Blue Man Group


Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987, known for its stage productions which incorporate many kinds of music and art, both popular and obscure, in its performances.
Blue Man Group has continuing shows in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, and Orlando. A typical Blue Man production employs 7–9 full-time Blue Men who are selected by audition. In addition to the stage show, Blue Man Group has toured nationally and internationally, appeared on various TV programs as both characters and performers, released multiple studio albums, contributed to a number of film scores, performed with orchestras around the United States, and appeared in ad campaigns.

History

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 in 1987. Its first public appearance was a celebration of the end of the 1980s. The three men wore blue masks and led a street procession that included the burning of a Rambo doll and a piece of the Berlin Wall. MTV's Kurt Loder, who covered the event, drew attention to the strange Blue Men—and what began as creative "disturbances" on the streets of the city became a series of small shows at downtown clubs, and eventually a full performance at the Astor Place Theatre in 1991.
In July 2017, Blue Man Group was bought by Cirque du Soleil, who announced that they would expand the concept.

Themes

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

Current productions

United States
Germany
Touring shows
United States
Germany
Canada
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Japan
Switzerland
Norwegian Cruise Line
Sweden
Austria
Australia
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.
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, 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, "How to Be a Megastar," 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, "How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0", 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.
Blue Man Group performed with Ricky Martin at the 2007 Latin Grammy Awards and again with Michael Telo at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards.
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.
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.
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.
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."
To celebrate Blue Man Group's 25th anniversary, a global tour kicked off 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. It was announced that the tour will continue on to Abu Dhabi and Switzerland later in 2017.
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.
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.

Discography

Advertising

Blue Man Group has also performed on various shows such as an appearance on The Grammy Awards, The Emmy Awards, The Latin Grammy Awards, The Royal Variety Show, Wetten, dass..?, The Voice, Regis and Kathie Lee, Regis and Kelly and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Awards and nominations