Keiko disappears in Icelandic waters, swimming east for four weeks. Unobserved, with no human contact. Since nobody knows what happened to Keiko during that mysterious time, we decided to recreate it — as a musical. From Keiko’s perspective, naturally.
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From Serial productions in the New York Times, this is the Good Whale.
Daniel Alarcon.
And so it was, in a strange way, what everyone had always hoped for.
The moviegoers, the children, the fans, the trainers, the activists, the hangers on Keiko out at sea, away from humans for the first time since he was a calf.
A Hollywood ending of sorts.
Keiko was last seen with a pod of wild whales as a storm was rolling in.
But when the weather cleared and his care team returned, he was gone.
And what happened next is a bit of a mystery.
We know the broad outline that for four weeks he traveled east until he resurfaced off the coast of Norway, swimming with kids.
But why?
What did this mean?
Did he come back to us humans because he couldn't make it in the wild?
Or was it something else because he missed us?
We don't know.
Was his journey based on a memory of a childhood migration, however dimly recalled, or something.
Something more banal, like the ocean current?