Review: SMILE CLUB Seeks to Bring Happiness to All

NITTY GRITTY, an event organizer founded by students of LSPR’s PAC24-1SP class, debuted their first musical on July 25th at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta. The show, titled SMILE CLUB: THE MUSICAL, also serves as the students’ International Exam. This musical is written by Geta Gwyneth Satrio and Jechosa Putrajaya, with direction by Felicia Caroline and Asep Saputra, while the choreography is credited to Wydelia Shallom, Cynthia Jovanka, Mellany Cokro, and Alexandros Nook.

SMILE CLUB tells the story of Sally (Viola Athaya), a student at the prestigious Permata Bersama High School. Despite its sterling reputation, the students find the school boring and oppressive. Sally looks to change this by creating the titular Smile Club; a club, or extracurricular activity, that can make everyone smile.

But she’s not the only one seeking to start a new club; there is also the boisterous jock Max (Shane Ghaniyy), the studious Irelia (Wydelia Shallom), the fashionable Leon (Jechosa Putrajaya), and the brooding Ellen (Gishella Angeline).

In order to decide which potential club is the most worthy, each of their hopeful founders is tasked with creating an activity that the other four must join. All the while, they are under the watchful eye of the school’s strict headmistress, Greta Holloway (Ghevira Nurkhaliza).

The five club founders grow close as they spend time with each other, learning about each club’s activities and values. Soon the time comes for the announcement. But before the winner can rejoice, a big secret is revealed: that the headmistress is, in fact, Sally’s mother. This revelation throws the situation into chaos as her decision’s impartiality is questioned. The broken friend group then has to find a way to reconcile their new friendship with this fact.

The SMILE CLUB is a lighthearted and fun show. The structure allows the personalities of the main cast to shine, each of them really embodying the character. Though most of their personalities lack significant depth, it still works well for the purposes of the show. The fashion club is glamorous and glitzy, just like their leader; the study club is ambitious and quiet, and so on.

Performance-wise, it is notably solid all around. The young performers managed to get into their character beautifully and consistently. Moreover, it is obvious that they enjoyed their time on stage, brimming with energy and joy so that the audience can’t help but root for them.

The supporting cast is also commendable. The school staff includes the sticker-to-the-rules Mrs. Peters played by Aneftia Zahra (with an amazing, standout voice) and the kooky and delightful Ms. Barbara Zie, played by Yasmin Alvina with charm. Not to mention the ensemble cast who brought the school to life as fellow students.

Unfortunately, the sound design is not optimal and there are some lines delivered too quickly, making the finer details of the plot lost to me (and perhaps to many audience members). I find it rather hard to understand the motivation and backstory behind the characters due to this technical mishap.

Otherwise, the production design is great, with the appropriate set for Permata Bersama, lighting that makes use of various colors and intensity, lush costumes, and a good number of original songs (though, for fun, there are references to other musical numbers too). The songwriters also made some wise choices in the song variations, including a heart-to-heart duet between Sally and her mother.

All in all, SMILE Club brings me to smile. There is some considerable emotional core to the story as well, though not all of them delivered perfectly due to audio problems. But it is a nice, optimistic show that I believe can resonate with students everywhere.
 

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