Camp Broadway Indonesia (CBI) resumed its Mainstage program this summer. During the 6-day program, Broadway and Jakarta professionals taught singing, acting, and dancing to campers ages 10 to 17. On the sixth day, campers performed Shrek Jr. And this year, ten Papuan campers joined the program through a partnership with PT Freeport Indonesia.
Camp Broadway Indonesia is run by PT Asa Pentas Mahakarya, a performing arts company co-founded by Adit Marciano and Triwatty Marciano. Mainstage is CBI’s premier summer program, led by Broadway director and choreographer Kristine Bendul for the second year in a row. A total of 27 campers joined the program, divided into two companies: Nederlanders (ages 10-13) and Dodgers (ages 14-17).
The program also collaborated with several local artists, including this year’s featured musicians Robertus Darren Radyan as Shrek and Ajeng Sharfina Adiwidya as Fiona, Bernice Nikki as vocal director and Wishnu Dewanta as musical director (who also led the Wishnu Dewanta Orchestra as musicians for the performance of Shrek Jr.).
As an ensemble performance-based program, the Shrek Jr. performance aims to showcase the ensemble cast with a modified version of the story.
Shrek is an ogre who lives in his swamp, in his solitude, when a group of fairy tale creatures arrive, having been exiled from the kingdom of Duloc. Seeking to restore peace to his home, he travels to Duloc and meets the little Lord Farquadd. Lord Farquadd asks Shrek to first save Princess Fiona, who has been kidnapped by a dragon.
Shrek manages to defeat the dragon and save Princess Fiona and her maids. Shrek and Fiona, accompanied by their entourage, embark on a journey back to the kingdom. Along the way, Shrek and Fiona fall in love. By chance, Shrek discovers the nature of the curse that weighs on Fiona: she transforms into an ogress at night. The curse can only be broken by “true love’s kiss”.
Seeking to break the curse, Shrek and Fiona kiss. Against all odds, the curse is indeed broken, but instead of returning Fiona to her permanent human form, it turns her into a full-time ogress. Although this surprised everyone, Shrek and Fiona are still deeply in love and agree to marry. Everyone celebrates with a big group number.
Since Shrek Jr. is an ensemble piece, the participants paid close attention to the characters in the film, who play both the fairytale creatures and Fiona’s assistants. The participants put on a solid and enjoyable show, although, naturally, some had a more polished performance than others. On the other hand, some participants had no previous training in the performing arts, but all the participants on stage gave their best, showing remarkable dedication and discipline.
As for the main actors, Ajeng was a charming Fiona, filled with a charismatic and quirky optimism, as one would expect from such a character. Darren’s version of Shrek was quite funny and different, although using a gruffer character voice might have worked even better, as Darren’s natural voice seemed rather friendly and gentle. And, of course, both of them sang and danced throughout the numbers with finesse.
On the art side, the production made quite a bit of use of multimedia, lighting, costumes, and even sound design to bring the story to life. It’s worth noting that not only was the ensemble dressed in fairy tale or royal costumes, some of the cast members were dressed in superhero or pop culture costumes instead. While harmless, these costumes were hardly distracting.
That being said, the true value of a youth education program like Camp Broadway lies not in the performance skills that are required for Broadway, but rather in how it fosters the personal development of campers through the performing arts. And in this regard, Camp Broadway excels.
First, I had the opportunity to observe the rehearsal process the day before the show. Director Kristine Bendul led the rehearsal with a firm but measured approach that respected the young performers and did not coddle them unnecessarily. CBI Artistic Director Adit Marciano also ensured that the rehearsal ran smoothly, with the help of a small team of stage managers and technical directors.
Interestingly, the star players were not only playing their roles, but were also tasked with mentoring and supervising the campers (with Ajeng being in charge of the Nederlanders and Darren the Dodgers). This fostered a close relationship between the players and campers, rather than making them distant guest stars.
After the performance, there was a reprise of the Camp Broadway medley, followed by a Legacy Dress (also known as a Gypsy Dress) award ceremony for the camper who had the most positive impact on their fellow campers throughout the week. This is a tradition adopted from New York’s Camp Broadway, which itself was adapted from a long-standing Broadway tradition, as Kristine (who received the dress herself) explained.
This year, the Camp Broadway Indonesia team unanimously decided to award the Legacy Dress to 10 Papuan campers. These campers were selected after a workshop organized in Papua by Camp Broadway Indonesia. The mining company PT Freeport Indonesia sponsored these campers as part of its corporate social commitment to empowering Papuan children.
Symbolically, the dress was given to Heri, one of the campers of the Dutch company, who stood out during the performance thanks to his impressive acrobatic backflip.
In a short interview with Camp Broadway Indonesia, Heri said that he was really happy to learn a lot from the mentors and other campers. He considered the most difficult part of the camp to be the language barrier, as English was the main language used (the Indonesian team helped translate the instructions as needed). And he is determined to continue developing his talent even after the program.
But the Papuan campers also brought their own gifts: traditional woven bags called noken, which they made themselves. A representative of the Papuan contingent handed the bags over to Kristine Bendul, Adit Marciano and Triwatty Marciano.
While the show was entertaining and the Legacy Robe segment was informative, my favorite part was the moment after the main events of the afternoon. As cast members, crew, family members, and partners mingled in the room, the room was filled with a great buzz of joyful energy.
Those involved in the production – campers and counselors, cast and crew, youth and adults – greeted each other, hugged and shared stories. The children asked each other and the production team to sign their Camp Broadway Indonesia t-shirts. Some of them exchanged small gifts. Everyone took photos to remember the week they shared in such a formative part of their lives.
It was all the more bittersweet to see the Papuan campers say goodbye because Papua is more than 2,000 miles from Jakarta, the city where the CBI took place. That’s about the distance from New York to Mexico City. And there’s far less access to Broadway-style musical theater training, if any.
But I believe the training and camaraderie the campers gained during that 6-day period is more than enough to jump-start their personal journey, to inspire them to become better individuals in their chosen fields, performing arts or not.
I hope that when the program resumes next year, we will see an even larger group of campers. And perhaps other institutions would be interested in sponsoring more campers from Papua and elsewhere, to provide these children and youth with a training program that teaches them not only performing arts skills, but also life skills.
As the quote goes: “Movies will make you famous; television will make you rich; but theater will make you good.”
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