Kelly Trom
ktrom@mustangdaily.net
Making its Central Coast debut, the Blue Man Group will be taking over the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center (PAC) Monday and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The quirky multimedia entertainment group will be performing a new theatrical show featuring wacky instruments, musical selections and water elements to engage the audience.
The performance will feature a new sound set, video design, a proscenium-sized LED curtain and a high-resolution screen.
“It is a hard-to-describe show,” Cal Poly Arts director Steve Lerian said. “It is an audio, visual, sensory stimulus overload type of show with a humorous bend to it.”
The traveling show has 14 tour stops, bringing the whimsical humor across the nation. However, transporting all of the new equipment to different venues brought a special obstacle along with it.
“In order to create a touring version of our theatrical production, we knew we had a creative challenge to tackle,” Blue Man Group co-founder Philip Stanton said. “We needed to find a way to transform theaters of all shapes and sizes into spaces in which the Blue Man can intimately connect with the audience, where the audience can become engaged with the spirit of the show and the Blue Man himself.”
The show itself will be a mix between a physical comedy, vaudevillian-type performance and a rock concert. It has generated a huge amount of interest, with both shows sold out.
The unconventional format and content of the shows translate to almost all ages and cultural backgrounds. The Blue Man Group has six permanent shows in Las Vegas, Boston, Chicago, New York, Orlando and Berlin. It also has a show on the Norwegian Cruise Line. The group also does educational projects such as a children’s museum exhibit and five original music albums, one of which was Grammy nominated.
Before the show, lecturer and one of the few Blue Man Scholars in the nation, Steve Luber, will be presenting a lecture in the PAC Pavilion at 6:30 p.m. The talk will provide the audience with some background and context about the group.
“They are a little too offbeat to be accepted by a vast group of people, but at the same time, way too popular to be considered experimental or avant-garde,” Luber said. “They occupy this weird in-between space that I kind of love.”
The group is about more than just offering an entertaining show. The group, which started off as three street performers living in a downtown apartment, has grown into a multinational company within the past 25 years.
“They have got something to offer, and I think what they tap into is more than just entertainment,” Luber said.
The Blue Man Group has turned its performances into a sort of social commentary that transcends merely entertaining audiences. It becomes more than just an alien-esque spectacle by helping the audience take a fresh look at the world to understand their own culture better.
“They are working with some really important issues about how we communicate with each other,” Luber said. “They are alien, which gives them a chance to look at the technology that we use with a sort of satirical eye.”
Although the performances are sold out, another opportunity to interact with part of the Blue Man Group will be available to students Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. A performer and technician will be coming to campus to talk to students about performance and technology. The meeting, hosted by the Theatre and Dance Department, will take place in H.P. Davidson Music Center, room 212.
The meeting is open to anyone interested, but especially targets students interested in drama and engineering.
“It is an opportunity for an aspiring performer to talk to a professional performer and an aspiring engineer to talk to a technician that does this for a living,” Luber said.