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Blue Man Group

 

 

 

Blue Man Group is an organization founded by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring popular music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight Show, Las Vegas, Scrubs, FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman, and Arrested Development; and a children’s museum exhibit (“Making Waves”).[1] All of the organization’s appearances star a trio of performers called Blue Men, who all wear a blue “skin”. The original founding Blue Men still perform, but they have since then taken on administrative roles in the company. Because of the success of Blue Man Group, a parent company called Blue Man Productions was created, which produces all the Blue Man Group shows in the world. It currently has a staff of over 50 people.

 

 

 

 

History

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Wink and Goldman had become friends when they bonded as the “new kids” in a Manhattan (New York City) junior high school. In college, however, the two went separate ways: Wink to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and Goldman to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. After college in 1984, Wink and Goldman reunited in NYC and later, in 1986, met Stanton, a recent transplant from Savannah, Georgia. Formed in 1987 by Goldman, Stanton, and Wink, The Blue Man Group played around Manhattan in such venues as Central Park, the Performing Garage, Dixon Place and PS 122.[2][3] It is not clear how much influence the Brazilian band Uakti had on the founders, although Uakti’s Marco Antônio Guimarães had been building tuned PVC instruments (struck with foam paddles) since the late 1970s. Uakti was introduced to US audiences just about the same time as Blue Man Group was forming, through Paul Simon, The Manhattan Transfer and composer Philip Glass.[4]

Astor Place Theatre with marquee for the groupMeryl Vladimer, the Artistic Director of The CLUB @ La MaMa, saw their work as part of a variety show hosted by the Alien Comic (Tom Murrin) and commissioned Blue Man Group to create a full-length show. The resulting piece, Tubes, took off after Vladimer persuaded New York Times theater critic Stephen Holden to review it. Blue Man Group’s popularity continued to snowball, resulting in a performance at Lincoln Center titled “Serious Fun”, and eventually 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 in New York City.[5][6]

Blue Man Group won a special citation in the 1990-1991 Village Voice Obie Awards,[7] and a special award in the 1992 Lucille Lortel Awards, which are for excellence in off-Broadway theatre.[8]

Early in the history of the group, the members would speak with audiences after the show while still in makeup, answering questions, signing autographs, and talking about the show. Eventually, however, it was decided that cast members would stay in character at all times while in makeup, meaning after shows they would still not speak to audience members, and the only “autograph” they would sign would be a smudge of blue paint. When shown a “new” piece of technology, such as a cell phone or even an old pair of binoculars, they will simply stare at it in wonder.

 

Music and Tours

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In 1999, the group released their first audio recording, appropriately titled Audio. Although it contained some of the music from their stage productions, it was less of a soundtrack and more a collection of full-length instrumentals that featured 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 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 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, The “How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0”, on September 26, 2006. The tour added some new material to material from the original Complex Rock Tour, and had Tracy Bonham as an opening act and vocalist. DJ/VJ Mike Relm was the opening act for the second leg of this tour, which ended April 22, 2007 in Wilkes-Barre, PA. This third leg of the tour began in May 2007 and included performances in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao 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. Following that, the Megastar World Tour visited France, Korea, Canada, Germany, and a few other European countries throughout 2008.

The “How to Be a Megastar Tour 2.0” visited Taipei, Taiwan from August 19 to 23 as part of a promotional campaign for the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, most of the show’s dialogue displayed with subtitle. As Typhoon Morakot hit the island and caused serious damage in mid August, the group agreed to perform one extra show with the proceeds being donated to the victims of the flood.

Announced in 2009, Blue Man Group will be performing for the first time at sea on Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship, the Norwegian EPIC. The EPIC begins alternating 7-Day Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings round-trip Miami with Blue Man Group shows nightly in July 2010.

