Even though there are now 29 of him, and some backup vocals, adherents say success hasn't spoiled Blue Man.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published August 17, 2003
In the late 1980s, three New York City performers covered their faces with blue greasepaint and created one of the most unlikely pop culture icons.
They were Blue Man. One character in three bodies. A mysterious and otherwordly presence who never spoke or smiled; playful, inquisitive, mischievous and maybe just the tiniest bit menacing.
Manhattanites first encountered Blue Man Group - Chris Wink, Phil Stanton and Matt Goldman - on the streets and then in small Greenwich Village venues where they developed short performances. By the time Blue Man moved into the Astor Place Theatre in 1991, they had developed a full-length show called Tubes.
It starts with Blue Man creating an abstract painting by pouring paint onto huge drums and pounding furiously. In the course of the show, Blue Man makes sculpture from chewed-up marshmallows, pokes fun at everyone from Arsenio Hall to Andrew Wyeth, and creates ferocious rock music on invented instruments. It ends with the audience gleefully burying itself in endless rolls of crepe paper in communal celebration.
The show was an immediate hit with people who appreciated avant garde theater. Before long, other people started catching on, people who may not have even realized that what they were seeing was avant garde.
Twelve years later, Tubes is still running at that same theater, with Wink, Stanton and Goldman still portraying Blue Man in front of packed houses every night.
But Blue Man has multiplied. Groups in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Berlin perform Tubes to equally enthusiastic crowds. In Las Vegas, a mutated high-tech version called Live at Luxor has helped redefine that city's entertainment image. All in all, there are now 29 performers portraying the character. There was even a female Blue Man for a while.
Now there's a touring Blue Man Group performing an all-new show called The Complex, which is coming to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Tuesday and Orlando's Hard Rock Live Friday. It's billed as a rock concert, but insiders say it's really something different.
"It's kind of a show about a rock show," said Kalen Allmandinger, a touring member of Blue Man Group. "It's definitely theatrical. We worked with Marc Brickman, a production designer who's done stuff for Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney. The light show is incredible."
The Complex also is the title of Blue Man Group's second CD, following the Grammy-nominated Audio. But it's too facile, Allmandinger says, to say the group is touring to promote the album. The show and the CD are intended to complement each other.
The album, which was released in April, introduced words into the Blue Man repertoire for the first time. Blue Man himself doesn't speak ("The Blue Man does not use language as we do," the press materials say) but some big-name pop stars have contributed vocals. Dave Matthews sings on one track, Gavin Rossdale of Bush on another.
On the tour, Blue Man is joined by a couple of their cohorts from the CD, singer/songwriter Tracy Bonham and pop electronica band Venus Hum. They'll open the show with sets of their own, then join Blue Man to perform songs from The Complex.
The Complex may indicate that Blue Man is taking a baby step toward the mainstream. Besides including lyrics and rock stars, the album even includes a cover of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit.
But over the past 15 years or so, the mainstream has been gradually but steadily moving toward Blue Man. The group has appeared in Vegas and in TV commercials, and earlier this month made its ninth appearance on The Tonight Show.
No matter how popular Blue Man becomes, he won't change, Allmandinger said. Fame will never go to his shiny, cobalt-colored heads.
"He's sort of an Everyman," Allmandinger said. "He's like the audience's representative on stage. He makes all these discoveries, and you're discovering these things right along with him."
PREVIEW: Blue Man Group: The Complex Tour, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Sold out. Also 8 p.m. Friday at Hard Rock Live in Orlando. Some standing-room tickets $40 were available at presstime. Call (407) 351-5483 or go to www.ticketmaster.com
