No one
knows how to make a more inspired mess than Blue Man Group. Whether they’re
beating on drums and generating a kaleidoscopic spray of airborne paint, or
catching flying gumballs with their mouths and spewing the paint onto canvases,
or feasting on Twinkies, or chomping out a Cap’n Crunch symphony, the
bald-and-blue characters approach each messy, noisy enterprise with the
expertise and determination of children. And the audience responds with
unadulterated, uncomplicated, grin-inducing joy; with howls of laughter and childlike wonder and delight. You might say that Blue Man Group is child’s play
for adults.
At
first glance, the stage may look like a mess. But looking closer, it’s far from one. Don’t confuse
child’s play with childishness.
“We
have things that we think about, and they express themselves in these weird
ways,” says Phil Stanton, co-founder of Blue Man Group with Matt Goldman and
Chris Wink. “A lot of what we do is colorful, and kids enjoy it, and adults are
entertained by it, whether they get the idea behind it or not. We’re usually
looking at things from the point of community or relationships. We’re trying to
say something about the power of a group. That’s why there are three Blue Men;
three is the smallest number that makes up a group.”
Goldman
adds, “Preserving a childlike wonder is definitely one of the things behind
what we do. We believe that we’re all creative beings, and creativity can look
a lot of different ways. We’re trying to get to an ecstatic, euphoric,
emotional place. We surf many different interests – science and art and music
and spectacle and reading and math and technology. Why can’t people be
fascinated and entertained by all of these things?”
At a
Blue Man Group theatrical show there is, indeed, something on the bill to
fascinate and entertain everyone. It’s vaudeville for the twenty-first century:
instead of an array of comedians and singers and monologists and dog acts and
jugglers sharing a bill, the Blue Men – abetted by a few musicians – offer an
array of wildly imaginative flights of fancy, ranging from primitive to
sophisticated, in a variety show quite unlike any other.
“We
have so many different influences,” says Stanton. “Vaudeville, of course. The
Marx Brothers. Buster Keaton. Punk rock. Kodo drummers. Butoh dance. Ultraman,
who was a Japanese super hero. It’s all somewhere deep in our DNA.”
Says
Goldman, “I don’t like to name influences because the list is too vast. Our
influences are almost everything we’ve ever been exposed to. Bugs Bunny is just
as big an influence on me as the Marx Brothers.”
The
Blue Man is a combination of hero and trickster, clown and scientist, innocent
and super hero. When speaking about their creation, Goldman and Stanton
sometimes refer to him as a singular being, and sometimes refer to him in the
plural.
“For
metaphor purposes, we often talk about them as ‘three as one,’” says Stanton.
“But they’re actually different. We try to create character differences, and
sometimes that’s what leads to the comedy. In the scene with the gumballs and
marshmallows, they’re three very distinct characters. There’s the one that
catches the marshmallows; he seems kind of nervous, like he’s not sure it’s
going right. The guy that’s catching the gumballs seems more confident, like he’s
got some kind of prowess and knows that the outcome will be good. And then
you’ve got the guy in the center, who’s a little bit of a trickster. He’s not
telling either one of them everything; he’s got a few secrets up his sleeve. So
there sometimes is a difference in the characters – and sometimes there
isn’t.”
Goldman
adds, “A lot of people think that being bald and blue is putting on a mask of
sorts. We consider it the opposite, that we’re taking off the mask. Once you
strip away the hair, the skin tone, the gender, the ears, and have no
particular style of clothing, what’s left? It’s really the rawest, purest form
of what’s essentially human. We’ve found that for the first third or first half
of the show, audiences think they’re looking at these very strange, unusual
beings. But somewhere in there – and I see this over and over – it suddenly
dawns on them that they’re actually watching themselves. And then the question
becomes – and I go back and forth on this myself – are we watching three
different beings with three different personalities, or are we watching one
being that’s been split into three? I like to live in the ambiguity of it.”
The
Blue Man uses every facet of his being to engage the audience in situations and
ideas and behavior and sights and sounds that intrigue him. And he does so
without ever speaking.
“Talking
is so limiting,” says Goldman. “We talked once, and it was painful. It was
horrible. But we don’t think of the Blue Man as a mute. We think of him as
someone who has chosen not to say anything.”
The
show is not without words. LED screens display a series of messages designed to
make the audience laugh and think. An authoritative, other-worldly voice
wittily explains the intricacies of modern plumbing and choreography and technology.
But more often than not, words are unnecessary. When the Blue Men are playing
their unique polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, pipes – instruments of their own
making – or fiercely pounding on drums, words would just intrude on the
giddiness being felt throughout the theater.
But
even when the audience is in a heightened state of exhilaration, the Blue Men
are often teaching them something – even if the audience is unaware of it.
Take, for instance, one of their most famous pieces, beating paint-covered drums,
which never fail to rev up the crowd. What audiences likely aren’t aware of is
that they’re being given a lesson in synesthesia, a mixing of the senses. The
great choreographer George Balanchine was famous for saying, “See the music and
hear the dancing.” That’s synesthesia. So is seeing the sounds of the drums and
feeling the colors of the paint.
“The
paint on the drums for us is a visual representation of the music,” says Puck
Quinn, creative director of character development and appearances. “We want to
create a visceral experience. We want you to feel it in your gut. That’s why we
have as big a drum as we can find. Because that drum will literally vibrate
your viscera, your guts will resonate.”
Connecting
to the audience and creating a community within the walls of the theater is
what matters most to Blue Man Group.
“The
relationship with the audience is everything,” says Goldman. “Because at the
end of the day, the Blue Man is really just trying to connect. He knows,
whether intellectually or on a gut level, that in order to get to that
ecstatic, heightened moment, he’s got to connect with these strangers. That’s
why the Blue Man is so respectful of the audience. That’s why he wants to gain
their trust. It’s all about the connection.”
People
sitting in the front rows immediately feel a part of the proceedings, as they
are given slickers to protect their clothes from paint and other possible
splatterings. The Blue Men also make an enormous amount of eye contact with the
audience, both from the stage and by interacting with them. Most famously, a
woman from the audience is chosen to join them onstage for "The Feast," and share
in a repast of Twinkies. What follows is spontaneous – as is the selection of
the woman.
“The
choice is made completely in the moment,” says Stanton. “You can kind of tell
that the woman has suspended her disbelief, that she really buys into the
character and is reacting to him. When we go into the audience and look into
someone’s eyes, and we see both joy and a little fear, it means she’s not
hiding, she’s not guarding herself. That’s what we’re looking for. It’s
intangible. We want somebody who’s going to be really lively and free to react
to things in real time. We don’t want someone who’s going to go up there and
try to act.”
For
Goldman, Stanton and Wink, the entire show is a build up to the breathtaking
finale, which unites the audience in a magical way.
“It’s
all about the connection,” says Stanton. “And we also wanted to make a
statement about how important the live experience is. Even though technology
has made it so that we don’t have to have that live experience, there’s
something about our humanity that will always need it.”
Be part of the live experience with Blue Man Group October 9-14 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. Tickets are on sale now at foxcitiespac.com!
© 2010 Blue Man Group
The Boldt Arts Alive! Series gets underway Thursday, October 4 for the 2012/13 Season with a Big Band bang featuring Five By Design's Club Swing. It’s a flashback to the days of legendary landmarks like The Stork Club and The Copa, following the rise and fall of the Big Band Era from 1937 to 1955. With period costumes and velvet vocals, it’s like the cast stepped right out of The Cocoanut Grove.