 

Video

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Themes

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There are a number of different themes found in various Blue Man performances. These themes include:[15]

• Science and technology, especially the topics of plumbing, fractals, human sight, DNA, and the Internet.
• 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 (see below) 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 [15] not only are Blue Men viewed as outsiders to the rest of the world, but three is the smallest group possible wherein there can be a subgroup of more than one as well as a subgroup of one, the outsider. 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 Stanton, Wink, and Goldman drew from Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers’s PBS program The Power of Myth and represents “Following your bliss.” [15]

 

The Rock Concert Instruction Manual

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The Rock Concert Instruction Manual, used by Blue Man Group in The Complex Rock Tour and the How to Be a MegaStar Tours 2.0 and 2.1, is a satire of the conventions of rock music. Before the manual appears, a fake infomercial for it by “Rodco” (played by Fred Armisen) plays. The manual describes in simple steps how one can gain fame and fortune by becoming a rock star. Parts of the manual are also used in Blue Man Group’s theatrical shows.

Origins and attributes

The Rock Concert Instruction Manual is bought at the beginning of the How to Be a MegaStar show from a fake infomercial (played by Fred Armisen), using an audience member’s credit card. $4,000 is supposedly charged to it. In compensation, the audience member later receives a marshmallow sculpture that was in one Blue Man’s mouth). The Manual is narrated by a monotone male voice (Todd Perlmutter) who directs their actions step-by-step, from creating their persona to ending the show.

 

Appearances and Other Work

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• When Blue Man Group was still solely in New York, they ran a variety of fake advertisements in The Village Voice.
• The group did a commercial for the soft drink Mirinda, where the trio is orange, instead of blue.
• The group achieved widespread visibility when they appeared in an Intel advertising campaign for Pentium III and Pentium 4 CPUs as well as Centrino technology.
• In June 2006, Swatch launched a new range of colored watches with Blue Man Group as the faces of the advertising campaign. A limited edition Blue Man Group watch was also released, featuring all three men throwing paint to each other on the strap.
• Blue Man Group appeared in local TV ads for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team broadcasts.
• 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.
• The group is featured in a major advertising campaign in Brazil for Telecom Italia Mobile.

 

TV Guest Appearances

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• Since 2004, Blue Man Group has appeared repeatedly on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (imdb.com 1997/11/13, 2003/08/08, 2003/09/22, 2005/10/06 and 2007/10/09) and Live with Regis and Kelly.
• Blue Man Group frequently gave out clues on the PBS kids’ game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? in the early 1990s.
• Starting in the second season of Arrested Development, a running subplot was that of Tobias Fünke (David Cross) attempting to join the group with little to no luck. The group themselves were featured at least three times.
• Blue Man Group appears in The Drew Carey Show episode “Drew Live III” in 2001.
• Blue Man Group appears in the music video for “Everyday” by Dave Matthews Band, hugging the main character of the video and leaving blue handprints on his back.
• 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 managed by Ed Deline (James Caan), and shooting money from PVC pipes in the lobby.
• In Autumn 2005, the group appeared on the children’s BBC program, Blue Peter, to promote their London production.
• Blue Man Group appeared on the finale of America’s Got Talent, where they performed a cover of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” with Tracy Bonham, 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 (2006) season premiere episode of Scrubs on NBC titled “My Mirror Image”.
• Blue Man Group appeared in an episode of FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman, a children’s game show on PBS Kids Go. The episode was “Ruff’s Case of Blues in the Brain”.
• Emily Yeung took part in a brief performance with Blue Man Group on the children’s program This is Emily Yeung.
• In November 2007, Blue Man Group appeared in an episode of Space Pirates, a children’s BBC program.
• In April 2008, Blue Man Group appeared in the Comedy Central special Night of Too Many Stars. Actor Kevin James joined the trio as a parody, bringing out Jerry Stiller, his former co-star on The King of Queens.
• On October 2, 2008, Blue Man Group performed on an episode of Dr. Phil that discussed various ways to help reduce stress.
• In April 2009, Blue Man Group appeared in an episode of long-running soap opera Guiding Light set in Orlando.
• In October 2009, Blue Man Group appeared on Discovery Channel’s Time Warp.
• In February 2010, Blue Man Group appeared on SVT’s Melodifestivalen.

