Review: A Taste of Nostalgia and Community in Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks

On February 22 and 23, the Japanese theater group Shindora returned to the stage with their latest musical, Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks at Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki. This original musical is set in Japan at the end of the Showa era (late 1980s), bringing with it a unique retro charm and themes of family and community.

Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks was co-directed by Ario and Kaikiri Sugako, the latter of whom also wrote the script. The show features music by Tachibana Shinji, who also served as the vocal coach. Indonesian subtitles are available during the play, displayed through a pair of monitors, one on each side of the stage.

The show opens with the funeral of Kaneko Mama (played by Ario). Her loyal customers have gathered to mourn and pay their last rites. Suddenly a girl, still in her school uniform, barged in, crying at the passing of her father – Kaneko Mama. Her arrival surprised the mourners, who didn’t know that Kaneko Mama had a daughter.

The girl, Sayuri (Rin), starts accusing the quirky clientele of causing her father undue stress that led to his death. As the chaos unfolds at the funeral, the lid of the coffin opens from the inside. This shocking sequence of events led to the show’s opening number, the “Mysterious Kaneko-Mama”.

Afterwards, the show flashes back to 1989, the end of the Showa period, marked by the Emperor’s death. Kaneko Bar is a small bar in Nakano, Tokyo, run by the wise yet mysterious Kaneko Mama. Through a series of vignettes that take a whole calendar year, we see Kaneko Mama interacting with her clients and neighbors.

To start with, Kaneko Mama rents the second floor of the bar as relatively cheap lodgings. Three self proclaimed ‘failures’ lived there, including an unserialized manga artist Momoyo (Jena), a jobless manzai comedian Mambo (Fahmi), and a student studying to get into a university even after three years of flunking Ryuuichi (Atta). Soon, they’re joined by Mambo’s partner, Rambo (Ramzy).

Kaneko Mama also hires an assistant to help her run the bar, the flirty and chipper Seiko (Choya). Together, they serve the bar’s colorful band of regulars, which includes the jolly old man Heizo (Bimo), the bar’s previous owner Akemi Mama (Acha), the stoic and sharply dressed Profesor (Danial), the braggadocious rich kid Kootaroo (Vanus), the unsuccessful salesman Todoroki (Balkan), and the mumbling karaoke lover Baachan (Mayu).

The bar is also often visited by the neighbors Choo-san (Aldo) and Toku-chan (Diani), an old married couple who run a restaurant next door and regularly share their cooking. Although they often fight, it is obvious that they deeply care for each other.

While many of the scenes serve to build the characters and their relationships, there is a plot thread about a mysterious man called the 20-Faced Man or Nijuumensoo (Anky), who appears at the bar in different disguises, including a salesman peddling a ‘bar detergent’, a handyman, and a Buddhist monk. The local detective, Keiji (Zhilal) tries to capture him and figure out what he’s plotting.

As we progress through the year, Kaneko Mama’s tenants begin to leave one by one when they finally find their own success. Momoyo’s manga gets serialized, and Mambo and Rambo’s manzai duo starts to get gigs. Only Ryuuichi stays, having failed for the fourth time. In tears, he swears to make it next year. Kaneko Mama makes him a plate of omurice to comfort him.

In the second act, we finally get to see more of Kaneko Mama’s past. Her real name is Tetsuji, a professional dancer with a streak of arrogance. He lives with his wife (Junko) and young daughter Sayuri (Alel). Due to his obsession with his career, he keeps breaking promises and dismissing his family’s feelings.

After a big fight, he drinks at Akemi Mama’s bar. There, he meets an okama (a person who was born male but presents themself as female) by the name of Love (Agas). She tells Tetsuji that one way to understand someone’s feelings is to walk in their shoes. Taking this advice to heart, Tetsuji buys the bar from Akemi Mama, who just so happens to be looking to retire.

Back in the present day at the funeral, we learn that Kaneko Mama is the one behind her own funeral. She seeks to put the persona Kaneko Mama to rest and return to living as Tetsuji, now having learned his lessons of the difficulties and feelings of a woman, even if only for a little bit. She also learns the grief that comes from the loss of one’s spouse, due to Choo-san’s passing, as well as the loneliness borne from her tenants leaving one by one.

Tetsuji’s wife, Junko arrives and learns the truth about the supposed death. She then confesses that she’s the one who has hired Nijumensoo, a private detective, to keep an eye on Kaneko Mama. The two reconcile after Kaneko Mama apologizes for her past behavior.

Although Junko accepts her apology, she requests that Kaneko Mama stays for a while longer, at least until Ryuuichi finally passes the university exam. Kaneko Mama agrees and the bar resumes its operation. During the epilogue, we see Ryuuichi finally passing the exam on his fifth try. But before the nest turns fully empty, two new tenants arrive: the aspiring comedy idols Ai-chan (Marcia) and Doru-chan (Sawsan).

