Blue Man Group

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Blue Man Group (BMG) is a creative organization centered on a trio of mute performers, called Blue Men, that present themselves in blue paint, latex bald caps, and black clothing.

1 Early History
2 Theatrical productions
3 Future productions
4 Music and tours
5 Appearances and other work
6 Community
7 Controversy
8 Discography
9 Videography
10 Side projects
11 References
12 External links
13 See also

[edit] Early History

Friends Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton (collectively referred to by the fan community as CMP or ChrisMattPhil) conceived the idea during the 1980s while in New York City. They began appearing on the streets in Blue Man regalia, busking for passersby and staging unusual events such as The Funeral For the 80s, and doing short bits as part of the underground cabarets of Tom Murrin's The Alien Comic, in "The CLUB" at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club.

Meryl Vladimer, the Artistic Director of The CLUB, saw their work and commissioned Blue Man Group to create a full-length show. The resulting piece, TUBES, took off after Vladimer persuaded The New York Times critic Stephen Holden to review it. Blue Man Group's popularity continued to snowball, eventually winning CMP an Obie Award and a Lucille Lortel Award, which led producers to take the show to off-Broadway. TUBES opened in 1991 at the Astor Place Theater. This show, and frequent appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, enabled CMP and Blue Man Group team to open similar productions and expand their concepts into other kinds of performances.

[edit] Theatrical productions

Blue Man Group's theatrical acts incorporate rock music (with an emphasis on percussion), odd props, audience participation, sophisticated lighting, and large amounts of paper. It is also noted for having a "poncho section" of the audience; in the front rows, audience members are provided with plastic ponchos in order to protect them from various foods, substances, paints, and so on, which get thrown, ejected, or sprayed from the stage. The shows are family-oriented, humorous, energetic and often employ thought-provoking satire on modern life. Much of the humor breaks the fourth wall, for example, interrupting the show to ridicule latecomers in the audience.

[edit] List of theatrical productions

"Tubes/Rewired" in New York at the Astor Place Theatre (1991 — )
"Tubes/Rewired" in Boston at the Charles Playhouse (1995 — )
"Tubes/Rewired" in Chicago at the Briar Street Theater (1997 — )
"Live at Luxor" in Las Vegas at the Luxor Hotel Theater (March 10, 2000 – September 15, 2005)
"Bluephoria/Live at the Venetian" in Las Vegas at The Venetian (October 10, 2005 — )
Berlin at the Theater am Potsdamer Platz (2004 — )
Toronto at the Panasonic Theatre (June 20, 2005 – January 7, 2007)
London at the New London Theatre (November 2005 — )
Amsterdam at the Theater Fabriek (December 2006 — )
Orlando at Universal Orlando Resort (June 2007 — )

[edit] Character

The Blue Man can be considered a type of homologue; i.e., a creature approximating a real human being. The strongest and most obvious Blue Man characteristic is his static appearance, namely, the earless, bright blue head and face and nondescript, utilitarian clothing. In action, the Blue Man does not speak and his face is usually expressionless, although suggestions of curiosity, surprise, wonder, chagrin, etc. are sometimes visible (though only in the eyes and eyebrows). The Blue Man does not communicate through speech or broad body language or gestures; rather, he communicates through intense eye contact and simple gestures. He acts impulsively and primarily as a group of three, "checking in" with the other two when making decisions and before moving to their next action. The Blue Man's outwardly apparent motivations are often presented in mild caricature in order to make a humorous and/or ironic point to the audience. Additionally, the Blue Man is inscrutably motivated to drum.

[edit] Themes

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

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 not only are Blue Men viewed as outsiders to the rest of the world, but three is the smallest group possible where one member could be viewed as an outsider by the other two. 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 CMP were given by PBS programs and represents "Following your bliss."

[edit] Future productions

In June 2007 Blue Man Group is scheduled to open a new show at Universal Orlando Resort using space formerly occupied by Nickelodeon Studios. According to the official Nov. 9 press release the building is being re-designed as a 1,000-seat theater and the show itself is being custom-designed for Universal Orlando and will include elements of the group's existing shows as well as newly created materials.

Some rumors point to Blue Man Group opening shows in Sydney, Australia, as well as in Tokyo, Japan.

[edit] Music and tours

In 1999 the group released their first audio recording, appropriately called Audio. Although it contained the music from the venue production, it was less of a soundtrack and more a collection of full-length instrumentals that featured the new instruments. The group participated in Moby's Area2 tour in 2002, giving a more rock-oriented performance than in the theatrical shows. Songs developed during this tour appeared on 2003's The Complex. Unlike its predecessor, 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 cleverly deconstructed the traditional rock concert experience into its often clichéd parts and was chronicled in a 2004 DVD release.

Blue Man Group launched its second North American tour, The "How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0", on September 26, 2006. The tour uses new material as well some material adapted from the original Complex Rock Tour. More information about the "How to be a Megastar Tour 2.0," visit HowToBeAMegaStar.com.

