Blue Man Group

Blue Man Group

Blue Man Group in Brazil in 2009
Formation	1991 (1991)[1]
Type	Theatre group
Purpose	Entertainment
Location	New York City
Website	http://www.blueman.com/ and http://www.DareToLiveInFullColor.com/

The Blue Man Group is an entertainment company, of the performance art type, formed in 1991.^[1] It is best known for its creative stage productions around the world.

Blue Man Group currently has ongoing theatrical productions in Las Vegas, Orlando, Boston, Chicago, New York City and Berlin, along with a North/South American Tour. Along with the theatre show, Blue Man Group has toured the globe with their “Megastar World Tour”, a rock concert parody, appeared on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship The Epic, released five albums, contributed to a number of film scores, performed with orchestras around the US, and appeared in advertising campaigns for prominent brands.

Blue Man Group grew out of a collaboration between three close friends, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The Blue Man character emerged from small “disturbances” on the streets of the city, growing into small shows at downtown clubs, eventually becoming a full performance at the Astor Place Theatre. The award-winning show caught the attention of US media.

Theatrical productions

Astor Place Theatre with marquee for the group

Blue Man Group-Buddy Bears, in Berlin-Mitte

Current theatrical productions

United States

• New York City at the Astor Place Theatre (1991–present)
• Boston at the Charles Playhouse (1995–present)^[2]
• Chicago at the Briar Street Theater (1997–present)^[2]
• Las Vegas at the Luxor Hotel and Casino (March 10, 2000 – September 15, 2005, November 18, 2015–present)
• Orlando at the Blue Man Group Theatre at CityWalk at the Universal Orlando Resort (June 6, 2007–present)
• International Tour (September 2, 2010–present)
  • The Tour began in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and will visit various cities around the world. This tour includes both elements from their current theatrical performances, plus new elements created just for this tour.^[3]

Germany

• Berlin at the Bluemax Theater (February 1, 2006–present)

Norwegian Cruise Line

• Norwegian Epic (July 2010–present)^[4]

Previous theatrical productions

United States

• Las Vegas, Nevada at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino (October 10, 2005 – September 30, 2012)^[5]
• Las Vegas at the Blue Man Theatre at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino (October 10, 2012 – October 11, 2015)

Germany

• Berlin at the Theater am Potsdamer Platz (May 9, 2004 – January 31, 2006)
• Oberhausen at the Metronom Theatre (March 11, 2007 – October 3, 2008)
• Stuttgart at the Apollo Theater (February 28, 2008 – October 12, 2008)^[6]

Canada

• Toronto at the Panasonic Theatre (June 20, 2005 – January 7, 2007)

United Kingdom

• London at the New London Theatre (November 2005 – June 24, 2007)^[7]

Netherlands

• Amsterdam at the Theater Fabriek (December 2006 – September 30, 2007)

Japan

• Tokyo at the Roppongi Invoice Theatre (December 1, 2007 – November 29, 2009)
• Tokyo at the Roppongi Blue Man Theatre (April 29, 2010 – March 31, 2012)

Switzerland

• Basel at Musical Theater Basel (October 25, 2008 – January 11, 2009)
• Zürich at Theater 11 (January 17, 2010 – May 2, 2010)^[8]

Sweden

• Stockholm at Göta Lejon (September 8, 2010 – October 24, 2010)

Austria

• Vienna at MuseumsQuartier (November 4, 2010 – January 2, 2011)

Australia

• Sydney at the Sydney Lyric Theatre (August 2013 - October 2013; rest of Australian tour to Perth and Melbourne cancelled)

Music and tours

In 1999, the group released their first audio recording, titled Audio. Although it contained some of the music from their stage productions, it was less of a soundtrack and more a collection of full-length instrumentals that featured new instruments.

In 2002, the group participated in Moby's Area2 tour, giving a more rock-oriented performance than in the theatrical shows. Songs developed during this tour appeared on 2003's album The Complex.

Unlike Audio, The Complex featured a variety of vocalists and guests including Tracy Bonham, Dave Matthews, Gavin Rossdale and Venus Hum. The record spawned its own 2003 tour, the first headlined by Blue Man Group. The tour deconstructed the traditional rock concert experience into its often clichéd parts and was chronicled in a 2004 DVD release. The tour featured Tracy Bonham and Venus Hum as supporting acts. The DVD included a surround sound mix of some of the studio recordings.

Blue Man Group launched its second tour, The "How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0", on September 26, 2006. The tour added some new material to material from the original Complex Rock Tour, and had Tracy Bonham as an opening act and vocalist. DJ/VJ Mike Relm was the opening act for the second leg of this tour, which ended April 22, 2007 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. This third leg of the tour began in May 2007 and included performances in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile. The fourth leg, using "2.1" in its title, included more U.S. and Canada dates. Following that, the Megastar World Tour visited France, Korea, Canada, Germany, and a few other European countries throughout 2008.

The "How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0" visited Taipei, Taiwan from August 19 to 23 as part of a promotional campaign for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, most of the show's dialogue displayed with subtitle. As Typhoon Morakot hit the island and caused serious damage in mid August, the group agreed to perform one extra show with the proceeds being donated to the victims of the flood.

In 2008, the group collaborated on the track "No More Heroes" with the Dutch DJ and producer Tiësto for the remixed version of the Elements of Life album.