That concludes the main plot of Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks. However, there is still so much more in the story that’s impossible to write about in an article, including the break up and eventual reunion of the Mambo-Rambo duo, the Profesor being Kaneko Mama’s one confidant who knows about her past, the frantic delivery boy Ken-chan (Bril), Akemi Mama’s new love Mickey (Ricky), and so on.

As one can probably surmise, Kaneko Mama is a richly detailed show. It paints the image of a close-knit community around the titular character herself, with each character having a strong personality, their own backstory, and established relationships. This makes the show’s setting feel truly lived in, immersive, and (most importantly) charming.

A big strength of Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks is how it understands that not all characters need to get a big portion in the story. By letting some characters have only a few scenes and lines, it makes the story feel more cohesive and focused. That is not to say that the supporting characters are forgettable or unimportant. Even the unintelligible Baachan, guileless Ken-chan, and lovey-dovey Mickey all make the story richer, like the beautiful finishing garnish on a cocktail.

Structurally, it’s brilliant. We start with an intriguing scene that makes us curious about Kaneko Mama and her patrons. Towards the end of the story, we revisit the same scene again, which now continues after Kaneko Mama’s ‘resurrection’ and with all the context we now have. Although most of it is slice-of-life and human drama, the show also keeps us intrigued by the appearances of Nijuumensoo, until the truth finally comes to light. 

The show also has a distinctly Japanese feel, making it truly unique among other theatrical offerings in Jakarta. The major characters are perhaps exaggerated, yet they carry a tender side to them. Chief among them is Kaneko Mama herself, who is a complex and nuanced character with an intriguing background. Although I wish we could’ve seen the surely difficult transitionary period when she first adopts the persona of Kaneko Mama – we only see her as the mature Kaneko Mama and the aloof Tetsuji.

Ario and Kaikiri Sugako’s direction also works wonderfully with the story. The characters have sharp, confident line delivery that’s perfect for the show’s comedic tone. All of them have a unique character voice and mannerism that makes it easy to tell people apart even when the stage is crowded. Smartly, Kaneko Mama herself is perhaps the most grounded character, contrasting everyone’s high energy with her calming, soothing presence.

As a bonus, we are treated to a manzai performance by Mambo and Rambo. The routine is itself great, but the authentic performance really takes it to the next level. Their back-and-forth is sharp without missing a beat, undoubtedly the result of dedicated training.

The performances are all great without a weak spot. Everyone brings their A-game per what’s required by their character. The stand-out performances include Kaneko Mama herself, with Ario perfectly playing both sides of the character and disappearing into the role. She is such a comforting force who smoothly plays off anyone and everyone.

Other stand-outs include Mambo and Rambo for their amazing comedic timing, Sayuri for the realistic portrayal of a teenage daughter hurt by her parental figure, Love for her singular yet scene-stealing performance that’s both vulnerable and strong, Seiko for her boundless vigor and pep, Toku-chan and her heartbreaking, understated grief, and the Professor for his reserved yet exacting body language. But, once again, everyone is solid. It’s an achievement in itself to have the whole cast put in an even performance that plays off each other so harmoniously.

The songs are also similarly fun, often drawing from the city pop sounds of the late 1980s. The choreography is playful and memorable, especially for the song sung by the three ‘failures’, which is portrayed like a traditional ondo song-and-dance.

As for the art production, although it’s relatively simple (largely only making use of the Kaneko Bar set except for the Tetsuji flashbacks), it also fits the show nicely. We really get the feel of a kitschy yet welcoming small bar, sometimes with seasonal details like Christmas or tanabata decorations. The costumes are period-specific and full of character. The characters often change costumes but still with their own personal sense of style, making for a more realistic, immersive feel. The lighting is limited but always effective, adding more atmosphere to each scene.

With everything combined, Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks made me nostalgic for an era that I didn’t live through, in a country far from mine. It’s the result of a production design done with specificity and love. 

Finally, the subtitles also add to the show’s overall quality. It, of course, helps non-Japanese speakers like me to understand the show. But it also smartly translates the jokes, including a recurring one where Heizo keeps saying an old Japanese catchphrase, which the subtitles localized into an outdated Indonesian catchphrase.

Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks is such a fascinating show. It’s perhaps the most lush show I’ve watched, where every character and each detail contributes to the show, no matter how small. Even if a detail doesn’t matter narratively, it still further reinforces the lovingly crafted atmosphere. It’s a microcosm of life, where not everything has to be big to matter.

Entertaining, touching, and comforting at the same time, I don’t ever want to leave Kaneko Bar. Simply sitting through the 2-hour show, I feel like I’m part of the show’s loving community of bar workers, patrons, neighbors, and other misfits. Although it’s still early in the year, it’s my front runner for my show of the year and I’m looking forward to Shindora’s next production.

Broadwayworld Indonesia is a media partner of Kaneko Mama and the Jolly Folks

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