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The Orlando Blues

The Blue Man Group gets a seventh permanent home, this one at Universal to compete with Disney World's Cirque du Soleil.

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published November 10, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Universal Orlando] Universal Orlando is remodeling the Nickelodeon Studios for its new act, the Blue Man Group. Tickets to the nearly two-hour show will run $45 to $70. Shows are to begin in June 2007.

ORLANDO - Walt Disney World has its own Cirque du Soleil show. Now crosstown rival Universal Orlando has countered by giving off-the-wall Blue Man Group a stage of its own for an unlimited run.

"We're always looking for something innovative, creative and cool," said Tom Williams, chairman and chief executive of NBC Universal Theme Parks and Resorts that's building a 1,000 seat home for an almost two-hour Blue Man show that will cost $45 to $70 to see. "When I saw their show in Las Vegas, I knew they would be a perfect fit for us."

Universal thus becomes the latest to join the next big thing among tourism hubs: permanent showrooms for well-known entertainment draws. In Missouri, the town of Branson's cavalcade of entertainment showrooms is now spreading to Myrtle Beach and Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Las Vegas brims with so many showrooms housing high-priced acts from Cirque du Soleil to Celine Dion that entertainment has become the casino resorts' fourth-biggest revenue source. Even Miami Beach was courting Cirque du Soleil until local government last month balked at kicking in $90-million to renovate the Jackie Gleason Theater.

Universal is spending less than $10-million converting the vacant Nickelodeon Studios into what will be home for the seventh permanent Blue Man cast. The Grammy-winning musical/comedy group, which has appeared in TV commercials, on Jay Leno and in the Fox TV show Arrested Development, is expanding internationally with two more shows in Europe and its first Asian show in Tokyo within the next year.

"With us, there is no language barrier," said co-founder Matt Goldman of the group that has taken mime to new heights.

Created in 1981 by struggling East Village performance artists Goldman, Chris Wink and Phil Stanton, Blue Man Group has been running 25 years in New York City with a high-energy visual spectacle augmented by home-made instruments built from PVC pipe.

To stand out among New York's eclectic cast of rockers, the trio tried covering their shaved heads with royal blue greasepaint. It never dries.

"We tested it by hanging out at a bar one night and didn't get beat up once," Wink said. "The look proved no lure to the ladies, but a lot of people did buy us drinks."

The group went big time, however, after a five-year run at the Luxor and Venetian casinos in Las Vegas. They're now considered among the biggest draws there, behind Dion and the six Vegas Cirque du Soleil shows. Permanent Blue Man shows are running in Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin and Toronto. There's also a touring company that's scheduled to appear Feb. 24 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

The Orlando show will follow a similar script, with some new material bracketed by the group's most popular concert gags: catching marshmallows in the mouth from 15 paces, splattering food coloring poured over a drum and covering the entire audience under huge paper towels. Fans in the first few rows will get ponchos for protection.

For Universal, it's another attempt to keep visitors on property at night and draw locals to its CityWalk entertainment district. Visitors can attend the Blue Man Group show without paying for admission to the nearby theme park.

"I see locals bringing house guests to see Blue Man Group over and over," Williams said.

Universal also said it will be the permanent stage for a new live TV lifestyle talk show called iVillage Live that's linked to NBC Universal's recent $600-million purchase of the iVillage women's interest Web site. The show, which features five hosts including former HSN show host Guy Yovan, will debut Dec. 4 on Bravo cable network and the 10 biggest NBC-owned broadcast stations. The only one in Florida is in Miami.

It's an attempt to get the NBC-owned theme park more exposure with women who are the main family vacation decisionmakers.

"I know it sounds like a cliche," said Cindy Gordon, the park's vice president of parks television development. "But it's real synergy."

Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 23:49:28]