Kakadu The Musical and Me

My debut on the Nigerian stage was at the Agip Recital hall, Muson Centre in a musical play entitled Kakadu The Musical a presentation of the Playhouse Theatre Limited, Produced by the duo of Winifred and Uche Nwokedi(SAN) and directed by the life journal himself Kanayo Omo who was assisted by Williams Ekpo who doubled also as the stage manager. Saying that it was one of the most beautiful experiences which I thoroughly enjoyed is an understatement of course. I got the privileged honour to work firsthand with some of the industry's best; musical director and Lord Lugard Benneth Ogbeiwi(Uncle Ben) had just the right spicy words to get the best music out of you, the camera shy Choreographer Abel Utuedor assisted by Olufowobi Femi  was a shock to me at first,I still remember 'splash out 'and believe me those dancers set the stage on fire -Sometimes I left my acting to just watch the dancers do their thing-And there were the greats: Nobert Young(very cultured), Tina Mba, Hajji_Bello, Bongolipso who serenaded me on the casting day while I did my best to put up my most convincing 'not impressed look' little did I know that we'll end up as dance partners. Then there were the younger ones the waffy JJC Onyeka Fiaka who came to enact his story as a JJC Osahon in the play: an eerie coincidence if there ever was one. Emmanuel Luka Musa who dropped the word 'ore' in our mouths, I still use it.
The assignments heaped on us by the director who later found out that we referred to him as 'profile' and  'focus' but was nonetheless unfazed led me to research and discoveries that astounded me and begged for more questions.
The play showed Nigeria before and after the war,  the effects of the war on relationships across the different tribes, when friends became "those people", "not our type"...Kakadu represented a microcosm of our society and today Forty three years after as I sat in the Keke going back home, an incident on the road brought a line from the the epilogue of Kakadu to my mind "How do we build a nation, build a future?" In the midst of our current situation?