1362 NANTA cast. L to R Manager, Head Cook, Hot Cook, Macho Cook and Goofy Cook.
1385 As the cooks beat out a rhythm on the chopping boards (tuned by the way) the detritus from their chopping efforts is strewn on the floor about them.
1388 The finale, strictly drum sequence. Unfortunately all the water has already splashed out.
Oct 10 – Jeju (Cheju) City, Cheju Island Korea. We’ve been to Chejo Island before, almost exactly 10 years ago. At that time we visited the cultural museum and traditional village. Cheju is the same distance from Nagasaki as it is from the Korean mainland so it’s pretty remote.
This trip we decided to go to the NANTA show. It’s been running for about 15 years and has toured the world (276 cities in 41 countries) to very good reviews. The setting is a restaurant kitchen. There are 4 cooks, the unmanly head cook, the macho man cook, the hapless but well-meaning Jerry Lewis type and the hot girl (their description) cook. There’s also the somewhat slave driving restaurant manager. It’s definitely a comedy, some very slapstick, and although it’s done entirely in Korean there’s no misunderstanding what’s going on. The facial expressions and body language of each player is unmistakable.
They use every kitchen utensil imaginable as a musical instrument, whisks, strainers, bowls, knives, cutting boards, pots, table tops, trash cans, graters are all on the list. Sometimes it sounds a little like Taiko drumming at other times it’s more like Spike Jones. (If you’re too young to remember Spike, Google his name and you’ll get the drift.) YouTube might have some video of him.) When they get to chopping vegetables it’s a lot like Gallagher and his Sledge-o-matic, food is flying everywhere. Fancy slicing and juggling were also in the program. It was hilarious! The ending was almost pure Taiko style drumming with dramatic lighting changes. One really impressive scene was right at the beginning of this section. The drums they used had a little rim on top that had been filled with water. The scene was backlit and when they started drumming the water splashed out in all directions creating a glowing fountain atop each drum. Very impressive effect!! Both Diana and I enjoyed it immensely.
After a quick stop for some shopping it was back to the ship for lunch. I spent the afternoon catching up on some of my Photoshop work and Diana is resting up. She’s having an allergy attack. Our guide told us that the Cedar pollen is worse than anyone can remember this year and that’s one of Diana’s top allergies. A day at sea tomorrow may help clear it up.
Our entertainer was Hanna Starosta, a Polish violinist. We’ve seen her before and she’s excellent. This time was no exception.
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