[edit] Appearances and other work

When Blue Man Group was still solely in New York, they ran a variety of fake advertisements in The Village Voice.
Since 1992, Blue Man Group has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 16 times and on Live with Regis and Kelly four times.
The group achieved widespread visibility when they appeared in an Intel advertising campaign for Pentium 3 and Pentium 4 CPUs as well as Centrino technology.
Blue Man Group "appeared" on animated TV series The Simpsons four times (once being referred to by Homer Simpson as "a rip off of The Smurfs"), once as part of one of the couch gags, had guest appearances in The Drew Carey Show, and appear in an informational video played continuously at security checkpoints in McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Throughout the entire second season of Arrested Development, a running subplot was that of Tobias Fünke (David Cross) attempting to join the group. The group themselves were featured at least once.
Blue Man Group was parodied in the Family Guy movie, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story where Peter mentions that he and Lois went to Las Vegas to see the "Jew Man Group."
In the Joss Whedon television series Angel, it is stated in the episode "The House Always Wins" that two members of Blue Man Group are actually demons.
In 2004, Blue Man Group made an appearance in the show Las Vegas in the episode "Blood and Sand" (original airdate January 5, 2004). In the episode, they play themselves "trashing" the hotel owned by Ed Deline (James Caan), and shooting money from PVC pipes in the lobby.
In 2004, the piece "Piano Smasher" was used in the soundtrack for the video game R-Type Final. [1]
In 2005, the group collaborated with artist David LaChapelle and produced several new images for upcoming ad campaigns, including their show "bluephoria" at the Venetian in Las Vegas. These images are radically different from any of the group's previous advertising and can be seen on the official webpage.
In Autumn 2005, the group appeared on the children's BBC program, Blue Peter, to promote their London production.
In December 2005, Blue Man Group appeared at the Royal Variety Performance in Cardiff, where they performed "I Feel Love" with Katherine Jenkins on vocals. They created a piece of Yves Klein-inspired art by daubing comedian Joe Pasquale in paint, attaching him to a pulley, and swinging him against a large canvas; Blue Man Group performed their popular "spin art/marshmallows" skit. Videos of each of these segments are available on the Blue Man Library website.
Blue Man Group provided music for two movies. "The Current" was featured on the soundtrack for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Blue Man Group played various percussion instruments on the score of the 2005 animated film Robots.
Blue Man Group performed the American and Canadian national anthems at the home opener of the Toronto Blue Jays against the Minnesota Twins in April 2006.
In June 2006, Swatch launched a new range of colored watches with BMG as the faces of the advertising campaign. A limited edition Blue Man Group watch was also released, featuring all 3 men throwing paint to each other on the strap.
Blue Man Group appeared on the finale of America's Got Talent, where they performed a cover of The Who's "Baba O'Riley", from their Complex Rock Tour show.
Blue Man Group made an appearance at the launch party of the new CW network in September 2006.
Blue Man Group and their Las Vegas show were featured in the sixth season premiere episode of Scrubs on NBC titled "My Mirror Image".
Blue Man Group have released two different musical instruments for kids, based on existing Blue Man creations. One is called the Blue Man Group Percussion Tubes, while the other is the Blue Man Group Keyboard Experience. Both are manufactured by ToyQuest.

[edit] Community

Blue Man Group has a large following comprising a diverse group of fans from all over the world. The community is centered on the message boards on the official website, as well as fan-based web sites like Blue Man Library. The BML also creates a weekly podcast called "Switchback," the official podcast of the Blue Man Group fan community. Blue Man Productions, the company responsible for Blue Man Group, has been extremely supportive of the fan community; Blue Man Group employees will often post messages exclusive to the fan base and participate in regularly scheduled chat sessions at Blue Man Library.

[edit] Controversy

Announcing their debut in Toronto, Ontario in 2005, Blue Man Group attracted considerable controversy for opting not to use unionized workers for their show, which many labor groups regarded as being highly unusual for a show of its size in Canada. Their June 20, 2005 premiere in Toronto was picketed by members of the Canadian Actors' Equity Association, the Toronto Musicians' Association, and two locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Despite this, Blue Man Group will continue to play in Toronto until January 7, 2007 [2].

In Las Vegas in April 2006, Blue Man Group moved from the Luxor Hotel, where they had a union contract, to the Venetian Hotel, electing not to keep the contract. Employees who went from the Luxor venue to the Venetian started an organizing campaign with IATSE Local 720 in Las Vegas, claiming that without the union contract they would not receive a pension and could not provide adequate healthcare for themselves or their families.

On May 25, 2006, employees at the Blue Man Group Las Vegas voted to be represented by IATSE Local 720 in Las Vegas Nevada. The election was supervised by the National Labor Relations Board region 28 based in Phoenix Arizona. The winning election now permits the employees to start bargaining a contract with Blue Man Productions.

[edit] Discography

Audio <center>CD LP (1999)	Audio <center>DVD-audio LP with 5.1 surround sound mix (2000)	The Complex <center>CD LP (2003)	The Current (Single) <center>first single from The Complex (2003)
I Feel Love (Single) <center>second single from The Complex (2004)	The Complex <center>DVD-audio LP with 5.1 surround sound mix (2004)	Rods and Cones (Live) (Single) <center>iTunes exclusive digital single from Live at the Venetian (2006)	Live at the Venetian, Las Vegas <center>iTunes exclusive digital download (2006)
Last Train to Trancentral (EP) <center>iTunes exclusive digital download (2006)

[edit] Videography

The Complex Rock Tour Live DVD (2003)

Inside the Tube (2006). A special one-hour documentary created and aired exclusively for PBS. Features interviews with CMP describing the Blue Men, and video clips from various theatrical performances.