A Brush with magic
An animated musical

Music by Xiang Gao

Lyrics by Joyce Hill Stoner

Book and original novel by William J. Brooke

based on the Chinese folktale “The magic paintbrush of Ma Liang”

Action takes place in a village of China during the Song Dynasty [960-1279 C.E.]

Poor villagers find a little boy floating down the river in a basket, with no possessions but a paint brush. Named Liang, as he grows he learns that the things he paints with his brush can come to life, although none of the earthbound villagers care about his beautiful, impractical creations. One of the most impractical of these is Monk-Li, the half-man half-monkey who will be Liang’s sometimes-helpful, sometimes-disastrous sidekick throughout the story. Liang meets the Court Painter as he travels through the countryside and falls in love with a painting he assumes incorrectly to be of the Princess rather than merely her attendant, Lotus. Liang now wants to go to the Court to become rich and famous and meet the Princess. Liang meets Lotus later and thinks she looks vaguely familiar. She tells him she is fleeing from the evil Emperor, who wants her to become his 100th concubine, and he reveals he paints things that come to life. Although they are attracted to each other, neither believes the other’s stories. Before they can reach a better understanding, Lotus is captured by a Guardsman and taken back to Court.

Filled now with greed and dreams of success, Liang finishes a self-portrait which comes to life as Jiang, his evil twin brother. Jiang teases him, causing Liang to doubt his own talents and abilities. The village is threatened by a torrential rain and flood, but Liang saves the day by painting sky rockets and blowing up a mountainside to make a dam. The villagers are briefly appreciative, then get back to their lives. The Emperor hears about Liang and his paintbrush from the Guardsman who had re-captured Lotus, and decrees that Liang be brought to Court. When Liang is carried off, Jiang hurries to Court on his own.

At Court, Liang is commanded by the wicked Emperor and his greedy daughter, the Princess, to paint them mounds of gold and instruments of cruel torture. Liang objects, but Jiang appears and insists he can do it. Confused, the Emperor orders both to be thrown into prison. Liang realizes he must rescue Lotus and stop her marriage to the Emperor. After the Emperor threatens his whole village, Liang saves the villagers once again by releasing a dragon he had painted earlier from its cave enclosure.

After using the dragon to disrupt the marriage, Liang, Lotus, and Monk-Li are happily leaving Court together, thinking they are safe, but the Guardsmen, the Emperor, the Princess, and Jiang are all chasing them. Liang paints a large wooden ship for his group to sail away in, and then—just in time—big waves. Monk-Li loses the brush overboard. Liang must choose between saving the brush and saving Monk-Li. Lotus is horrified when it looks like Liang will choose to save the brush, but in the end Liang saves Monk-Li. Jiang finds the brush and tries painting lightning, storms, and waves to destroy Liang’s boat. As Jiang’s boat is tossed wildly, the impatient Emperor insists he paint gold for him. Filled with his evil thoughts, Jiang paints what the Emperor requests, but the mounds of gold become a serpent that devours the Emperor. After a moment of shock, the Princess realizes she is now the Empress, and she is delighted to rule; she and Jiang plot to destroy Liang. Meanwhile, on the other ship, Monk-Li is tired of magic brush debates, so he uses his own tail as a brush to try to paint a banana to eat. It remains resolutely flat on the deck. Liang happily grabs up Monk-Li’s tail and finishes the banana. Liang realizes he no longer needs the actual brush as the magic is inside him. Lotus and Liang realize that they need nothing but each other.

Jiang and the Empress are on the boat Jiang has painted, but are sinking; Jiang attempts to paint an island, but it turns out to be the head of a monster, which gulps their ship down whole. Liang suggests they go back to help the villagers, whether they know they need it or not; Lotus and Monk-Li happily agree.

As the ship sails into the sunset that Liang paints for that purpose, a blot suddenly appears on the sky; the visual animation and audio freeze. The frame of the picture pulls back and we see the hand of the artist-animator who has created all that we have just seen. The hand holds a brush, and we hear “Any of us may have a brush with magic; be ready and use it well.”

THE END

© Gao, Stoner, and Brooke 2012 (Story, music, lyrics and concept)