Blue Man Group Review

            The Blue Man Group is a group of three men who play music using various creative apparatuses.  Did I mention that they do this while painted blue?  These three men Phil Stanton, Chris Wink and Matt Goldman appear on stage dressed in all black, are donning bald caps and a covered in shiny blue grease paint.  At first, you wonder if you just wasted your money.  The three “blue” men never say anything…they don’t need to.  Their performance is much more than a concert; it is a show, like theatre, only more.  Watching the Blue Man Group is an event.  They are comedy, amazing rock music and drama all wrapped up in a shiny blue bow.  You feel their energy, and not just through the percussion.  Without a word, they transport you to another world.  It is a world of imagination, much like the chocolate factory only without the Oompa-loompa’s!

            These three friends formed their unique group in 1988 in New York.  They started as street artists entertaining in New York.  They also set-up strange events and did pieces in the underground cabarets of Tom Murrin.  After being seen by Meryl Vladimer, they were asked to create a full-length piece, thus Tubes was born.  The Blue Man Group (BMG) has won many awards and much acclaim.  They have appeared on various television shows and have live shows in major cities all over the world.  Millions have seen them perform, if aren’t one of them, I would strongly suggest you put it on your to-do list.

            The show begins with the three men on stage with large pieces of PVC pipe.  They use these pipes to create amazing sound.  There are a few different methods for creating their special music.  One way is to slide the pieces together.  This PVC instrument is called a drumbone.  It requires all three blue men to operate it and it can be separated creating three individual instruments.  Another PVC instrument is the PVC instrument.  The 2” pipe is cut to specific lengths and they are then hit with a large rubber paddle at one end of the tube.  These can be painted with florescent paint and then under special lighting they seem to change colors right before your eyes.  Behind the blue man a band appears.  They are all in their own little spaces in a vertical structure.  Each band member is dressed in a skeleton costume of black, white and neon colors.  Under the black lighting, they appear as real skeletons with colorful parts.

            During the show, the Blue Man Group does more than just make music.  They engage your mind and interact with their audience.  During a drum scene, they use paint on the drumhead and blank canvases to create art.  While two of the blue men drum away the third squirts paint onto the drums.  As the drumming blue men continue to pound away paint sprays everywhere.  The third blue man then holds the canvas so that the paint splatters onto the canvas thus creating a one of a kind piece of art.

            At another point during the show, two of the blue men throw marshmallows to the third blue man who catches them in his mouth.  After catching an unheard of amount, he proceeds to let them ooze out of his mouth.  It is actually quite entertaining.

            I went to this show with my husband and he got an experience that not everyone gets.  While out in the crowd towards the end of the show one of the blue men stopped directly in front of him.  He then proceeded to stare directly at my husband for at least two minutes.  With the blue paint covering him, it allowed his eyes to seem incredibly intense.  It was an amazing experience, unlike any other.  For my husband this was of course his favorite part of the show and is the first thing he tells anyone who mentions Las Vegas or the Blue Man Group.

            I enjoyed the end of the show the most because for me it was totally unexpected.  Even after being amazed and surprised throughout the show, the end still caught me off guard.  Suspended from the ceiling are all these tubes that suddenly drop down and dangle above then the blue men drag these huge sheets of paper from the back of the audience forward.  I thought it was totally unique and unlike anything I had ever seen.

            For me the Blue Man Group show was the best part of Vegas!  I absolutely loved every moment of the almost two-hour show.  The Blue Man Group forces you to enjoy the moment and causes you to think.  The music is so tremendous it pulses throughout your body. The Blue Man Group is an experience everyone needs to have.  They allow you to FEEL their art.

View Blue Man Group Tickets

TERMS OF REPRINT
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free
of charge, as long as the bylines are included and you follow these rules:
*Email distribution of this article MUST be opt-in email only.
*If you post this article on a website, you must set any URL's
in the body of the article and most especially in the Author's
Resource Box as hyperlinks.