Review: DJRENGO’s Comedy Explored by IMC Critic

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On July 25th, 2026, IMC delivered a 4-hour musical comedy onto the stage of Gedung Kesenian Jakarta

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On July 25th 2026, the theatre community Indonesian Musical Company brought the show DJRENGO: RODEO HEROIK & GENJRENGAN SUPER ASIK ( DJRENGO: A HEROIC RODEO & SUPER FUN STRUMMING) onto the stage of Gedung Kesenian Jakarta. This show was shown a total of two times in the afternoon and the evening of the 25th, with each show having its own set of cast. This show was directed by Venantius Vladimir Ivan Pratama with script by Nikolas Stevie. Charis Joshua Untung serves as the music and vocal director. Belinda Gabriela Sihombing with the assistance of Christopher Situmorang made the choreography of DJRENGO.

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We from Broadway World Indonesia had the opportunity to watch their evening show on the night of July 25th.

DJRENGO was promoted as a comedy musical and its presentation pushed comedy to its limit. It puts its entire focus on its self-stated goal, which is to make the audience laugh. However, this utmost attention towards humour led to the sidelining of its storytelling. The narrative of DJRENGO was jumbled and lacked a sense of coherency. Personally, I found it quite difficult to understand the story being told within DJRENGO. An oversimplified version of it would be a story of Gaspar (played by Nikolas Stevie) and his pet cow Lucky (played by Cornelius Kenta Raya) who idolizes Djrengo (played by Charis Joshua Untung) and attempts to be someone like him. However, in the process, he comes to discover that his idol was not as good of a person as the masses perceive him to be. In the end, DJRENGO became a story of expose, revenge, and a whole lot of storyline and plots that I couldn’t keep track of.

Now, DJRENGO itself exists as a very comedic show. It crafted comedy out of everything that could have existed: men, women, gender, religion, aliens, politics, bestiality, racism, disability, mental health, and many more. It wasn’t afraid to break the fourth wall and utilize stagehands and audience participation.

While the humor of DJRENGO was undoubtedly funny, there was a main issue with the comedy. In DJRENGO, it felt like the story was built around the comedy instead of the comedy being an expansion of the plot. This is an issue because, while the comedy of DJRENGO was capable of making you laugh and feel things at the moment, it did not leave a feeling that stays with you after. And DJRENGO as a show relies upon this type of comedy—overusing improvisation and jokes that are not related to the main story of DJRENGO. This made the audience’s laughter cheap and groundless, reducing the appreciation that could have been given towards the humour. Hence, it became forgettable.

Still, I would like to give credits where it is due. DJRENGO was incredibly consistent with their choices, choosing to bring this type of humour onto the stage of GKJ. You could say that they were very much committed to the bit, but unfortunately some of those bits shouldn’t have even existed in the first place. It was a four-hour parade of comedy and subversion that did not have a narrative basis. And while it was ridiculously and stupidly funny, I don’t even remember what it was I was laughing about.

The choreography of DJRENGO stood as a character on its own. Belinda Gabriela Sihombing delivered a distinct and unique movement that became the spirit of DJRENGO. The ensemble was super lively and was noticeably having fun in bringing these choreography to life, creating a very satisfying watching experience for the audience. However, this elation dissipates when the story tries to focus on its storyline more. While the parts without the songs were still bought with an equal amount of power, the excitement behind it was noticeably gone.

I believe strong writing is the foundation that is capable of pushing an actor/actress capability the most. A lack thereof was impactful to the presence that each actress and actors have, and the importance placed within the characters they were playing. This also affects scenes that lack a strong “leader”; the ensemble works wonders in the choreography and group scenes, but when we have to pay attention to one person, they seem to lose their tact. The writing affects them to the point that they existed as a collective that was presented there as a joke instead of living characters, reducing the emotional value of it. They aren’t capable of existing as an individual, simply there as a caricature. And overall, there were too many characters and too little depth within DJRENGO.

There were multiple spectacles within DJRENGO that seemed to serve no purpose. One example of this was the overture that played at the beginning of the show. While the technical aspect of assimilating multiple songs into a “remix” was impressive, ultimately, it came off as too much. And the extended duration that it had (more than five minutes) eventually fully diminished its entertainment value as a spectacle.

The unfortunate part about this show was that the first 30 minutes were promising. It promised a strong concept and actors that were able to hold their own and dominated the stage. But the rest of the show turned into a slow narration; while the energy remained consistent throughout, the pacing was staggering.

As a whole, DJRENGO was a fun community production. However, this community-based production runs the danger of being forgettable to anyone outside of this production. It focused on the spectacle to showcase the massive amount of people working on it, but ultimately falls short because of the weak writing. I think IMC has the spirit and the people to work on such a massive production, shown in their previous work such as LEGACY and YAKUZA. However, if they want to create a production that will leave a long-lasting impression on the audience, I’d recommend working more on creating a more solid foundation.

Broadway World Indonesia was a media partner of Djrengo: Rodeo Heroik & Genjrengan Super Asik.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/indonesia/article/Review-IMCs-DJRENGO-When-Comedy-is-Pushed-to-the-Limit-20260917)._