 

Concert Guest Appearances

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• At the Grammy Awards in 2001, Moby collaborated with Blue Man Group and Jill Scott to perform his song “Natural Blues.”[16]
• In 2003, Blue Man Group played both days of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA. They are still the only act to ever play multiple days of that festival in the same year.
• 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 also 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. Finally, Blue Man Group performed their popular “spin art/marshmallows” skit.[17]
• 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.[18]
• Blue Man Group had a guest performance at Tiësto’s “Elements of Life” show where they performed “No More Heroes” on June 2, 2007 in the Gelredome in Arnhem, Holland. They also joined him at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City to kick off the United States leg of his “Elements of Life” tour on July 19 and July 20, 2007, where they performed the same song. The song was released on Tiësto’s 2008 release, Elements of Life: Remixed.[19]
• On July 4, 2007, Blue Man Group performed “PVC IV” with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Keith Lockhart conducting, during the Pops’ annual Fourth of July celebration at the Hatch Shell.[20]
• On November 8, 2007, Ricky Martin opened the Las Vegas-themed 2007 Latin Grammy Awards show with the help of Blue Man Group. They performed a medley of Ricky Martin’s “Lola, Lola” and “La Bamba”.[21]
• On December 1, 2007, Blue Man Group and Kumi Koda performed “I Feel Love” for her Black Cherry Tour in the Tokyo Dome, Japan.

On July 4, 2008, Blue Man Group performed at the Stadium of Fire event at the LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah.[22
]

• On January 2, 2009 Blue Man Group made a guest appearance at the “I’ve in BUDOKAN 2009 - Departed to the Future” concert at Tokyo’s Budokan, performing “Hydian Way” with Love Planet Five.[23]
• On June 27, 2010, Blue Man Group performed at the Daytime Emmys.

 

Movies

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• “The Current” was featured on the soundtrack for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.[24]
• Blue Man Group played various percussion instruments on the score of the 2005 animated film Robots.[25]
• The group contributed music to the 2008 animated film Space Chimps.[26]

 

Other

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• Blue Man Group appears in an informational video played continuously at security checkpoints in McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• In 2004, the piece “Piano Smasher” was used in the soundtrack for the video game R-Type Final.[27]
• Blue Man Group have licensed two different musical instruments for kids, manufactured by Toy Quest, based on existing Blue Man creations: “Blue Man Group Percussion Tubes” and “Blue Man Group Keyboard Experience”.[1][28]
• In 2007, Goldman and Wink (both fathers) founded an alternative children’s school, Blue School.[29]
• Blue Man Group is mentioned in the Angel episode “The House Always Wins,” when Fred inquires if they are demons. Angel replies that “only two of them” are.
• In an episode of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Jeff Goldblum parodies Blue Man Group with a similar group titled the “Jeff GoldBluMan Group”.
• Blue Man Group was parodied on an episode of Family Guy. In a cut-scene, Peter recalls the time when he saw the Jew Man Group, a group of four Rabbis in blue paint (three rabbis were dancing to Klezmer music while holding up a chair with the fourth sitting on it).
• Blue Man Group was also parodied on The Simpsons episode “Jazzy and the Pussycats”, where Bart threw a ball into one’s members mouth in a church. Also they appear in a couch gag in episode “The Old Man and the Key”. In the 12th season episode Trilogy of Error Homer describes the Blue Man Group as “a total rip off of The Smurfs”. Also, in “The Ziff Who Came to Dinner”, Homer - on the verge of being arrested - desperately babbles “Don’t tell my kids I’m going to jail. Tell them I joined the Blue Man Group. I’m the fat one!”
• In 2008, Blue Man Group performed a special concert, organized by ABC’s Oprah’s Big Give, for a Chicago inner city school. Also at the show, they gave two $50,000 checks to help the school’s athletic facilities and music department.
• In 2008, Blue Man Group performed at the 2008 FIRST Robotics Boston Regional Competition.
• On October 3, 2009, Blue Man Group performed during the New York Rangers home opening ceremony at Madison Square Garden, wearing New York Rangers paraphernalia.
• Dutch roboteers Karl Jones, Chris Coates and Martin Jackson painted themselves Blue when they entered a robot named Blue for Dutch Robot Wars in 2001.
• On January 13, 2010, Blue Man Group, in collaboration with the University of Central Florida’s Marching Knights, performed during the basketball halftime show at UCF Arena. This marked the first time Blue Man Group had worked with a university and college band.[30]

