From Greece to Indonesia: the history of musicals

When we encounter the word “musical”, some of us might think of Disney’s (albeit problematic) all-time-favourites, some would probably think about “The Sound of Music” or “Les Misérables”, and it definitely makes sense to also think about Indian movies. These associations are all apt.

John Kenrick, in his book “Musical Theatre: A History” (2010), explained that a musical is a form of storytelling using “songs and skits”, which then would also include dancing and dialogues. To sum it up, a musical theatre has to have music and lyrics (the songs), book/Libretto (the connective story expressed in script or dialogue), choreography (the dance), staging (all stage movement) and physical production (the sets, costumes and technical aspects).

If everything goes well in the production, this combination would evoke “an intellectual as well as an emotional response”.

Sonny Sumarsono, a senior lighting designer and theatre expert, defined musical theater as “a form of performance that is expressed through music, singing and acting with a bonus of extraordinary spectacle”.

When did it begin?

Kenrick wrote that musicals have been existing in the past two millennia. It began in the 5th century BCE Athens, Greece. It was around the time when the city’s majestic temples came to existence to honour the Gods, among them was Dionysus, the divine patron of wine, theatre and joy.

The Greeks had a tradition of honouring Dionysus with dithyrambs, a choral performance that retells mythological tales. This was believed to be one of the earliest prototypes for modern musical theatre.

Image: Theatre of DIonysus at the acropolis in Athens by Jc Benato from Shutterstock

This later developed into a performing art that includes music and dance which is displayed in open-air amphitheatres, presenting its main genres: tragedy, comedy and satyr. Later on, the Roman theatre began to adapt the inclusion of music and dance in their performing art. Around the same time, puppet theatre performances that combined the same elements began to emerge in China.

In the Middle Ages, churches in Europe began to adopt musical theatre in their services, so did clowns in their performances. Opera only gained popularity in the 1700s, especially in the UK, France and Germany. To this day, those countries are still prominent in the musical theatre industry, even if the term “musical theatre” is very much synonymous with America’s Broadway.

When did it start in Indonesia?

In Indonesia, as a form of theatrical performance, musical theatre is still in its infancy in terms of development in the local scene. Indonesian theatre experts noted that it only appeared and began to rise within the last decade.

However, performing art that relied on the four pillars of a musical theatre have been present in Indonesia since the 1970s. Sonny told TFR that the media that is responsible for introducing the concept is Aktuil, a Bandung-based music magazine led by Remy Sylado, a senior author and playwright.

“In the 1970s, he made a production titled ‘Orexas’,” said Sonny, adding that, “He wrote the script himself and held the performance in Bandung.” “Orexas” is an album of musical numbers which include his musicalised poems as a part of his “Mbeling” poetry movement: a literary movement he initiated in hope to make poetry more accessible and inclusive in its making.

Singer Harry Roesli followed up with “Ken Arok: Rock Opera”, a rock album of musical numbers which was performed in 1977. Didi Petet also took part in this production. This is about the era when operetta, a light form of opera, as well as vocal groups with local elements began to emerge and gain popularity among Indonesian highschool students. These forms of performance began to make its presence felt in school commemorative events.

Image: Harry Roesli’s Ken Arok album cover

After Guruh Sukarnoputra finished his study in the Netherlands and returned to Indonesia, he in 1978 created cabaret-like productions which, according to Sonny, were comparable to Japan’s Takarazuka Revue or France’s Lido. He made this with the troupe he initiated, Swara Mahardika. In the cabaret performances he produced, he turned short numbers, such as the song “Ali Topan Anak Jalanan”, into a scene.

In the early 2000s, the Tumakaka sisters graduated from Canisius College, a school with notably good music class, and landed a scholarship to Juilliard. Over there, they managed to make a Broadway number. “When they returned, they created the Jakarta Broadway Team,” Sonny recounted. “They made 2-3 Broadway performances, and then they dissipated until now.”

In 2010, Joko Anwar directed a musical theatre called “ONROP!”, a satirical comedy about the power of love. Later in the same year, Mira Lesmana produced “Laskar Pelangi: Drama Musikal”. Seven years later, Indonesia’s beloved kids’ musical flick “Petualangan Sherina” made a comeback in the form of a musical theatre by Jakarta Movement of Inspiration or Jakarta Movin, a group of youth who are interested in learning about producing a play.

Recent developments

Those aforementioned titles ended up being some of the most popular and successful musical theatre performances in recent years. For a second, it appears almost like the awakening of musicals in Indonesia. However, as successful as those names and titles are, the reality is very much different. The scene still needs to build its market even at this point, considering that most of the musical theatre productions in Indonesia failed not only to make profit, but even to reach the break-even point.

Ratna Riantiarno, an activist, actor and founder of Teater Koma, agreed to this notion. She pointed out that even though there are several successful musical theatre productions, they usually do not have a consistent troupe, but select the casts through auditions. As successful as “ONROP!” and “Laskar Pelangi: Drama Musikal” are, the people producing those masterpieces could not stick as a group as all of them had day jobs that supported their livelihood.

“In terms of audience, (musical theatre) doesn’t have a set audience yet, the people behind the productions also come and go,” she explained. “So I cannot consider musical theater as a consistent industry yet.” She added that Indonesian parents since her time and even until now would still discourage their children from working in theatre since “there is no money in it”.

Kenrick listed the criteria of an environment in which theatre may thrive. They are:

A population large and prosperous enough to support an active theatrical culture.
A thriving artistic community that nurtures successive generations of creative and performing talent.
A shared sense of optimism in regards to the community and its future.
Freedom from extensive government censorship and/or political oppression.

Reviewing these criteria and the reality in the Indonesian theatre scene, it became clear why the Indonesian musical theatre is very slow to develop and rise. In the local social dynamics, the appreciation for works of art is still considered a privilege and the access a luxury. Therefore, it is still a long, challenging way for Indonesian artists and art communities to pave the way for musical theatre to thrive in the archipelago.

Image: NURBAYA musical from Indonesia Kaya

Broadway: the Mecca of musicals

The reality stands that Indonesia still lacks appreciation and recognition for art performances, which then led to the present situation in the scene even though it has more than enough talents. This is what motivates Indonesia Kaya to come up and start using its channel to educate and introduce art performances to wider audiences.

Billy Gamaliel confirmed this notion and added that Indonesia Kaya found a gap between the people behind art performance and the present young generation. “We noticed that the form of theater that the young generation is mostly interested in is musical theater,” he explained, “and if we’re talking about musical theater, naturally we would turn to Broadway, the Mecca of musical theater.”

Therefore, Indonesia Kaya came up with the Indonesia Menuju Broadway (IMB) program not only to introduce the global standards for musical theater, but also to encourage the young generation to channel their interest as well as to educate wider audiences about musicals. Through this program, Indonesia Kaya wished to make Broadway-level of musical theater more accessible for the people and for it to garner more attention and appreciation.

Billy also added that the focus of IMB is not to bring Broadway musicals to Indonesia, but to introduce the standards to be applied in the local musical theater scene. “The aim is to boost our own musical theater scene to be on an equal standing with international-scale theater performances,” he concluded.