[ATTENDED: May 25, 2022] Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group began in 1987. In 1997 I was working in New York City in Greenwich Village and every day I thought I would love to check out this crazy looking show.
I never did.
Over the years, Blue Man Group became a phenomenon, a punchline and much more. I had no idea that in 2017 it was purchased by Cirque de Soliel. It even became a plot line on Arrested Development.
And all that time I still thought that I’d like to experience the show.
So when State Theatre announced that Blue Man Group was touring, I purchased tickets for the four of us, figuring we would all enjoy it. I gather that in the 35 years the show has changed, but some things are still the same. They’re still all in Blue. There are still marshmallows. There’s still music and there’s still a kind of sensory overload.
The set was wild with lights flashing and scaffolding and walls on either side that were designed for climbing. The set is lit up long before the Blue Men come out and you can really study everything that’s up there. We were pretty far back so we couldn’t see it very closely. But there were screens with Pong on it and other things that seemed futuristic and retro at the same time.
I knew that the Blue Man Group played music–they have even done a Tiny Desk. And that they make a lot of their own instruments (mostly weird things out of PVC). I didn’t realize there would be a (really loud, rocking) backing band [apparently Corky Gainsford on guitar Chris Reiss on the strings and drummer Chris Schultz].
Audience participation is a fun thing with the Blue Man Group. There are parts that are clearly scripted–bits in which they come out an interact with the audience. But there are also ways in which the audience’s reactions result in the Blue Men reacting in turn–as if they are aliens unsure about what to make of the audience in general.
And I think that’s what makes the whole thing so magical. The three guys really do keep in character the whole time–and that character is truly alien. Truly like beings from another world doing their thing, trying to communicate with humans in some way. It is strangely affecting and strangely moving. (more…)
And now, the resurgence had made a third postponement.