 

Feature Film

 

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In September 2008, Variety reported that the original trio (Matt Goldman, Chris Wink and Phil Stanton) would star in a Blue Man Group IMAX 3D feature film, to be produced by Charlotte Huggins.[31] The film, titled Blue Man Group: Mind Blast, will be directed by David Russo, and will be released by National Geographic Entertainment.[32] The group’s website confirms that the film should arrive in theaters in 2011-2013.[33]

 

Labour History

 

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Blue Man Group is largely a non-union organization. There have been union organizing efforts at shows in Toronto and Las Vegas, however the show is no longer performed in Toronto.[32]

In September 2005, Blue Man Group moved from Luxor Hotel and Casino, where they operated under the hotel’s union contract, to The Venetian Hotel and Casino, where there was not a union contract in place. Stagehands at the Venetian started an organizing campaign with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in Las Vegas, leading to a vote in May 2006. Before the vote, Matt Goldman, a co-founder of Blue Man Group, pledged to honor the results “in accordance with the great democratic traditions of our country.”[34]

In the May 2006 election, the stagehands voted to be represented by IATSE Local 720. In June the National Labor Relations Board certified the results. The winning election permitted the employees to start bargaining a contract with Blue Man Group. After the election, Blue Man Group refused to negotiate, arguing that the election was not valid because it did not include a half-dozen musical technicians who repair and maintain the show’s unusual musical instruments.[35]

In June, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB sided with the union. The company filed a challenge, sending the case to the full Board in Washington DC. In September 2006 the NLRB rejected the challenge, ordering bargaining to begin.[32]

In September 2006, Blue Man Group filed a petition for review of the NLRB’s order in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Blue Man Group argued that the musical technicians, who work side by side with the stage crew, should have been included in the bargaining unit and, for this reason, the NLRB’s election and resulting certification of Local 720 as the bargaining representative were invalid. In October, the NLRB filed a cross-petition for enforcement of its order.[31] (D.C. Cir. Nos. 06-1328 & 06-1341 NLRB v. Blue Man Vegas, LLC Board Case Nos. 28-CA-20868 and 28-RC-6440).[36]

The union has also filed charges of federal unfair labor practices with the NLRB Las Vegas office, contending that Blue Man Group illegally changed the show’s work rules and fired a key union supporter.[37]

On June 10, 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the NLRB and denied Blue Man Group’s petition for review.[36] Following this decision upholding the election, Blue Man Group and the Union promptly began negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement.

The Union withdrew the legal complaints with Blue Man Group in 2010.BLUEMAN PRODUCTIONS SETTLED (Notification date 12/2010) International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes (IATSE)

 

Instruments

 

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Strings

Electric Zither - The electric zither is an 86-stringed table instrument tuned into separate sections for chords & harp. Along with the Chapman Stick & Drumset it is the only instrument to appear in all Blue Man Productions. The zither is played with finger picks and a slide and run through numerous effects pedals and a vintage Orange guitar Amplifier.

Cimbalom - The Cimbalom is a delicate antique instrument from Hungary. It is similar to a Hammer Dulcimer except that it is larger and has thicker strings giving it a deeper, more resonant sound. It is normally played gently with soft mallets. When Blue Man Group hit it with drum sticks, it gives it an edgier sound.

Chapman Stick - The Chapman Stick is one of Blue Man Group’s most utilized string instruments. It appears on both Audio and The Complex. It’s also used throughout the live performances of the theatrical productions in New York, Boston, Chicago, Orlando and Las Vegas.

Hammered Dulcimer - This instrument is used for the intro of the song “Above”.

The Piano Smasher - The Blue Man Group use a grand piano with its top removed and stood on its side. They play it by hitting the open strings with a large mallet.

