Review: MUSIKAL DANGDUT: KUKEJAR KAU SAYANG is a Jubilant Union of Dangdut and Musical Theater

When it was first announced back in May, Musikal Dangdut: Kukejar Kau Sayang (lit. Dangdut Musical: I’ll Chase You My Love) made waves throughout the Indonesian musical theater community. It was a provocative, intriguing proposition: dangdut AND musical theater? It’s unheard of.

Although seldom known outside South East Asia, dangdut is inescapable in Indonesia. It’s a highly popular genre of folk music, drawing influences from Indian, Arabic, and regional music traditions. While there are many subgenres of dangdut, it’s generally understood to be characterized by its dynamic, lively sound and the iconic underlying percussive beat of gendang.

Despite its immense popularity, contemporary Indonesian musical theater has rarely drawn influences from dangdut. But that wasn’t the only reason why Musikal Dangdut grabbed people’s attention. Another factor was the name attached to it: Aulion. A content creator who’s known for his creative stop-motion YouTube videos, it would be his first time leading a live theater project creatively. By then, Aulion was also known to theatergoers as the actor of Rizal in Polarisasi.

And, when the audition announcement and subsequent social media posts came out, with its explosion of colors and ornate sense of style (reminiscent of dangdut albums and posters), it became obvious that Musikal Dangdut was a show to watch out for. It wasted no time in establishing its bigger than life identity. To even audition, you had to wear colorful clothes and be a dangdut fan.

With this huge interest behind it, alongside the support of the Indonesia Kaya foundation, Musikal Dangdut: Kukejar Kau Sayang finally took to the stage for a 6-show run from 29 November to 1 December 2024. It took place at the 954-seater Graha Bhakti Budaya theater. Before the show proper, it also had a short preview at Festival Musikal Indonesia.

The show is directed by Aulion and his co-director Maruf Andi. Jakarta Movin founder Nuya Susantono serves as the producer, bringing many of her Jakarta Movin collaborators, including Farras Safira as artistic director. The script is written by Bintang Pradana, with songs by Ravi Agustiana. The Production Team also includes Ranu Pratyakso as vocal director, Hario as music director, Imazka Arto as choreographer, and Nisa Finnegan as production manager.

Musikal Dangdut: Kukejar Kau Sayang opens with Ica (Nada Novia), a petite and plucky housemaid singing along to a song by her dangdut idol, superstar Jay Bahari. He’s one her respite from the hellish working conditions at the household of Pak Jero (Uyo) and Bu MW (Leyla Aderina), a rich but insufferable couple.

One day, as she’s listening to the radio, the anchor Lilis (Bondol Jpg) announces a video competition with a spectacular prize: free lifelong admission to Jay Bahari’s concerts. Entering the competition, Ica enlists the help of her friend. Aspiring fashion designer Gugun (Ganta) designs a shiny dress using drink sachets for her; naive anime otaku Yeyen (Waode) lends her money to buy the materials; and the hopeless romantic vegetable seller Wendy (Ojak) builds the props.

Ica won the competition, but another problem arises: she’s grounded by her employers, due to her burning a hole in Bu MW’s favorite sage green dress. But Ica rebelliously runs away after sweet-talking Wendy to give her a ride there on his vegetable cart. After a dramatic traveling sequence involving Masquerade-style costumes and charades,they get stuck in traffic. Ica continues on foot, abandoning Wendy and his cart.

Finally, Ica arrives at the concert, meeting Jay Bahari (Prince Xtravi) face-to-face. After the concert, she tries to talk to him, but he rudely turns her away. Heartbroken, Ica leaves.

Jay Bahari is then met with a series of bad luck. He reflects on Ica’s visit and his own past, believing Ica has put a curse on him. Alongside his manager (Rama), he tries to find Ica and make amends.

Back at her neighborhood, the dangdut trio Gegana consisting of Fitri (Alya Zafira), Lili (Almmidra De’vina), and Lala (Abby Cintya) confronts Ica. Fitri, the leader of the pack, condemns Ica for making use of the community’s good will for her selfish desires. Particularly, Yeyen is trapped in a debt due to Ica not returning her money in time, while Wendy’s cart is left broken after Ica ran off.

Seeking to make things right, Ica helps Yeyen confront her manipulative and gold-digging boyfriend Rizal (Aulion). What follows is a song that sees Yeyen summon the power of anime – specifically, Naruto – to give her courage to (ostensibly) symbolically defeat him.

Then, as Ica chases Wendy, who’s going to a port to go to another town, heartbroken. Jay Bahari finally catches up with Ica and he encourages Ica to share her true feelings. Borrowing a ring from Jay Bahari, Ica drops to her knees and proposes. Wendy says yes, and the final scene sees them celebrating their wedding with everyone in the neighborhood.

Musikal Dangdut is made solely for entertainment, as Aulion stated in the press conference. In this regard, it succeeds spectacularly. Musikal Dangdut is without a doubt, entertaining. The relatively simple story allows Aulion and his collaborators to imbue the artistic direction with an amazing sense of creativity.

