Jointly reported by:
Lee Xue Rui Jr1K 20653
Lai Siang Ching Sr1ComC 17802
Sophia Ng Szu Fei Sr1ScA 17685

The musical in plan was originally the biggest event in our school, involving an approximate group size of 600 students for just a 2-day performance, cutting down other events held by many societies. The collection from the musical was meant to supplement the school’s funding for general expenses such as in transportation and competition fee which currently 90% of them has been subsidized by our school. Primary stakeholders of preparing a musical comprise the orchestras, actors, music arrangers, makeup artists and many others. Therefore, the Co-curricular Department has elected a committee during last year’s Leadership Camp and President of the then Buddhist Club decided on behalf and volunteered to be the main organizer of the upcoming event. A quick meeting was soon held between the teachers and the committee, together with a brief outline of the concept of her musical given by the Head of Co-curricular Department, Madam Hee Siaw Fuey. Due to the lack of understanding of creativity, as the teacher accepted our day interview commented, it took them a long time to partially grasp her idea and foresee the large amount of manpower to be involved.

The musical was in preparation since last year’s December and originally to be held in August this year in the Lee Shin Cheng Hall. The idea of the performance was that they are trying to showcase our ancestors struggled to travel from China to Southeast Asia during the early 1890s and mainly telling the audience the spirit of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia. From the music to the lightning, they were all “hand-crafted” by students as they dedicated their time to construct the very first and foremost wonderful musical. The hall wasn’t their only stage, they were planning to use the 2nd-floor balcony to give the audience a Dolby-Atmos experience and orchestras which perform beneath the stage. The teacher has also mentioned that societies such as the Basketball Club could portray themselves as typical Kampung children playing basketball in their household while the Cadet team could play as a police who guarded the piers as our ancestors arrived from China. The deadline for the composition of music was in March 2020. However, due to the lack of experience, more time is needed to draw the image of those scenarios.

Although it was a brilliant plan to hold a musical event, the COVID-19 had soon begun its transmission widely in Malaysia beginning early February. Therefore, our government has decided to bring forth Movement Control Order (MCO) so that every person needs to stay at home to prevent the virus from further spread. Since the MCO had been extended to 12th May 2020, the students are not allowed to do rehearsal together in this and the following months. Plus, as it is the first time for our school to hold such an enormous event, students who lack experience may require even more time and effort to make the coordination work. As such, the School has decided to gather further views and information and to discuss the possibility in having the musical as planned.