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Nicole Bournas-Ney Nicole Bournas-Ney's Review of Cookin' at The New Victory Theater Imagine a combination of Iron Chef (William Shatnerâs kitsch TV cooking competition), a taiko drumming performance, a rock concert and an acrobatics show. That is Cookinâ, the newest show at the New Victory. Imported from Seoul, South Korea, this show is a hectic array of high speed cooking, Korean percussion, rock and rollinâ with kitchen utensils and miming antics. Before the show starts, the audience is told that four cooks and the manager are preparing a wedding feast that must be ready within an hour. Then the insanity begins, and surprisingly enough, the chefs end up with an actual meal. There are four chefs but only three chefâs hats, so "musical chairs" is being played throughout the performance. High speed chopping (in which the knife is like a drumstick and the cutting board the drum) produces a cabbage salad. The Dumpling Challenge creates enough dumplings for an army. The main course (duck) flies around the stage and squawks (much to the chefsâ annoyance) until, after a few attempts, it is finally killed and cooked. The only dish that isnât made on stage is the wedding cake -- with only minutes to go, a wave of a wand at a microwave creates a fully iced three layer cake. Though the show was a lot of fun, it felt thin at times. It was an interesting act, or, at best, an hour-long show; an hour and a half was stretching it beyond its limits. The elements of the show were entertaining and original, but they were also worn out by overuse. Drumming on a cutting board is entertaining, but not for more than ten minutes. The finale, however, was the best -- it included glowing rhythmic ribbons, colored balls thrown at the audience and barrels of dry goods that doubled as drums. No element was overused and they all blended well to make the ending quite a bang. The night I went it happened to be Vic Teens Night for Cookinâ. Therefore, we were treated to a Korean meal before the show and got to meet and greet the cast of five. It was teensâ night out on the town, and we had a ball. We had a Korean restaurant pretty much to ourselves, and we mingled with dozens of other teens as we ate and answered the VicTeens quiz question. After we took the subway to the theater, the show began. Upcoming VicTeens Night On the Town events are Circus Oz ( includes a trip to Madame Tussaudâs Wax Museum and dinner) and Vivace (includes bowling and dinner). Contact the New Victory Theater for more information or to sign up for these events. |
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