Review: A Work in Progress: Indonesian Musical Company’s MET LIEFDE – DR. VENESSA
On March 14, 2026, Indonesian Musical Company’s Winter Class staged MET LIEFDE – DR. VENESSA.
Review by Zahira, editing by Rakaputra Paputungan.
On March 14, 2026, Indonesian Musical Company’s Winter Class staged MET LIEFDE – DR. VENESSA. Held in Gedung Kesenian Miss Tjitjih, this production served as a showcase of everything the students had learned: acting, dancing, and theater tech. Being a backstory for one of the characters in one of their previous shows, LEGACY, this show was written by Bryan Edward and directed by Cornelius Kenta Raya. The team from Broadwayworld Indonesia came to watch the first show, and here’s our review.
The story opens with Adam van Goudberg (Naufal Mustaqim) arriving in the Netherlands and moving into a grand estate in search of information about his father, Martin (Bryan Edward). Here, we meet the menacing dr. Venessa (Nanda Simanungkalit), whom he calls ‘Mother’, and the ditzy clumsy maid, Jasmijn (Latricia Hatta Ashabi). As Adam and Jasmijn interact, a sweet bond forms between them, finding common ground as they talk about their dreams in a hopeful musical number. However, this budding romance is constantly interrupted by Venessa, who harbors a deep dislike for their growing closeness. Tension escalates and she questions Adam’s boundaries within the house—particularly Adam’s desire to enter his late father Martin’s forbidden room.
As the drama unfolds, the household’s dark history begins to leak out. Wilma (Sielvina Theresia), a senior maid, defuses a sudden, chaotic brawl among the domestic staff and takes Jasmijn aside. She reveals a cyclical family secret: it turns out that Venessa herself was once a housemaid who then became Martin’s mistress, mirroring the exact situation developing between Adam and Jasmijn. The tension escalates when an old family friend, Simon (Bagus Septiawan), comes to visit their home. His nostalgic questions lead to a massive outburst by Venessa, revealing that when Martin died, it was Simon who left him behind. A flashback moves the narrative to a time when Venessa was consumed by the grief of losing Martin to the extent of hurting her friend, Fanny (Elvira Clara).
The plot swiftly unravels into a high psychological thriller when Adam visits Jasmijn’s terminally ill mother, Eleonora (Lovely Aisha) only to discover she is one of Venessa’s patients. Secrets collapse into danger when Jasmijn finds the missing key to Martin’s locked box. Caught by Venessa's allies, Jasmijn gets abducted, then subjected to the same sinister, medical treatment that allegedly left her mother deathly sick. In a desperate final confrontation, Venessa hands the key to Adam, revealing letters that prove Martin had loved Adam’s biological mother until the very end of his life. The family argument turns fatal when Wilma steps in to defuse the fight but is then shot by Venessa. Venessa then sedates Adam in an attempt to brainwash him, only for Simon to suddenly burst into the room and end the madness by shooting Venessa. The musical ends with a dying Venessa hallucinating a final embrace with Martin, who ultimately leaves her behind once again.
As a small-scale student showcase, the heart of this final class project lay in the earnest, hard work of its young cast. The production was heavily anchored by dr. Venessa. Making a dramatic entrance directly from the center aisle, she brought a grounded intensity and a commanding presence to the introduction of her character.
Adam faced a challenging dramatic arc of finding the internal conflict in his family’s dark past. Bagus Septiawan stepped into the tough role of Simon, being the character responsible for the show’s resolution. While the rushed second act occasionally made some of the fight scenes fade into cacophonous shouting matches, the actors’ collective energy and commitment to the heavy material never wavered.
They faced the difficult task of staging a twist-heavy melodrama within a small venue, and how they limited the performance space was very adequate. They structured the performance effectively, using the room’s constraints to create a secluded, claustrophobic cage. The dance numbers were tidy and well-rehearsed, with the ensemble doing their job incredibly well to inject vibrant movement into the tight staging area.
The lighting ended beautifully blending a vibrant palette of green, purple, and pink. A striking choice for a story that is so dark and depressing. This contrast between these colours and the heavy, tragic narrative of the story worked incredibly well. When paired with the stage fog, it boldly illustrates Venessa’s death hallucination of Martin.
Storyline-wise, as someone who came to watch this show without having seen any of the previous shows in the Zeventien Saga, I found the storyline surprisingly easy to grasp. The writing did an efficient job of structuring a self-contained narrative that doesn’t alienate newcomers with unexplainable lore. The central conflict – Adam’s quest for the truth about his father – is laid out clearly from the beginning. While the plot leans heavily into many psychological melodrama in between characters, the core emotional aspect remains understandable throughout. The script ensures that you don’t need years of prior context to understand the tension in the room or the tragic weight of Venessa’s descent into madness, which I think makes it an accessible entry point into the broader saga.
MET LIEFDE checks the boxes of what a theater class production needs: a practical space for students to test their limits, to experience stage errors, and to understand the craft of theater. Inevitably, it contains the usual flaws or minor mistakes you expect to see in a student showcase, from the frustrating microphone issues to the frantic pacing of the script’s final acts. While the constraints of a small building and the inevitable hurdles of a student showcase were apparent, the amount of thought, hard work, and care poured into the performance made it a valuable endeavor. It is a rewarding experience and a good step forward to everyone involved.
Broadwayworld Indonesia is a media partner of MET LIEFDE – DR. VENESSA.
Reader Reviews
