hankyoreh

South Korea's martial arts comedy that has lately made inroads into off-Broadway received mixed reviews Tuesday from local media, raising both hopes and doubts over its prospect as the second nonverbal show from the country to hit the world's hot spot of performing arts.

"Jump," the highly acrobatic show that features an elaborately choreographed set of martial arts including Taekwondo, Kungfu and Brazil's Capoeira, made its debut Sunday at the Union Square Theater, one of New York's oldest and finest stages.

The 80-minute show, running open-ended at the theater, revolves around a three-generation Korean family in which each of its five members plus a daughter's lover shows off a unique martial art to combat a pair of gun-toting burglars.

Praising the actors as having "impressive stamina and speed," Variety described the show as "certainly something to see."

"The setup delivers plenty of lights down/lights up gags ala a lesser English sex farce, but the actors' mastery of martial arts becomes a startlingly appropriate aid to broad physical comedy," it said on its Web site.

The New York Times gave less than a favorable review, suggesting the show needs to polish up on its comic plot.

"When the actors stick to the acrobatics ... the show has a certain kick," it said. "The energy fizzles out, though, when the kicks and punches turn to comedy."

The show first appeared in 2002 in South Korea after its director, Choi Chul-ki, thought it would be "a good idea" to create a comedy based on Taekwondo. It has since won sell-outs and a host of positive reviews in more than 15 countries.

Becoming the second South Korean nonverbal show to hit off-Broadway, it follows the path of "Nanta" that closed in New York in 2005.

Nanta, renamed "Cookin'" here, ran a year and a half, featuring a group of comic cooks pounding traditional Korean percussion beats in a kitchen setting. It sold more than 1.5 million tickets across the world, but failed to win favorable reviews and performed poorly in ticket sales on off-Broadway.

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (Yonhap)