Friday, March 1, 2013

Gema Gita Mahardika: Showing Nowadays Kids Situation and What They Missed Out

It was the first time in my life that I could not tell whether the crying kid sound is from audience seat is part of performance or not

That's what came up in my mind during the show.

Gema Gita Mahardika is a musical drama that I watched last night. It was performed by students from Sekolah Otonom Sanggar Anak Akar, as part of their annual carnival and also "crowd-funding" for their new school location.

The conflict that was raised during the show is pretty simple and for sure everyone at this era can relate with it. It was as simple as whether (Mr.) Technology and (Mrs.) Online will give a positive or negative effects to everyone life, particularly to kids. But it could be elaborated further towards the issue if there are no kids at all who want to continue to be farmers, which in this show, the issue was told, but was not elaborated further.

The whole package of dance, music, props, and cute acting by them will give enjoyable experiences to audience itself. From my own opinion who did not have any stage-art performance education background, I would say that their music arrangement, which was directed by Andrie Virgo Setiawan and Albertus Danang Wiratmoko, is exceptionally good, because it gives an additional "soul" to the songs. But there are still some areas that could be improved, such as stage blocking, sound system issue, and story development, which I felt kind of flat (no climax moment) during the show.

This show is also good for parents who want to introduce their kids to Indonesia's culture, because there were a little bit here and there of culture from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Maluku, and Papua. Also, it could be a platform to learn a "real songs" for the kids, not like the songs that available now for kids to listen to.

It was such a nostalgia moment for me when I watched this show, because there were my childhood songs, childhood games, and the understandable feeling of being performers in the stage.

If you want to catch the show, there are other two more available slots for today, 2nd March 2013, at 2pm and 8pm. Oh forgot to mention that the show is held in Pusat Perfileman Haji Usmar Ismail, Kuningan, Jakarta.

Following are some videos that I took during the show.