Chicago Tribune: "Blue Man Group" has been running at the Briar Street Theatre in Chicago since 1997, a run of almost 20 years. In this city, in any city, that's a remarkable achievement. But here's what is more remarkable: "Blue Man" is a piece driven by our changing relationship with technology. Perchance you recall the technology of 1997. Maybe you would not even call it technology. But "Blue Man" rarely has felt the need to change.
4 comments:
There are a lot of huge theatrical successes I will truly never understand (Mamma Mia, Cats), but the one that baffles me beyond all else is the worldwide smash hit success of the Blue Man Group. Is there anyone left on the planet that has not seen this performed? Are people going multiple times now? These blue men do nothing except splash paint and do weird canned comic bits. I am convinced that people only go because they are men that are painted blue (blue suits? I feel like all that paint day in and day out would be harmful to the skin). Granted, I have never actually seen these mythical blue men myself, but my parents went a couple months ago and were less than impressed. The blue men take things from people! My dad told my mom to hide her Diet Coke so they would not steal it from her and drink it and then throw up different colors! Why do people continue to go to this!! At this point you begin losing money since you 1. most likely paid real money to watch three men splash paint and 2. are losing items for which you also paid real money. Maybe some day, when the Blue Man Group is inevitably still performing years from now, I will finally get forced to see them perform, and it will all become clear to me. Until that day, I will live in this eternal mystery.
This article was interesting to me. It sounded to me like the author (Along with his great respect for selfie sticks) had a great respect for the Blue Man Group, but was disappointed by how much they hadn't changed. I can understand were the author is coming from with his argument. I got the pleasure of seeing the Blue Man group when I was 13, the show was fun and very entertaining but if the show hasn't changed much since then, i think it is loosing some of its wonderment. The show was one of the first of its kind to fully interact with and incorporate technology and if they are not doing much to stay up-to-date, they are not taking advantage of the very advancements their show can benefit from. I can understand why this would be hard, you would need people who knew how to work with this new technology and then be able to incorporate it to the already branded style, but with the growing interest in technology fort he stage, I think there is a real opportunity here.
Entertainment is so interesting to me in the sense that what works well for one type of performance, would be the downfall of another. For Example, a few weeks back, the the Ringling Bros. Died. There were many reasons for this, but most of all I believe that it had to do with the change in its audiences and they did not keep up with that crowed and eventually appeared to be dull after doing the same thing for so long. Now, the true does NOT stand true for Blue Man Group, and I'm curious about their secret. How do they keep people coming back for ultimately the same thing, time and time again? There is something classic and timeless about Blue Man Group, seems to lack, or at least its audience seems to think so, bringing me to my next point. The audiences of the two performances are not one in the same. Those who attended Ringling probably brought their children there as a treat, whereas today that treat would be a gift of new video games, or a trip to the movie theatre. Audiences of Blue Man Group are a little more hard core, die hard entertainment lovers who appreciate tech, music and tradition. This is something that can be appreciated by young and old and has been passed down as a classic. I believe this is how the group has been able to go strong so long. With consistency being a key factor, the group finds its footing. It will be interesting to see what happens in future years and just how long they can go!
The Blue man Group is interesting act. Blue Man " is a piece driven by our changing relationship with technology" this is why, I along with high school friend of mine who used to be a Blue Man performer, both agree that blue man will continue to have great success. As a group that is "talking" about human interaction with technology generally from a frustrated user perspective will always have an audience. The fact that they don't talk actually probably helps their act more so than I think it hurts them because of the fact that so many thing are now controlled by voice activation they could probably do a couple pretty funny bits with it. Also the the more technologies move forward and get more advanced the more material is written for the Blue Man Group. However all in all I do find it fascinating the despite being a show for twenty some years the show has only made to revision to the show that were according the author of the article more in line with basic revisions to update the show a bit. Keep on doing you Blue Man it seems to be working.
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