Wayang Wong Ngesti Pandowo keeps a demanding Javanese stage tradition alive in Semarang: dance, theatre, music, masks, and epic stories performed by real people rather than shadow puppets. It is one of the city's more distinctive cultural experiences if you can catch a performance.
Do not worry if you cannot follow every plot point. The costumes, gestures, gamelan rhythms, and formal stage language carry much of the appeal, and the evening gives a deeper cultural counterpoint to Semarang's colonial buildings and temples.