Review: We R Malaysia There is Hope The Musical

Thanks to sd, I was invited as a Plus One to the We R Malaysia There is Hope Musical two weekends ago. This musical was organised by Persatuan Perintis Bina Negara Melaka (PPBN) to create a platform for engaging the next generation in nation building. The basic idea of the musical is on how Malaysia is our home and how most of us under appreciate this nation. (credit to Choulyew)

When we arrived, we were greeted by Erin from Very Imaginative People, and given front row seats to the musical. As you would know by now, I am a big fan of musicals and would jump at any chance to watch musicals (provided it's within my monetary limits of course).

When we were waiting for the musical to begin, there was a niggling feeling at the back of my mind that this might have some patriotic propaganda thingy running along the undertones of the script. I was not disappointed.

The musical basically started with a history lesson by this dude..

 ??????

Good effort done here, but the tables were not removed at all for the entire first half of the musical even though they do not serve any proper purpose :/

Methinks this dude was totally unnecessary

Aloysius, Jason and Ah Xiong in London, debating about migrating back to Malaysia

My verdict of the musical:
1. Storyline was very messy. There was abrupt jumping from era to era with irrelevant scenes, irrelevant people, and no proper introductions.

2. Given the timeframe of two months, I was disappointed at the level of acting and props and stage set. The English used could have been better as well. Who in their right mind would put "Jason Back" on screen to show that Jason had returned from London?!? There are other words in the English language that you can use.

3. Songs were good, and vocalists were not bad. None of them made me wana stand up and dance though :/

4. The stage is set in Malaysia, and yet, I noticed only one Malay person in the entire play. Are you saying that living in Malaysia, the Chinese community will only mingle with the Chinese? Where is 1Malaysia in all this?

Rating: 2/5 I don't think enough effort was being put into this musical as there are many many things that can be accomplished in two months. There was too much brainwashing involved, and when I questioned them at the pseudo-press conference after the musical, their acting PPBN President went all defensive, and answered me with a curt response, which I think was pretty unnecessary :/