Cookin' with the Cooks

Never expected to see a Broadway show in Korea, but this weekend we ended up at the theatre(the real theatre with flesh and blood actors, not the cinema). We were on own way to finish seeing The Palace of Shining Happiness, but it was sooo cold that we were more likely to become frigidly grumpy than shiningly happy as we walked around the palace grounds, so the weather drove us to deviate from our original plans and look for some indoor activity. But never fear, because Seoul has endless possibilities. Some Korean brochures have quite a way with words; they usually make more sense than the shirt captions we listed in the fashion post a few days ago, but are sometimes just as funny. Apparently the show we picked to see is "more fun than anyone should legally be allowed." I wouldn't say we should be arrested for the fun we had, but there was far more laughing, clapping, and cheering than I expected at a musical in a foriegn country. The show is purely a Korean creation and it is called Nanta (which translates to "Crazy Beat"). It has been shown in 23 countries, including the real Broadway in New York, and the rest of the world knows it as Cookin'. It is billed as a non-verbal performance, and aside from a few strategically-placed English words, it is simply a musical production of funky rhythms. Picture if you will, an entire musical performance created with kitchen utensils, everything from pots, knifes, chopsticks, brooms, cutting boards, whisks, microwaves, and plastic water jugs. And there was plenty of food thrown in as well. There was a whole segment with cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, and onions flying all over the stage. Think of a more domestic and kitcheny version of Stomp. The brochure introduces it in this way: "What do you get when you cross Jackie Chan with Benihana gone berserk? Four crazy chefs in a high energy percussive symphony of flying food and flashing blades, fighting and juggling their way to a glorious wedding banquet."

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the show itself, but here is a link to the website http://www.nanta.co.kr. It doesn't have an English portion, but there are pictures of the actors in action, if anyone is interested. Before the show, we found an English-speaking Korean at a tourist information booth who helped us make reservations. When we gave our last name to book the reservation, he thought it was very funny. What could be more hilarious than a couple called Cook going to see a play called Cookin'. He even said, "You have very unusual names in Canada." We could say the same for Korean names. And I don't think we've mentioned our experiences with motels yet. On Saturday we stayed over night in Seoul. There are three levels of hotel in Korea. At the high end are the Marriotts & Sheratons of the world. At the low end are seedier motels known as "love" motels that can be rented for the night (or by the hour) for late-night activities. And then in the middle, between $50-70, are the best option for any tourists. They are very clean and luxurious, and typically provide every convenience you need for an overnight stay: shampoo, Q-tips, cologne, tootpaste, shaving cream, loofahs, hair gel, bottled water, iced coffee, juice, hair dryer ... and it goes on. In this particular case, the bathroom had an enormous jacuzzi, a steam shower, and one of those go-go gadget toilet seats that Jenn was able to successfully defend herself against without any further attacks. There was also a computer with free internet and a giant flat screen TV. Check out this setup, for crying out loud. Have you ever seen such a big TV in a hotel room? There were even a few English stations. This puts our wedding-night, Austin-Powers room at the Ramada Inn to shame. Who needs a revolving, circular bed with a TV in the head board when you can have this?