Written by Ardela Nabila | Read in Indonesian

Laughter and applause of audience enliven the Galeri Indonesia Kaya Auditorium at the Grand Indonesia West Mall 8th floor during the showing of "Musikal Absurd: Hidup Segan But I'm Not Done" on Sunday (2/11). The actors, wearing various characters' costumes that are unique and colorful, successfully entertain the audience with dialogues, music, as well as storyline that is a close portrayal of the daily life of the capital city worker.

Directed by Aulion, "Musikal Absurd: Mati Segan But I'm Not Done" tells the story of Vina (29), an office worker who have started to lose the meaning of her life when her life started to feel mundane, and found herself conversing with creatures form the fantasy realm.

Blending music, visual art, and emotion, audience are invited to explore Vina's memory in order to rediscover the lost spirit and reason to survive.

This musical present stage visual which was inspired by the illustration works of Sherchle, an illustrator who also collaborated in Jakarta Doodle Fest (JDF) 2025. In making arts, the artist with the name Michelle Sherrina is known for her absurd humor.

Different from other musicals, the show which closed the series of JDF 2025 events by TFR produced by Jakarta Art House and supported by Indonesia Kaya, and held intimately and exclusively with limited audience.

Previously, the enthusiasm of hundreds of audience crowded the entrance, waiting for their turn to enter to be able to secure the best seat to enjoy the immersive cross-industry experience in its entirety.

"The work ‘Hidup Segan But I'm Not Done' being chosen as the main theme I think also because people can relate with the sentiment, this is because in life there are surely moments of struggle, but people refuse to give up. It is also interesting going through the process, from sitting together with these theatre folks and see how my work can be sewn together in this musical," said Michelle.

The illustration of "Hidup Segan But I'm Not Done" itself was first made and released in November 2022 when Sherchle was feeling tired in dealing with life and every demand that had not been made.

This work was inspired by the saying "Hidup Segan, Mati Tak Mau" which came into the mind of Sherchle after she saw Joji, a singer whose songs at that time accompanied the artist in facing challenges in her life.

Inviting the audience to laugh at life together

Involving Palka Kojansow as scriptwriter and lyricist, as well as Andita Mardhiaputri as choreographer, "Musikal Absurd: Hidup Segan, But I'm Not Done" exists not only as an entertaining satire, but also silently touched the humane part of self which is probably in search of a reason to keep walking.

That fact is conveyed directly by Palka, "I want to convey a message to everyone whoever is feeling tired or even on the brink of giving up, to try and laugh at life while trying to be grateful of the little things that can lift our spirits up once again. In short, if people realize, the message in this musical in general have the intention of suicide prevention."

Through absurd comedy, Palka wanted to convey a realistic dynamic of the pressure in workforce as well as implicitly take a jab at social issues and dark portrait of today's life.

"For story development, we asked Sherchle about why she made all those illustrations. Her answer was simple, to entertain herself when she was stumped with work, or just for fun. It seems very ordinary, but from that ordinary something it became a universal theme that can touch many things that is close with urban humans of today, especially for the working class," Palka continued.

For 60 minutes, audience are entertained by five songs, such as "Sumpah Palapa", and "Pelan Tapi Party", which were written, arranged, produced, and performed by Ammir Gita as the composer. One of the other songs, "Ragam Ulahnya, Ragam Lezatnya", was written and arranged by Achi Hardjakusumah,

Each song was performed by actors with vocal arrangement from Maruf Andi as vocal director.

"Musikal Absurd: Hidup Segan But I'm Not Done" features Made Aurellia, Uyo, Pila, Mike Frans, Arsy Fadillah, Nadhira Nasution, Medina Anzani, Devina, Ghatfaan, and Janitra Diva.

Behind the excitement, this show was put together in a relatively short time, but the process was still full of laughter.

In about one to two weeks, we needed to write the script, making it into music, and rehearse together with the cast. In the middle of it, I also make props and costumes, so it really felt like it was non-stop working on this musical. But there was the fun of it. Along the process, we laughed a lot because of the absurdity of this idea," explained Aulion, who was directly appointed by the Founder of Jakarta Art House, Fadli Hafizan, to work on this musical.

For Aulion, this musical stage feels like a play room filled with positive energy presented through absurd light jokes, packaged with catchy sentences that tickles and comical style, but still sliding in message of life that is the characteristic of Sherchle.

"Different from other big stage performances where I have to make sure everything is neat and grand, here it feels like playing. more free, closer, but also more challenging because everything is fast-paced and done together. But it is from here that spontaneous moments emerge that bring the show to life," he added.

Bringing visual IP to become an unforgettable experience

This is the second time JDF presents a musical theatre inspired by visual art. In 2024, the show "Moonboy & His Starguide The Musical" adapted from illustration by Varsam Kurnia also received a good response from the audience.

This initiative is aimed to broaden the way in enjoying visual art through immersive experience, where the audience is brought into and become part of the world of the illustration that is being adapted. Furthermore, intellectual property (IP) adaptation into a new format makes it possible for the creator to dig deeper for inspiration and the story behind those visuals.

“This year we are back collaborating with an illustrator to present a cross-industry collaboration between visual art and performing art. This time we bring up a theme that is more humorous and reflective of our daily life through Sherchle's works. Humor that is presented through merchandise, can now be enjoyed through musical performance," said the Co-Founder of JFD and TFR News Christine Laifa.

In line with that, the format of this new visual art experience is closer to the people without diminishing the artistic value. This is why the artist whose work was adapted, such as Sherchle, is directly involved in the creative process.

In "Musikal Absurd: Hidup Segan But I'm Not Done", she also participated in monitoring the script, set design, and the visual design of the stage. However, Sherchle gave freedom to the crew to 'bring life' to the characters she created and to interpret the meaning of the work being adapted according to their visualization.

Thus, from this collaboration, a show was born with Aulion's signature energetic and colorful visual storytelling style, while still maintaining Sherchle's unique identity.

"I believe that Jakarta Art House friends are able to create a musical adaptation that is not only good, but also in line with the characters of my work. It is lucky that out tastes is pretty in line with each other. We discussed about the set design and decoration properties, and Aulion gave an idea and then I provided an more ideas so that the design is more spot on," explained Michelle.

This musical is part of the Musical Roadshow 2.0 workshop series in collaboration between TFR News and Indonesia Kaya, which was held on October 15-16, 2025 at the Indonesia Kaya Gallery Auditorium, Grand Indonesia West Mall, 8th Floor.

The class, which was attended by hundreds of students from various universities, featured Sound Engineering classes with Christian Edo, Directing with Pasha Prakasa, and Lighting with Alim Jeni to learn and gain experience about musical performances directly from the experts.

Some of the students who participated were even chosen to directly witness the process of "Musikal Absurd: Hidup Segan But I'm Not Done" being made.

With the this show, Jakarta Doodle Fest hoped to be able to open collaboration opportunities cross-art disciplines as well as broaden the performing arts ecosystem in Indonesia through an inclusive, fresh, and relevant artistic experience for the current generation.

Who else will be collaborating on the next musical? Stay tuned for more exciting collaborations at Jakarta Doodle Fest 2026!