February 03, 2005

RENT, or STOMP, or CLOMP, or some piece of crap

Posted by Ted

A little off-topic, but this is a promotional photo from the off-Broadway show COOKIN’!

They’re all playing cooks. In the show, they’re cooking a big Korean dinner, rhythmically. (Contain your excitement. CONTAIN IT!) And they put the woman in a chef’s coat with the belly cut out. You know, where the burners are.

I can’t even begin to express how stupid that is.

Posted on February 3, 2005 06:02 PM UTC
Comments

Well, the Iron Chef mania has been headed towards Reductio ad absurdum for some time now.

Posted by P O'Neill · February 3, 2005 06:07 PM

They should call it “Cats” instead.

Sorry! Sorry. I completely apologise.

Posted by Kieran Healy · February 3, 2005 06:25 PM

And there’s no such thing as “warp speed,” either.

Posted by ogged · February 3, 2005 06:25 PM

I also can’t imagine a kitchen where those heels would be of any benefit.

Posted by dave · February 3, 2005 06:27 PM

Why do you hate America, Ogged?

Posted by Ted Barlow · February 3, 2005 06:36 PM

You probably criticize the costumes in Cirque du Soleil, too. “No one would wear that in real life!”

Posted by edhall · February 3, 2005 07:30 PM

We actually saw Cookin’ at the New Victory Theater on 42nd Street, before the show moved off-Broadway - my kids loved it. Competitive percussive cabbage-chopping needs to be seen to be believed.

The New Vic is a family- and kid-oriented theater - I don’t remember the belly cut-out and the heels in the posters for that version of the show :-)

Posted by Edith · February 3, 2005 07:41 PM

You are just hating because you don’t look that hot when you are cooking (sorry cookin’).
Seriously though, I saw this in Korea about 5 years ago and what I saw before I feel asleep was entertaining.

Posted by Andrew McManama-Smith · February 3, 2005 07:46 PM

No, that’s an authentic hwrang do costume of the Tu’p`ac Sh:ak’ur period.

Posted by Bill Gardner · February 3, 2005 08:24 PM

Seriously though, I saw this in Korea about 5 years ago and what I saw before I feel asleep was entertaining.

Now that’s what I call an endorsement! They should run that in the newspaper ads for the show.

Posted by Kieran Healy · February 3, 2005 08:44 PM

they’re cooking a big Korean dinner

Bulgogi.

Bibimpap!

KIMCHI for teh win !!

Whatever this show is, can’t be all bad.

Posted by yabonn · February 3, 2005 09:44 PM

Ahhh, but notice that the woman in that picture is the only character NOT holding a knife, but, instead, she’s holding two phallic shaped pepper mills. And they’re (gasp!) pointed down. Deconstruct this, anyone?

Posted by beowulf888 · February 3, 2005 09:48 PM

It’s rather like the chainmail bikini, beloved of those science fiction novels that my otherwise highly intelligent co-authors read. Can anyone think of a situation in which you’d want to be wearing chainmail, but not want to have it covering your entire body?

Posted by dsquared · February 3, 2005 09:53 PM

Can anyone think of a situation in which you’d want to be wearing chainmail, but not want to have it covering your entire body?

Yes. But it involves a hamster, and i can’t give all the details here.

Posted by yabonn · February 3, 2005 09:57 PM

Hey, but I fell asleep during LOTR ROTK also, and what I saw before that happened was pretty entertaining…

D^2, I can think of many different scenarios… It just depends on what sort of purpose you intend the chain mail for…

Posted by Andrew McManama-Smith · February 3, 2005 10:07 PM

dsquared: I’m sorry, but chain mail bikinis are for fantasy novels. Science fiction novels have brass brassieres. HTH

MKK

Posted by Mary Kay · February 3, 2005 10:12 PM

I saw this in London several years ago (we had our children with us and thought it would be a good family outing). It was stupid and loud. The kids fell asleep.

Posted by jr · February 4, 2005 12:28 AM

The women in the chain-mail bikinis inevitably seem to have a powerful anti-gravity field affecting their breasts. Perhaps the chain-mail is simply ballast.

Posted by Ted Barlow · February 4, 2005 05:43 PM

…she’s holding two phallic shaped pepper mills. And they’re (gasp!) pointed down.

I don’t think I could deconstruct it, but it appears she is… peppering?

Posted by Dan · February 4, 2005 09:24 PM

I can’t speak for Cookin’!, but one thing that shows like Stomp, Blast, and anything involving Michael Flately have in common is this: These are all based on extremely dorky, nerdy activities (drum line, bugle corps/brass band, Irish dance) engaged in by middle class children, which typically involve competitions and lots of parental involvement, dressed up by Broadway costumers and presented as entertainment. (I’m just waiting for Flags! to come to the theater.) To the extent that these extravaganzas make marching band or pep squad look “cool,” there’s a built-in audience.

Full Disclosure: I was the featured trumpet soloist when Kokomo-Hayworth placed 5th at Marching Bands of America in 1980. It was on PBS and everything. Believe you me, I was being recruited heavily by all the major drum corps. It was pretty intense, but in the end I didn’t want anything to take time away from Stage Band.

Posted by HP · February 4, 2005 09:45 PM

Yeah, all that exposed midriff and not nearly enough cleavage going. What were the costume designers thinking??

Posted by Doug · February 5, 2005 06:42 PM
Followups

→ Who Drew the Short Chef Costume?.
Excerpt: And aren't those heels hard to cook in? Learn more at Crooked Timber....Read more at SIVACRACY.NET: Siva Vaidhyanathan's Weblog

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.