What stands out the most is Aulion making use of the sensibilities he employs in his YouTube videos. Namely unabashed use of colors, DIY-style crafts, Indonesian references, and simply high-energy, infectious joy. 

This unique approach makes for a unique show oozing with personality. It’s a show that can only be made in Indonesia and it’s all the better for it.

For example, the characters are as varied as a typical Indonesian urban neighborhood. You can hear different accents. One of the neighborhood people is a roadside performer wearing an off-model Doraemon costume. Yeyen is a hardcore otaku, wearing a Bocchi the Rock shirt, cat-ears headphones, and collecting a bunch of merch of her husbando. Ica herself does an Islamic prayer on stage, the show unafraid of showing these characters’ religious affiliations, even if the story itself is not inherently religious. Too often, local shows depicting local people stay away from portraying any religion, despite it still being a big part of day-to-day life here.

The different ways the scenes are staged are also delightfully creative. Particularly, the aforementioned traveling scene has people dressed as trees, traffic cones, bringing road signs, all choreographed to create an illusion of Ica and Wendy traveling at great speed. This would’ve been corny in most other shows, but it works with the can-do attitude of Musikal Dangdut.

And the biggest crowd pleaser scene was the Naruto scene, where Yeyen somehow manifests the power of anime to summon four shadow clones of Naruto (with different hairstyles, and one in hijab!) to help her beat up the villainous Rizal and his lackeys. The scene ends with a giant rasengan attack that blasts him off stage. It’s outrageously funny.

The original dangdut songs that accompany many of these scenes are delightful. Catchy and fun, very accessible to everyone, even non-dangdut fans. Ravi Agustiana makes good use of the wide breadth of dangdut, creating somber ballads, cheerful group songs, and an energetic anime-pop-rock-dangdut song. Due to all the songs still falling under the dangdut umbrella, the score stays feeling coherent and well-suited for each scene. It’s also quite fun seeing the musicians up on stage, sometimes interacting with the characters.

Imazka Arto’s choreography is fun and fresh, incorporating everything from flowy dangdut moves, graceful qasidah movements, and more contemporary Broadway-style dances.

Bintang Pradana’s script, although simple, still has some emotional stakes, particularly in Ica trying to make right by her friends. It’s also laden with a plethora of jokes, some of them are very local, referencing memes and trends (that I don’t always get but many others do). There are puns as well as seemingly insignificant details that have pay-off later on (like Yeyen having an East Indonesian accent for some reason, which is later revealed as another reason why she connects with Naruto – because the latter also hails from the East, that is, East Asia).

Although the overall pace works great, some of the joke scenes run for a bit too long. Some of the humor is also hit-or-miss (although that is to be expected with how subjective comedy is). I particularly got a bit tired of Bu MW’s shrill abusive screeches towards Ica (though no fault of the actress). Some other plot threads are also left unresolved or without obvious pay-off, like Bu MW’s growing pregnancy or Fitri’s confrontation and seeming dislike of Ica. However, these are mostly nitpicky details that don’t truly detract from the show as a whole, only minor kinks.

The performances are really strong all around, everyone bringing a great level of enthusiasm and commitment to their roles. Particularly, Nada Novia as Eca is endlessly enjoyable to follow, playing each side of the character – the ambitious fangirl, the downtrodden maid, the repentant friend – with aplomb. As the main character of such a big musical with a sprawling supporting cast, she admirably grounds everything together, building great chemistry with everyone she interacts with.

And playing opposite her as Wendy is Ojak. He was previously seen as Bang Opik in Joshua Oh Joshua, and it’s a great pleasure seeing him in a much more prominent role. His comedic timing and wonderfully emotive expressions would already prove his stellar acting capability, but it’s great to see his more tender side, first in his hopeful pining towards Ica, and later on when he’s sad and disappointed by the very woman he loves. He’s a very likeable character actor and you just want to root for him.

Of course, the supporting characters and ensemble are also solid, bringing to life the colorful and riotous neighborhood where Ica lives. Special mentions to Waode, whose Yeyen has a simple yet satisfying character arc of learning how to stand for herself, and Rama as Jay Bahari’s manager, bringing a strong and entertainingly accurate Malay accent. Prince Xtravi’s Jay Bahari, meanwhile, has a lovely gentle side when he’s been taken down a peg in the second act. But as a larger-than-life Rhoma Irama expy, the actor could’ve gone even bigger, both in gesture and voice, especially since all the characters are already pretty exaggerated and expressive.

The artistic design also marvelously works in tandem with the show’s direction. The set helps ground the action, portraying the messy yet charmingly modest setting. The costumes are as multicolored and vibrant as the characters wearing them.

All in all, Musikal Dangdut: Kukejar Kau Sayang is a brilliant achievement in Indonesian musical theater. By incorporating a music genre that’s close to Indonesians but often ignored by musical theater, it’s a true testament of how a homegrown musical can look and sound. After all, musical theater writing is historically influenced by the popular music of its time. Perhaps it is time to set our sights not only on the faraway bright lights of Broadway and West End but also on the splashy, kitschy, and exuberant lights of dangdut stages.

 

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