African-American actor Apollo Levine, left, performs the Broadway-style musical Da Meng Shen Hou, or Big Dream Magical Monkey during a rehearsal at Tianqiao Theater in Beijing, China, 22 September 2013. Apollo Levine, a 6-foot-1-inch African-American actor covered with tattoos, is Chinas newest Monkey King. Mr. Levine, who is usually based in Atlanta, Ga., is the star of a new Broadway-style production based on the classic 16th-century Chinese tale Journey to the West. The show, called Da Meng Shen Hou (Big Dream Magical Monkey) in Chinese and Monkey King: A Broadway-Style Musical in English, will premiere in Beijing Monday (18 November 2013) night. The show is a creative take on Beijing opera by way of the Big Apple, with hip-hop dancing, gospel music and a love story mixed in with kung-fu fighting, acrobatics, and the occasional gong. The Monkey King, known in Chinese as Sun Wukong, was the first super-hero in literature, before Superman, Batman and Spiderman, says producer and director Tony Stimac. In the original story, known by every Chinese child, the powerful monkey has supernatural powers and is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. A villainous rogue, he gets into battles with the Dragon King, the Jade Emperor and other powerful beings. The current production is based on the first seven chapters of the 100-chapter Journey to the West, in which the Monkey King acts like a spoiled child, says Mr. Stimac. He has all this power but none of the maturity to temper his power. Whenever anybody gets in his way he just kills them.