Announced in 2009, Blue Man Group began performing for the first time at sea on Norwegian Cruise Line's newest ship, the Norwegian Epic. The Epic began alternating 7-Day Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings from Miami with Blue Man Group shows nightly in July 2010.

In 2013 a tour to South Africa was announced, marking the first performances on the African continent. Dates are yet to be confirmed, although it seems as if the shows will be in July.

Discography

• Audio
• The Complex
• Exhibit 13
• I Feel Love
• Live at the Venetian
• The Current
• Canta Conmingo
• Shake Your Euphemism

Feature film

In September 2008, Variety reported that the original trio (Matt Goldman, Chris Wink and Phil Stanton) would star in a Blue Man Group IMAX 3D feature film, to be produced by Charlotte Huggins.^[9] The film, titled Blue Man Group: Mind Blast, was to be directed by David Russo and released by National Geographic Entertainment.^[10]

Videography

• The Complex Rock Tour Live DVD (2003) – live concert footage taken from shows in Grand Prairie, Texas
• Robots (2005) – performed on soundtrack for movie
• Inside the Tube (2006) – one-hour documentary created for PBS. Features interviews with Stanton, Wink, and Goldman describing the Blue Men, and video clips from various theatrical performances. Available through the PBS store and also as an extra on the How To Be A Megastar Live! DVD.
• How to Be a Megastar Live! (2008) – live concert footage from Blue Man Group's newest tour. It was released on DVD on April 1 and Blu-ray on November 4, 2008. The DVD version includes a bonus audio CD of many of the show's songs.
• Scoring Reel – a scoring DVD only available in 2004

Television

Advertising

• Intel - Blue Man Group was featured in advertisements for the Pentium III, Pentium 4, and Centrino line of processors.

• TIM Brasil - Blue Man Group is the face of TIM Brasil, the largest telecommunications company in Brazil.

Programming

• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno — Blue Man Group appeared on the premiere of Leno's version of the Tonight Show, prompting him to state, "this is not your father's Tonight Show." They returned numerous times for memorable performances, often including the audience and/or the celebrity guests (i.e. Robin Williams, Mel Gibson, etc.). One Blue Man Group episode won an Emmy for The Tonight Show.

• Arrested Development — This pop culture favorite approached Blue Man Group about appearing in an episode. The collaboration grew to a popular storyline where Tobias longed to be a part of Blue Man Group, and, ultimately, his father-in-law “hid from the law” performing as a Blue Man in Las Vegas.

• Scrubs — Zach Braff approached Blue Man Group to participate in a popular storyline in his hit show.

• The Drew Carey Show — During the episode "Drew Live III," the Blue Man Group experimented on Drew Carey as he slept on the train, making it look like he had sex with his nemesis, Mimi Bobeck. At the end of the show, it was revealed that their motive was for Drew to kill himself out of embarrassment so that they, along with John Ratzenberger, could take over the show.

Blue Man Group has also performed original content on various high profile shows such as an appearance on The Grammy Awards (with Jill Scott and Moby), The Emmy Awards, The Latin Grammy Awards, The Royal Variety Show (for Queen Elizabeth II), Wetten Das? (Germany), The Voice (Germany), Regis and Kathy Lee, Regis and Kelly and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

The Blue Man Group also appeared on episode 7 of Season 12 of Celebrity Apprentice.

Awards and nominations

• 1991 Obie Award (winner)
• 1992 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience (winner)
• 1999 Grammy Award for Audio (nominee)
• 2011 Off Broadway Alliance Awards' Audience Choice Award for Best Long-Running Show (winner)^[11]
• 2014 Drum! Magazine Readers Choice Award - Best Percussion Ensemble (winner)
• 2015 Drum! Magazine Readers Choice Award - Best Percussion Ensemble (winner)

Themes

There are a number of different themes found in various Blue Man performances. These themes include:^[12]

• Science and technology, especially the topics of plumbing, fractals, human sight, DNA, and the Internet.
• Information overload and information pollution, such as when the audience is asked to choose one of three simultaneous streams of information to read.
• Innocence, as when the Blue Men appear to be surprised and perplexed by common artifacts of modern society or by audience reactions.
• Self-conscious and naïve imitation of cultural norms, such as attempting to stage an elegant dinner for an audience member with Twinkies; or following the Rock Concert Instruction Manual with the expectation that following a series of instructions is all it takes to put on a rock concert.
• The Outsider. Blue Men always appear as a group of three. This is because^[12] not only are Blue Men viewed as outsiders to the rest of the world, but three is the smallest group possible wherein there can be a subgroup of more than one as well as a subgroup of one, the outsider. Many of the Blue Man skits involve one of the three Blue Men performing in a manner inconsistent with the other two.
• Rooftops, or otherwise climbing to the top. There are a number of references, both in visual pieces and in lyrics from the Complex tour, that have a common theme of getting to the roof. This theme is a metaphor for the advice Stanton, Wink, and Goldman drew from Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers's PBS program The Power of Myth and represents "Following your bliss".^[12]

See also

• Überschall, a Las Vegas band consisting of past and present members of Blue Man Group
• Penn Jillette, a Blue Man affiliate and Las Vegas magician

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blue Man Group.

• Official websites: General, Germany, Japan, Switzerland
• Blue Man Group at the Internet Movie Database
• Blue Man Group discography at MusicBrainz
• Unofficial fan community, including podcast feed
• Inc. Magazine profile