Jump
So, what is “Jump?” Does the title speak for itself? Pretty much! It’s a madcap Off-Broadway musical “take” on martial arts, on defending oneself, on attacking the enemy (whoever that may be), with a lot of risk-taking pratfalls tossed off with no regard for personal safety. Yet one has a goodly amount of confidence watching these performers bounce around the stage. They know what they are doing, and they do it with expertise. Interspersed with the athleticism is one wacky gag after another; like the nerdy prospective son-in-law who becomes Superman when he takes off his thick glasses. Usually it’s the other way around. Most can’t see when they take off their specs. This guy can conquer the world without his coke-bottle bottom glasses, and of course, wins the hand of the pretty girl who whips off a series of hair-raising back flips to express her joy.
At the beginning, the audience is confronted with a very old man moving through the front row of the theater, annoying everybody as he gets nearer to a seat, which he never sits in. We should all age as well as this “old man” who turned out to be part of the company and as much a jackrabbit as the rest. We soon dispense with the “old man curtain raiser” and the family is introduced…brother, sister (bride) father, mother, grandmother- all expert acrobats.
“Jump” is a Korean import, an ensemble of human jumping beans, winding through a non-stop explosion of energy loosely defined by two thinly-veiled scenarios: one about a young man courting a bride-to-be; and the second one about a clumsily arranged and quickly bungled burglary. Even the stagehands that move the furniture in the simulated living room have to “jump” in keeping with the tone of the piece. Do they get hazard pay for this gig?
Hee-Jeong Hwang (Daughter), Byung-Eun Yoo (Son-In-Law)
Photo:Carol Rosegg
Some innocent souls are recruited from the audience and take part in the jumping shenanigans with expressions of pure terror on their faces, but all is woven cleverly and handled flawlessly by the performers. Not one audience member is made to do back flips or splits or any other physical feat that might endanger their lives. The “Jump” cast handles all the life-threatening stuff.
The mainstay of this entertaining revue is the sound design by Soo-Yong Leer. Rhythmic sounds made by the instruments often played by the cast members and a background montage that is loud but short of ear splitting carry the show. Perhaps because the rhythms are so palatable, they are not bothersome but instead move the show along seamlessly.
The first act concerns the two lovebirds; no intermission while the set pieces are moved around by the graceful stagehands, and the second act is set for the prospective burglary. A bunch of guys peer into a living room, see no one, climb through the window, and the fun begins. It is a flimsy plot line if ever, but enough to frame a continuation of physical feats that are dizzying.
One of the agile young men runs up the side of the stage (a la Donald O’Connor) and flips over to a standing position in a sort of “can you top this” curtain call. It sends the audience out to the street in a jovial mood not quite certain how to categorize the 90-minute spectacle they have just seen, but content that it was over the top enjoyment.
“Jump” is exactly the kind of entertainment one takes your favorite underage niece or nudgy grandson to see. They will be mesmerized. Just be sure they are not flipping hand over feet in your living room next to the shelves of Limoges china. Only one real gripe from this reviewer: perhaps they could dispense with the guns and machetes that figure prominently in the closing scene. It seems an intrusion into what was otherwise an evening of good clean family fun. “Jump” is like The Three Stooges try martial arts – a combination of athletic skill and kookiness that generates more than enough good will.