Korean stage troupe cooks up a recipe for success

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

The plot in "Cookin' " involves four hotel banquet chefs, their boss, a wedding and a love triangle. And that's just the appetizer. 'Cookin' ' A musical adventure from South Korea Maui play dates: Continuing at 7:30 p.m. today, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Castle Theatre, Maui Arts & Cultural Center $10-$55 (808) 242-7469 O'ahu play dates: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Dec. 14, and 2 p.m. Dec. 15 Hawai'i Theatre $10-$46 528-0506

Its title alludes to a cooking show and, indeed, there is a competition, a la "Iron Chef," along with flying platters, a bit of a food fight and even audience participation.

"Cookin' " also is an homage to "Stomp!" the stage wonderment that makes music out of ordinary household objects. "Cookin' " has a lot of percussion, derived from banging pots and pans and other noise-making "instruments." Its visionaries say it's also cultural; Koreans traditionally thump and tap out Samul Nori dances on percussion instruments.

Further, the show has a maniacal flavor, with elements from the Marx Brothers (slapstick laughs), Jackie Chan (martial arts-type "choreography") and Gallagher (food flying here, there, everywhere). Clearly, it's fueled by laughs and ultimately involves edibles that become unlikely props.

"We have fire, we use vegetables and we do cook," said B.I. Kim, company manager and press agent for the ensemble, speaking from Seoul, South Korea. "But we are not a cooking show."

What it is, surprisingly, is a phenom, a breakthrough vehicle for South Korea. Its popularity is widespread in Europe; in the United States, it's only now beginning to surface in prime time, prime-venue bookings.

"We now have five performance groups, two regularly performing in two permanent theaters in Seoul," said Kim. Visitors have declared it a must-see treat.

Launched two-and-a-half years ago, "Cookin' " has been playing to sold-out houses everywhere.

"Since we participated in the Edinburgh Festival, where we sold out performances for a month, we have become a smash, returning there two years in a row," Kim said.

The mystery of the exact nature of the show — four knife-wielding chefs and one restaurant manager are in the cast — was part of the international buzz. Who'd have thought that food fights and drum beats could connect with an audience?

"We have toured 90 cities in 15 countries so far, making national tours in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan."

The U.S. tour was launched Sept. 4, 2001, in Boston; on 9/11, the tour abruptly ended for obvious reasons.

"We had to return home," Kim said of the effects of the terrorist attacks. A rescheduled national tour is planned for September in New York, but details are pending.

Kim said it's best to describe the show by what it's not.

It is not a cooking show, though — bam, the cast takes it up more notches than Emeril Lagasse would or could. The publicity images depict the actors — and they are actors, not chefs — as if they were renegades from a Benihana restaurant, tools at the ready.

"Our show is a percussion show, but instead of real instruments, our actors play with pots and pans, chopping boards, all kinds of kitchen utensils you can find. The sound is similar to Samul Nori, our Korean music that's popular not only in Korea, but overseas."

The scenario is this: A hotel kitchen staff is busy at work, readying a wedding banquet meal. There's a love triangle (three chefs are male, one is female), which results in some conflict ... plus a lot of tension and laughs.

"We use food and we do cook, calling two members from the audience to taste, if good or not good, but audience members also come up to take part in a dim sum-making competition, to see who can finish first," Kim said.

All of this is syncopated to the beat of chopping, metal clanging on the stove ventilation hood, and so on. The Koreans call this craziness Nanta, or crazy heat.

"Our insurance is so high, we have to be careful when we chop vegetables," Kim said. So early on, the actors are trained in the do's and don'ts of knife artistry.

"Rhythm and comedy are big parts in the show, so we also train (the cast) with a real rhythm teacher, who teaches them the basics."

So, what kinds of food get the on-stage spotlight?

"So many to name," Kim said. "And large amounts."

The shopping list largely includes vegetables — onions, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage — but also staples of Asian cooking, such as noodles, rice and cooking oil.

"Very heavy prop show," said Kim, who often does the marketing himself.

Kim said if he can easily get them, he might include pineapples in the Hawai'i shows.

Because food flies hither and yon, "the stage crew is not happy with us. Lots to clean up afterward."

A phenomenon in its homeland of South Korea and hugely popular wherever it has appeared, "Cookin' " made its Hawai'i debut on Maui and continues its tour in Honolulu Wednesday.

"The challenge was to create a show that had no language barriers, which had some music (percussion sounds, in this case) and a nonverbal style that was very visual."

Then, Kim said, Song saw "Stomp!" in 1995 and immediately connected with its infectious beat and its nontraditional instruments that created a cacophony of a most unusual score. "He was thinking, how can we combine some of these very good elements?"

He figured he needed a solid, funny story line (the banquet chef motif) and traditional rhythms (the percussion components of his and other cultures).

"The rhythm is uniquely Korean," Kim said. "But it's also traditional Western beat. You add juggling, acrobatics and dancing, and you get what one critic called 'Jackie Chan meets Benihana meets the Marx Brothers.' "

Kim said the show works on all levels — music, theater, comedy, storytelling — for a couple of reasons.

"One, every culture has rhythms that people make up. Second, everybody loves food; cooking is a universal theme. Third, we all want to have a good time. Combine fun, cooking and rhythms and you end up with 'Cookin'.' This is a clean family show, appealing to all ages, touching your basic needs. Other than Disneyland, there aren't that many attractions that a whole family can attend together."

Kim said the 90-minute running time whisks by so quickly, "you never realize where the time goes."

Like a great meal, he said, you leave "satisfied and fulfilled."

Reach Wayne Harada at e-mail wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.