Review: Indonesian Musical Company’s Legacy Tells a Passionate 25-Years-Long Tale

Review by Nabila 'Hana' Hananti, editing by Rakaputra Paputungan.

From November 30th to December 1st 2024, Indonesian Musical Company in collaboration with Connection Production brought a sequel to their previous production. Taking place six years after Zeventien, they delivered Legacy: the story of Martin, the legacy of his father’s company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie/VOC), and the inlander family he left behind. This show took place at the same location as its predecessor, at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta.

 Directed by Venantius Vladimir Ivan with music by Charis Joshua Untung & Harley Huray, the team from Broadway World Indonesia had the opportunity to watch their opening show on November 30th and here’s our review.

Now, let me begin this review by saying that the opening show had a total five-hour runtime, and I couldn’t stay for the entirety of it due to personal circumstances. I heard from a friend that the following shows were trimmed to save duration, which was a good call on their part I would think. Still, when I was watching it, I decided to stay until the fourth hour even though it was nearing midnight, for I was actually curious to know how the story would end.

Legacy is a good show, but the five-hour runtime that the premiere had could be exhausting to watch. However, as an audience member who watched the show, I saw that the long duration didn’t seem to be exhausting for the actors. Even by the fourth hour, the cast’s energy persisted. That alone had transcended all technical, physical, and other interferences plaguing the show, for the actors and musicians put their heart and soul into this performance.

Legacy is a perfect tragedy: of a man and woman who fell in love but circumstances were pushing them apart. Or, in the case of Legacy, made one of them leave the others.

There’s Martin—the heir to one of the leaders of VOC—and Ambar—a humble inlander with a strong sense of justice. They fell in love during the VOC conflict at Batavia. This happened during their previous show Zeventien which I also watched and have written a review for. The story of Zeventien ended with Martin and Ambar running away together. In Legacy, supposedly, they were about to expand upon that end. 

The story of Legacy alternated between events happening at Amsterdam (Martin, played by Bryan Edward) and Sunda Kelapa (Ambar, played by Felisia D. Jessy Umbas). This was six years after the end of Zeventien, and by the beginning of it, Martin had left Ambar to continue his father’s work as one of the board members of VOC, not knowing that he’s left his wife (apparently they’d eloped) with a son at Sunda Kelapa. For over twenty years, he has upheld his father’s legacy as his heir, while Ambar kept waiting for him to return, up to a point where their son was all grown up. The conflicts between VOC and England escalated during this, and eventually, Martin’s enemy—seeking a way to hurt him—enacted revenge by murdering Ambar. The two never got to see each other again since they parted, and were only reunited in death as an illness took him and Martin followed her soon after.

Through the journey of it all, Martin was haunted by regrets. He was losing his reason to live, especially since he was no longer with his beloved. The stress was getting to him, and that was when he met Vanessa (played by Alexandra Cheryl), a young maid working at his residence who dreamed of becoming a doctor. She was bright-eyed, cheerful, and naive—the total opposite of Martin. She carried the same determination Ambar did, and that inspired Martin, so he helped her reach his dream, becoming her sponsor in pursuing medication, and forming a close bond in the process. This was quite the sweet moment, for the two had wonderful chemistry that made us root for their relationship. But, Martin’s heart was with Ambar, and so nothing truly blossomed between them.

On the other hand, Ambar was left in longing—having blind faith in the person that she loved. She was disdained by her family and neighbours because she kept holding on to a past love. She had even lied to her son about who his father truly was. Still, she had died defending her son from Martin’s enemy—a lover who had no intention of coming back to her. I would think that her life was the true tragedy of it all.

This was my number one problem in this show: the assassination of Ambar’s character. Every time Ambar appears, she serves no purpose. She felt repetitive, with no bigger motivation or emotion besides longing for Martin. She was almost like a caricature of herself, despite being a motivated and upright person in the previous play. She has no personality and simply comes across as a pitiful lady who wishes for her former husband back. It was unfortunate, but she ended up dead anyway.

Legacy is uncomplicated. Telling a story of 25 years in one play is not easy, and they’ve chosen a very interesting narrative choice. It has plenty of dramatization, and while there was plenty of exposition being told there, there was also plenty of character exploration inside of this story. This was visualized in interesting ways, ranging from Vanessa singing her “I Want” songs, all the way to a dream sequence where Martin had to face his regrets—facing the people who have died before him, such as his Best Friend, stepbrother, and father. This character-driven approach tugged at my heartstrings, and I also was awed by the production design that utilized the lights and the sound to make for an immersive experience. 

Technical-wise, everything united to create the play that is Legacy. The utilization of music and lighting to transition between scenes as well as imbuing the stage with the necessary atmosphere made for a show that I could only describe as a “cinematic” experience.

Bryan Edward embodied Martin on stage, and he was truly the star of the show. In the fourth hour, he was fighting for his life—quite literally, and as Martin on stage. However, his vocals were less polished in comparison to other vocalists in the play (notably, the opera singer and the rapper). He played the character perfectly, but he looked to be struggling vocally. 

The emotional core of the story gave rise to its considerable intensity. This intensity itself was further pushed by the proportional music. Unfortunately, this intensity wasn’t supported by the technical problem in the audio—notably the constant static sound that’s heard throughout the show and the failure in mixing, making for indiscernible articulation for a few of the dialogue. And when the full band was playing, the cast’s singing sometimes became downright inaudible. Still, the instrumental of the show was gorgeous and blended seamlessly into the show.

I have a few comments about the music. Legacy’s music ranged from several genres, such as pop, rock, rap, and even opera. Some were more relevant than others, as it played as a character’s theme within the show. But, when the duration is extended (five hours), it becomes too much of a showmanship to have any sort of relevance to the show. The lyrics of the songs were descriptive of the moment, but there was too much repetition without any implicit meaning within the lyrics. 

Being a show that was performed around the time of a national election made for a goldmine of jokes, especially about politics. Not only that, there was also plenty of improvisation throughout the show, making for interactive moments that could also lead to more laughter. They weren’t afraid to break the fourth wall too, mentioning plenty of pop culture references and even some self-aware jokes where the actors literally break out of characters. Too much comedy could be tricky, especially in such a “serious” script, but Legacy was great at balancing the amount of tension and jokes that were inside of their play.

Still, these extended comedies and improvisation made for a longer show. While these fillers were considerably enjoyable and provoked plenty of laughter, they only added to the already heavy story with extended runtime. It was narratively irrelevant. 

Overall, Legacy was an impressive show. However, time is money, and by the next production, perhaps it’d be wise to decide on a much more condensed play that delivers what’s necessary while still keeping the heart of their production. Other than that, I rejoiced and was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable this was.

Just about a few weeks away, they’re going to have a performance at Gedung Kesenian Miss Tjitjih titled Perkawinan (Marriage) on March 22nd, 2025. This was part of their winter class program, and would most likely present students from the program. Not only that, they’re also opening a dual audition for the plays they’re about to bring to the stage, Yakuza Song of Vengeance & Dracula: Requiem, due to close in a few weeks.

I look forward to their upcoming productions.

Broadwayworld Indonesia is a media partner of Legacy. 

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