Barack Obama: The Musical (The Story of a Kenyan-American told in dance, music, song, and narrative)

Today we went to see a musical at the Kenyan National Theatre called Obama the Musical. Walking into the show, I did not really know what to expect, whether it would be good or bad; but I did know that I would have a unique story to tell about the experience regardless. Once the show ended we all left with a smile on our faces and laughed as we discussed what was a hysterical play that was a good time had all around.

The show opened with just an instrumental intro from the plays music section. This consisted of a jimbay player (an African drum that has a bongo like top and his hollow with an opening at the bottom which gives off a bass drum sound; so the jimbay is versatile because it can give both the sound of a bongo or a bass depending when hit depending upon it is hit), a bass guitar, a drum kit, a keyboard, and a trumpet. The show began with an atmospheric sound that evolved to a tribal song and dance that had the power and sheer awesomeness of seeing something like Riverdance as there was praise to the beauty and soul of Obama’s fathers home Africa. The style of the play was mostly done as an interpretive dance. With the character who was focused on during a given seen narrating and acting out, with many backup dancers to act out the scene as well and used for illustration of the story. The timeline was from the birth of Obama’s father in Kogella, Kenya, and hit highlights of Barack Obama’s life and ended with his victory speech on Election night.

Many of the dances were extremely awesome with their choreography as well as with their creativity of different events that made the audience laugh loudly through most of the play.

Highlights included an interpretation of McCain in which the arm and hand gestures of the real John McCain were portrayed spot-on, as well as an interpretation of Sarah Palin that pointed out her ignorance and numerous gaffes on the campaign trail. I believe that the most creative portion of the play was the way they did the election race, in which they did it as an actual slow motion sprint race between Obama and McCain, in which at the end Obama raised his arms in victory and jumped up and down as McCain tripped and fell. Overall the play was an extremely entertaining experience.