There is a sweet and sassy show inside Break Out! which, after a few months of hard work and touring, should be ready to hatch. This Korean hip-hop comedy, from the producers of Jump, uses a similar formula to its captivating predecessor, packaging a cast of virtuoso gymnasts into a raucously silly story.
The plot details of Break Out! are more ambitious, however, as the show follows the adventures of five hip-hop crazy convicts who are inspired to organise a prison bust after being "sent" a mysterious book. A fuzzy but funny video reveals the book's contents to be a hip-hop history of the world - featuring gladiatorial b-boys in ancient Rome, Hitler rapping to the Nuremberg rally - but promising as this conceit appears, it has little connection to what follows, as the rest of the show spins with increasingly disappointing effect from prison yard, to escape tunnel, to a final chase scene through a hospital.
It is not just that the narrative links are strained beyond daftness. It is that the staging of the material looks weak. Too many pratfalls are badly timed, too many of the routines drag out the joke of the dimmest prisoner, Ditz being always a beat behind.
What this show does have going for it however is an abundance of energy, dance talent and a blind faith that the oldest of vaudeville tricks can still work a crowd. Break Out! is fun to watch; eventually, it ought to be a treat.
