18th December by Natasha Kim
City Harvest Church, Kuala Lumpur (CHCKL) held their long awaited musical production entitled “Ghosting” the past weekend from Friday to Sunday. In total, thousands of people were drawn in over the weekend to watch. Their previous production “ChromeHeart” was such a big hit that many could not wait to see what the Church had in store for this year. Right before the service began the entrance hall was filled with a large crowd of people keeping themselves busy at the Readz bookstore as well as the booths they had namely, a dessert booth (selling cupcakes, macarons, and log cakes), a charity booth (buy 1 tumbler and 1 goes to charity), and a booth selling books.
The musical took about two months of rehearsal and preparation before the official day. All those who were involved were volunteers from CHCKL. Pastor Kevin Loo and his wife Esther were the main people directing and script writing the play with the help of many others who contributed directly and indirectly to make it a success. Right before the play began, everyone immersed themselves in the Praise and Worship.
The story mainly revolved around the lead character named Michael played by Tai Xian Ken. “Ghosting” is about taking on the identity of another. The actors played out their roles perfectly as they made the story personal. This enabled the audience to easily relate to it as it takes you on a journey into the private lives of people on the stage, the things that happen to people behind closed doors. The musical explores the complexity of human relationships and how life is not as simple or as straight forward as we think it is. You and I perhaps have done this at some point in our lives, taking the identity of another – be it a devil in the past or a hero of our future.
The struggle in this story played out is in knowing what role we are playing in the present. At some point in our lives, we all want to be someone that we admire or are “proud” of to the point that we lose ourselves and no longer know that we really are.
It displayed the relationships between the main actor Michael and his wife and how they have changed towards each other. The change in each other’s character through time eventually changed the way they act towards each other. As Michael’s wife turns from a simple girl into a bossy and materialistic workaholic in order to gain more attention, her husband Michael tries to find pleasure elsewhere in the arms of another woman.
As the story goes they are trying to work their relationship out by seeing a marriage counselor; however they keep fighting with each other throughout the play. The story also shows the imperfections of the marriage counselor who counsels the married couple, showing that counselors themselves are not perfect. The fact that they have went through similar problems is why they are able to advise others.
On the side, the story also looks into the lives of a mother and child who do not see eye to eye, to the point where their relationship turns so bitter that it almost irreparable. Some children grow up with the pain of being unwanted and eventually become depressed. It shows how a child may find themselves fighting all the way to the point the child no longer knows their identity.
The story uniquely ends without an ending, leaving the audience thinking about what they would do or in fact what they should do in these types of situations, allowing each and everyone to process their thoughts and feelings.
Life is sometimes not as simple as we want it to be and when we make bad decisions we have to deal with the consequences. The story shows us that just maybe, we could be concerned about things that are not so important after all, maybe we change, and deep inside we crave for love and people to think we are special.
Pastor Kevin says, “We can overcome fear, judgment, unacceptance because this Christmas there’s good news that God sent his only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us. Some of us are struggling with our relationships, marriage, with our children, workplace or identity. So worried of what people think or say. There is a way out and a good news of love, joy, and a peace that comes from God. We become happy when we shop and buy things, but there is a greater joy deep inside because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The musical incorporated many different types of songs namely, a song from the 60’s, an Indian song to spice it up and many other songs including the famous songs of today. The musical was a compilation of background settings, short movie clips, a number of props and a lot of singing, acting and dancing.
As the service and musical came to an end, everyone was left with something to think about. It was a very interactive musical that also allows the audience to place a vote in a voting box on who they think Michael should choose to be with in the end, his wife or the girl he is having an affair with.
As everyone adjourned to the front hall, they were also greeted with a caroling group to bring in more Christmas cheer. I was definitely impressed with the musical and how professionally it was done.
So who did Michael choose in the end? i think must be his wife. hahaha