Drums

The Drum Wall - The Drum Wall is a two-story structure with seven percussion stations. The Drum Wall was a fixture of Blue Man Group-Live at Luxor and has been since a 1999 appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Paint drums - One of the signature elements of the Blue Man Groups Performance. They place neon colored paint on drums which splashes into the air when hit. Sometimes a canvas is held over the drums creating a painting.

Airpoles

Sword Airpoles - The Sword Airpoles are short and thin, which makes them easier to control and more versatile than the other Airpoles. In the Las Vegas production, Sword Airpoles are played by the “Wire Men”in Vegas and Chicago and in other locations.

Angel Airpoles - The Angel Airpoles are made by connecting two poles at their thick ends. The result is a balanced instrument that can reach extremely fast tempos. The Angel Airpole is used in “TV Song” on Audio and is used live during “White Rabbit” on The Complex.

Wiper Airpoles - Wiper Airpoles are extra long (up to 18 feet), which makes it possible to play the instruments at slower tempos.

Pipes and tubes

PVC Pipes - The sound of Blue Man Group’s PVC instrument is achieved when polyvinyl chloride pipes are struck with closed-cell foam rubber paddles. The pitch of each note is determined by the length of the tube.

Tubulum - (Tube-you-lum) The Tubulum is similar to the PVC instrument but has more of an updated sound. This instrument is struck with drumsticks rather than paddles. Its notes reside primarily in the bass range and it is the featured instrument in Blue Man Group’s version of Donna Summer’s classic “I Feel Love” from The Complex. One of the reasons Blue Man Group was so excited to record this song was because the Tubulum does a great imitation of the fast synthesizer arpeggios found in techno music.

Backpack Tubulum - The Backpack Tubulum is a portable Tubulum instrument. It allows the player to move around and launch rockets while playing. This instrument is used live during “Rods and Cones” in the Las Vegas production.

Backpack PVC - The backpack PVC is a portable instrument similar to the PVC pipes. It is also struck with paddles. It is used during Blue Man Group’s live version of “Baba O’Riley” on The Complex Rock Tour and iteven launches streamers.

Drumbone - The Drumbone is a percussive spin-off of a trombone. Its sliding tube-within-a-tube design allows it to be lengthened and shortened during a performance, thus creating a variety of pitches. One Blue Man plays it with drumsticks. Two other blue men play it by sliding tubes. It is only used in the song of the same name. It can also be taken apart and used as two separate instruments that harmonize with each other. The song “Drumbone,” from the group’s debut album, Audio, is a crowd favorite. The song and piece is played in all four theatrical productions of Blue Man Group and it is also featured on The Complex Rock Tour.

 

Videography

 

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• The Complex Rock Tour Live DVD (2003) - Live concert footage taken from shows in Grand Prairie, Texas.
• Inside the Tube (2006) - A special one-hour documentary created originally for PBS. Features interviews with Stanton, Wink, and Goldman describing the Blue Men, and video clips from various theatrical performances. Available through the PBS store and also as an extra on the How To Be A Megastar Live! DVD.
• How to Be a Megastar Live! (2008) - Live concert footage from Blue Man Group’s newest tour. It was released on DVD on April 1 and Blu-ray on November 4, 2008. The DVD version includes a bonus audio CD of many of the show’s songs.
• Scoring Reel - a scoring DVD only available in 2004.

 

Awards and Nominations

 

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If the figures in wax museums could walk, talk and play the piano, they would closely resemble the leading characters in “The Tin Pan Alley Rag,” a bio-musical about an imaginary encounter between Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin. This stodgy and soporific show, which opened on Tuesday night at the Laura Pels Theater of the Roundabout, transforms the lives and careers of two of America’s great popular composers into two hours of theatrical elevator music.NY Times 07/15/2009

 

References

 

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External Links

 

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• Official websites: General, Germany, Japan, Switzerland
• Blue Man Group at the Internet Movie Database
• Blue Man Group discography at MusicBrainz
• Unofficial fan community, including podcast feed
• Inc. Magazine profile