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Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It is known for its stage productions that incorporate many kinds of music and art, both popular and obscure.[1] Its performers, known as Blue Men, have their skin painted blue. They are mute during shows and always appear in groups of three.
Blue Man Group in 2009
| |
| Formation | 1987; 37 years ago (1987) |
|---|---|
| Type | Theatre group |
| Purpose | Performance art, music |
| Location | |
| Website | blueman |
The company has continuing shows in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York City. A typical production employs seven to nine full-time Blue Men who are selected by audition. In addition to their stage shows, Blue Man Group has toured nationally and internationally, appeared on TV programs as characters and performers, released multiple studio albums, contributed to a number of film scores, and performed with orchestras around the United States.
Blue Man Group grew out of a collaboration of three close friends, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton, on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1987. Its first public appearance was a celebration of the end of the 1980s. The three wore blue masks and led a street procession that included the burning of a Rambo doll and a piece of the Berlin Wall.[2] MTV's Kurt Loder covered the event, drawing attention to the group.[3] What began as creative "disturbances" on the city's streets became a series of small shows at downtown clubs, and eventually a full performance at the Astor Place Theatre in 1991.[4]
In 1993, the group trained their first understudy.[3] To be in the group, a Blue Man had to "be between five-foot-ten and six-foot-one, skilled at drumming, and able to 'wordlessly emote'... [T]hey learn to embody six archetypes, which the group calls the 'innocent, hero, scientist, shaman, group member, and trickster.'"[3] The early Blue Man cast included Gideon Banner, Chris Bowen, Michael Dahlen, Isaac Eddy, Josh Elrod, Mark Frankel, Matt Goldman, Randall Jaynes and Pete Simpson.[5][6] As of 2023, they had performed 17,000 times at Astor Place.[7] Andrea Johnson was the first woman, and Black woman, to be a Blue Man. She worked with them from 1999 to 2001.[3]
In 2000, the group opened at the Luxor Theater and became well-known in Las Vegas. They performed Moby’s song “Natural Blues” with Moby and Jill Scott at the Grammys in 2001. In 2010, Goldman sold his share in the group to a venture-capital firm and the group hired Willy Burkhardt who was president of the company from 2010 through 2013. In 2017, Wink and Stanton sold their shares to the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil.[8][9][10]
Blue Man performances have a number of themes, including[11]
Germany
United States
China
Touring shows
Australia
Austria
Canada
Germany
Japan
Netherlands
Norwegian Cruise Line
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
In 1999, the group released Audio, their first studio recording. Although it contained some of the music from their stage productions, it was chiefly a collection of full-length instrumentals featuring new instruments.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
Unlike Audio, The Complex, released in 2003, 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 Complex Rock 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.[citation needed]
Blue Man Group launched its second tour, "How to Be a Megastar Tour", on September 26, 2006. It featured some new material as well as material from the original Complex Rock Tour, and featured Tracy Bonham as opening act and vocalist. DJ/VJ Mike Relm was the opening act for the tour's second leg, which ended April 22, 2007, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The third leg of the tour began in May 2007 and included performances in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; São 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. The tour visited France, Korea, Canada, Germany, and a few other European countries through 2008. From August 19–23, it visited Taipei, Taiwan to promote its 2009 Summer Deaflympics, with most of the show's dialogue accompanied by subtitles. After Typhoon Morakot hit the island in mid-August, the group held an extra show to benefit flood victims.[citation needed]
Blue Man Group performed with Ricky Martin at the 2007 Latin Grammy Awards[19] and again with Michel Teló at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards.[20]
In 2008, they collaborated on the track "No More Heroes" with Dutch DJ and producer Tiësto for the remixed version of the Elements of Life album.[citation needed]
Announced in 2009, Blue Man Group began performing for the first time at sea on Norwegian Cruise Line's ship Epic. From July 2010 to March 2015, Epic alternated 7-Day Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings from Miami with nightly Blue Man Group shows.[citation needed]
A Blue Man Group national tour in 2010 visited various cities in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The tour included elements from their then-current theatrical performances, and new elements created for the tour.[21]
To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the group gave a special performance with Dave Matthews at the Astor Place Theatre in New York City, collaborating on the song "Sing Along."[22]
To celebrate Blue Man Group's 25th anniversary, a global tour began in Singapore in March 2016. It continued through Asia and Oceania in 2016 and opened for the first time in South Africa in February 2017.[23] It was announced that the tour will continue on to Abu Dhabi and Switzerland later in 2017.[24]
In April 2016, Blue Man Group released Three, their third studio album. Building on the group's previous albums, Three draws inspiration from the group's 25-year history.[25] Additionally that month, the Blue Man Group members are fans of viral video star Jon Daker and when they were playing a show in Peoria, Illinois they invited Daker backstage to meet with them and play music.[26][27]
In May 2017, Blue Man Group collaborated with the YouTube channel The Slow Mo Guys for a video of several objects being destroyed with bowling balls, including busts of the Blue Men. A Blue Man "autographed" Gavin Free's lab coat (the cleaner of the hosts') by wiping his head on the right shoulder.[28]
On April 27, 2019, Blue Man Group gave a special performance at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, during the Grand Opening Session of DECA's International Career Development Conference. [29]
In February 2021, it was revealed that Blue Man Group had collaborated with American pop band AJR on the song "Ordinaryish People", included on their album OK Orchestra (2021).[30] A music video featuring Blue Man Group was released on February 9, 2022.[31]
In April 2024, Blue Man collaborated with Canadian musician Andrew Huang on a song called "Desert Portal". They released joint videos on their YouTube channels: the former's of the song's music video, which depicts the group and Huang discovering a sound-activated tent that transports them to a desert, and the latter's of the music video's behind the scenes.[32][33]
Blue Man Group has also performed on various 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, dass..? (Germany), The Voice (Germany), Regis and Kathie Lee, Regis and Kelly and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[citation needed]
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