Review: Cantalevia's TRIBUTE TO GLEE CONCERT Returns with HOMECOMING PARTY

Review by Zahira, editing by Rakaputra Paputungan.

Cantalevia's TRIBUTE TO GLEE CONCERT returns for its second year, this time bearing the subtitle HOMECOMING PARTY. The live concert takes place on Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki from October 17th through 19th. The team from Broadwayworld Indonesia had the chance to watch the opening show on Friday, October 17th.

The show is directed by Aldy Inzaghi, with Ferdy Zein and Clarissa Theophilia as co-vocal directors. Fadli Hafizan — the founder of Cantalevia — serves as the show's executive producer. The show is supported by the footwear brand Converse.

TRIBUTE TO GLEE CONCERT HOMECOMING PARTY features 28 singers and 6 guest stars, including Fadil Jaidi, Andreas Lukita, Alika Islamadina, Kalya Islamadina, Waode, and Jeje Soekarno.

As a Gleek, I had high excitement and many expectations about this show. The first thing I noticed was the outfits, all in red theme referencing the Cheerios cheer uniforms, it was so cute and adorable. They were all on fire during the first song, everyone was very energetic and all the performers were great.

But the momentum didn't hold. The first 40 minutes felt uneven, with mismatched song choices that led me feeling confused. Despite being called a Glee Tribute Concert, they didn't play many fan favourite (i.e. well known) song. It was a bunch of Glee covers in various genres that didn't blend well together. This led the audience to not singing along with the performance. Although to be fair, maybe I was also expecting too much of a karaoke sing along experience, but that didn't happen.

I expected at least more bits, some skits, interludes, or transitions from one song to another, which I believe is quite common in concerts, but I didn't find any here. Just a sequence of numbers that is disjointed in tone and genre. 

But things turned out much more enjoyable towards the end, particularly during the ‘Back to Musicals!’ section, when the cast sang songs like Don't Rain on My Parade, For Good, and Defying Gravity. The audiences went crazy for these numbers, as if that's what they've been craving. They closed the concert with the song ‘Don't Stop Believin’ which is a Glee staple, and ‘The Scientist’ that is also a fan favourite. Songs like this truly invigorated the collective Glee nostalgia, and this is what the audience needed. Even though the momentum came a little too late, I was still satisfied.

TRIBUTE TO GLEE CONCERT HOMECOMING PARTY runs until October 19th. For tickets and more info, visit Cantalevia's Instagram page.