The delightful Kita (We) musical, inspired by the 1Malaysia theme, tugged at the heartstrings of members of the audience who came to watch it during the recent Hai-O Corporate Night.
The simple storyline, beautiful songs and colourful costumes revolving around the simple life of ordinary folks set in the 1970s in the small town of Teluk Intan, Perak, were surprisingly delightful.
While the musical showcases the different races coming together to sing, dance and celebrate occasions, it also centres around the three main characters of Rahman, Cheong and Ganesh who have been good friends since their school days.
Their close bond continues through their adulthood as they share their life philosophies, dreams and family matters together while also experiencing obstacles in their path to success and love for the first time.
The musical was played at Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur, from June 17 to 27 with Hai-O Foundation as the sponsor.
It is a production of Musical On Stage Production, National Unity and Integration Department, the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry, Istana Budaya & Xiyue Arts & Culture.
The guests of honour was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and his wife Puan Sri Chui Kah Peng.
Koh, in his keynote address before the show started, said the musical was about the everyday life of common people in Malaysia and embodied the spirit of 1Malaysia.
“It shows the positive aspects of living together yet going through and overcoming life challenges faced,” he said.
Hai-O Enterprise chairman Tan Sri Osman S. Cassim, in his opening speech, said Hai-O Foundation, being the philantrophic arm of Hai-O Group of Companies, was about improving the standard of education, cultural and cross-cultural awareness as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Hai-O group managing director Tan Hai Kee said the Kita musical was a meaningful show that speaks the message of unity and harmony, something which is worth supporting.
“In fact, the different races staying together is already embedded in Hai-O’s social culture where we are like one big family.
“So we find this musical very rele-vant to our philosophy and belief which is why we are supporting it with our sponsorship of RM300,000,” said Tan.
He said negative and unhealthy influences sometimes caused disharmony in society. “Hence this is a show that reflects the differences that Malaysians need to embrace.”
“This is not the first show we are sponsoring; there have been several previously although this is the biggest.
“We have invited our corporate friends from the banking and arts industry and even our contacts from China banks to see what Malaysian unity is,” he added.
The musical also boasted amazing background props, effects and vocal prowess from some of the casts.
Among them were Hafiz of AF7 (who played Rahman), Eric Lim (Cheong), Michael Rao (Ganesh), Nas Adila, Amy Wang, Datuk Jalaluddin Hassan, Lim Cheng Hock and Sukania Venugopal.
With the strong multi-racial cast, it definitely was a musical that belonged to all Malaysians.