Blue Man Group

I have not done any theater on this site - photography during a theater performance is taboo and exteriors of most theaters themselves are not the most visually compelling. Plus, the shows themselves are quite well marketed and reviewed by those better qualified than myself. However, Blue Man Group has become more than a show (click here for their website). They are an institution and an industry with performances in New York, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Oberhausen and Orlando. They have several CDs, DVDs, an online store with a plethora of merchandise and two musical toys developed for children. They have done film and TV scoring, commercials, television programs (like Scrubs and Arrested Development), and a children’s museum exhibit, Making Waves, which is currently touring the country. Their appearance in the Intel commercial campaign in 2000 brought them international visibility. The group itself was formed in 1988 by Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink, motivated by an interest in creating a show which involved audience collaboration. Their first theater performances were at La MaMa in the East Village - in 1991 they moved to the Astor Place Theater (seen in the photo). The characters are three mute Blue Men (played by rotating cast members) - their faces in blue grease paint and wearing nondescript black clothing. The extraordinarily unique performance art show, called Tubes, is heavily music oriented - numerous unique instruments were created by the group such as the tubulum, drumbone and airpoles. Comedy, satire, social commentary, irony, painting, percussion, clowning, sophisticated lighting effects are all there along with numerous substances (including food and paint) thrown and ejected, some of which may hit audience members - the first few rows are provided with plastic ponchos ...