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The Korean martial arts comedy Jump will make its off-Broadway debut this fall with an open-ended run after successful tours in Europe and Asia.

The 90-minute show, produced by Seoul's Yegam Theater Company, arrives in New York after hitting Edinburgh, London, Beijing, Madrid, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Jerusalem. Its worldwide success and sold-out runs at home prompted the company to open a theater in central Seoul last year to exclusively present the show, three years after its local debut.

Jump begins previews on Sept. 25 and officially opens on Oct. 7 at the Union Square Centre.

"Taking the first step in the United States, we'll have to be cool-headed, but considering what we've achieved so far, we're optimistic about what's ahead," Kim Kyung-hoon, Yegam's chief executive officer, said in a press conference.

Jump presents a mix of slapstick comedy, acrobatics and martial arts, flavored by the story of an eccentric Korean family under attack. The three-generation family -- an arthritic but still flamboyant grandfather, a restrained, responsible father, a boisterous mother, a drunken uncle, a pretty daughter and a guest who is soon to be her sweetheart -- are all trained in martial arts, and use that training to deal with the two burglars who break into their house.

The performance focuses on martial arts spectacles and comic acting, but also incorporates dramatic and humorous elements such as a sweet romance between the daughter and the guest, the mother's wild, oppressive tango with her reluctant husband and even a moving scene of the family held at gunpoint.

To have a broad appeal, the show will be modified in some cultural aspects that would be unfamiliar to American audiences, such as the comic kiss scene where the uncle interrupts the lovers.

Canadian theater director Jim Millan will help create American-style humor.

In a way, Jump is following the footsteps of "Nanta" or "Cookin'," a non-verbal percussion show that advanced to off-Broadway after receiving wild reviews abroad. However, the kitchen show closed a year and a half later amid torpid reviews on its physicality-driven uniformity.

"We want our comedy to be confirmed by American audiences," Kim said.

Yegam joined hands with Columbia Artists Management to establish Slap Happy Production LLC that will manage the show.
SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap News)