Sure, election day is tomorrow, but Kenyan director George Orido's musical about the presidential campaign opened in Nairobi over the weekend. The play appears -- though I can't confirm this -- to be sympathetic towards Obama:
Scriptwriter and director George Orido complies with Kenyan preferences in his casting of Mr McCain, his running-mate Sarah Palin, and President George Bush."McCain comes in as the villain, the chief villain. His supporting cast are George Bush and Sarah Palin who are standing in Obama's way," the director says.
Orido says that Kenya's recent political violence was part of the inspiration for the play:
He says he wants everyone who watches his play to understand Mr Obama's story and learn about the virtues of hard work, selflessness, democracy and public service.The message is especially important for Kenyans, he stresses.In January, Kenya was rocked by post-election violence that left more than 1,500 people dead and 300,000 homeless.
The BBC describes the music as consisting of "traditional and contemporary Kenyan music, as well as some country songs." The play doesn't make a prediction about who will win the election, but Orido has said he's open to writing a sequel."We were fighting each other because some of us thought certain people from certain communities could not be leaders... [Obama's story] is a big lesson for us," Mr Orido says.
--A. Serwer
