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Friday, June 15, 2007

Blue Man Group

I have not done any theater on this site - photography during a theater performance is taboo and exteriors of most theaters themselves are not the most visually compelling. Plus, the shows themselves are quite well marketed and reviewed by those better qualified than myself. However, Blue Man Group has become more than a show (click here for their website). They are an institution and an industry with performances in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Oberhausen and Orlando. They have several CDs, DVDs, an online store with a plethora of merchandise and two musical toys developed for children. They have done film and TV scoring, commercials, television programs (like Scrubs and Arrested Development), and a children’s museum exhibit, Making Waves, which is currently touring the country. Their appearance in the Intel commercial campaign in 2000 brought them international visibility. The group itself was formed in 1988 by Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink, motivated by an interest in creating a show which involved audience collaboration. Their first theater performances were at La MaMa in the East Village - in 1991 they moved to the Astor Place Theater (seen in the photo). The characters are three mute Blue Men (played by rotating cast members) - their faces in blue grease paint and wearing nondescript black clothing. The extraordinarily unique performance art show, called Tubes, is heavily music oriented - numerous unique instruments were created by the group such as the tubulum, drumbone and airpoles. Comedy, satire, social commentary, irony, painting, percussion, clowning, sophisticated lighting effects are all there along with numerous substances (including food and paint) thrown and ejected, some of which may hit audience members - the first few rows are provided with plastic ponchos ...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting post. I like your photos too.

Abraham Lincoln
Today you will get to see the baby raccoons...
Brookville Daily Photo

jbworks said...

The BMG I know well. I saw them at this theatre in 1994; my daughter Anna did a school science project in 2003 on pvc precussion tubes (inspired by the BMG) and we saw them perform again in London in Dec06 .. awesome and unique. I have a London Programme with one of their signatures ... a blue paint thumb print !!!. Jeremy Wellington NZ

An Honest Man said...

You might like to have a look at my sister-in-law's blog http://blethers.blogspot.com of the 7th May for another positive perspective on the Blue Men.

don said...

i also went to the Blue men group this year. They where in Amsterdam. I made some photo's with my small camera when nobody of the crew where loooking. I enjoyed the show.

lv2scpbk said...

I heard the Blue Man is a good show. I haven't seen it though but would like to.

Anonymous said...

I keep thinking that the show will close, but it looks as though it will run forever. People just seem to love the Blue Men.

Anonymous said...

There is no dialogue therefore making it a choice New York outing for foreign tourists.

It's a great show. Still original and intriguing after so many years playing.