Chicago Sun-Times: After a grueling trial in Chicago, Maxim Bouffard and Alejandro Rodriguez have been selected to join the Blue Man Group, the popular ensemble of paint-spewing, marshmallow-catching, drum-thumping, cereal-crunching performers.
Bouffard and Rodriguez were selected after going through a seven-week training course at the Briar Street Theatre — the first held in Chicago.
6 comments:
It is super interesting to hear about the Blue Man Group and that they have a selection process for joining the group. I saw them when I was younger and I was so fascinated by their show. I really appreciate their philosophy of the ensemble over the individual because now that I think about it, they are right. I would never be able to identify any individual of their group but if they were all together and in costume, immediately, they would be identified. This makes me think a lot about what it takes to be invisible and kind of lose your identity and individuality to a brand. What steps do they have to do in order to join Blue Man Group and what is their selection process? I am really curious what their creative and production team looks for when they select the members and whether or not each person is basically the same person but different fonts.
Blue Man Group is a group that I hear about infrequently but every time I hear about them I’m kind of excited. I saw their show in Pittsburgh when I was pretty young, and I remember not having any idea what to expect going into the show. Not knowing what to expect meant that I took the whole show in with very little expectation, and the whole thing kind of blew my mind as a concept because it was the first time that I saw a show without a firm plot that was just kind of lots of cool things all put together. It’s interesting to hear about their process to select new Blue Men; I wonder how long people tend to stay in the role, as it seems pretty taxing. The point that the article makes about the Blue Men being anonymous is also interesting and so true thinking back to the show, and I like how they say that they are “in service to the character” when they are in the show. I wonder how much the show changes over time; I haven’t seen it in so long I don’t really remember it well, and I wonder how the artistic process behind determining what happens in the show works.
I was able to see the Blue Man Group perform once when I was really little and it was an out of this world experience. I enjoyed it so much and was in awe the entire time. I had no idea that there are multiple troupes of these Blue Men Groups around the world performing and it’s inspiring to see that they have to audition and train for this performance. It reminds me of Cirque de Solie and the intense rigor and training that goes into their craft. I think the act of this performance being based as a community based group lends itself useful to the environment of the audience and helps to create a sense of fame without creating individual stars that audiences idolize. This concept of community helps the performers stay unified but also ambiguous to the audience which I’m sure lends itself useful to how they go about their everyday lives. I can only imagine the amount of practice and training this must take to work as an ensemble to put on a show of this magnitude nightly.
The Blue Man Group is an incredibly unique group so I'm not surprised at all that their audition process has been called a trial. Learning how to catch marshmallows in your mouth and bring laughter to a crowd can be called nothing else but a trial. To be honest I would probably audition for more productions if they marketed it as a trial and there might just be some sword fighting involved. But the Blue Man Group embodies the idea of silliness and buffoonery enough that everyone in the audience has a great time watching three grown men paint themselves blue and mess around on a stage. This article also mentioned the world wide influence that the Blue Man Group has showing just how much they are able to bring some form of joy to the world around them. Overall they are a silly group just trying to spread some joy when times are hard.
It is so cool to see an update on the Blue Man group hopefuls that I have read about prior and honestly didn’t know if I’d ever hear how they did. I didn’t know that there were so many different Blue Man group performers in so many places all doing the same thing, at first I thought it was a traveling show that set up in all these different areas really fast, so its cool to know that there are permanent groups in all these places bringing the show to so many more people because of it. I do wonder how one becomes a technician for the show, I assume it is the same as any other hiring process, but after seeing what they actors need to do I wonder if the technicians, who are the other end of the tricks and performance, also need to do these intensive auditions.
This article about these two men, Maxim Bouffard and Alejandro Rodriguez, joining the Blue Man Group is a quick look into the behind-the-scenes process of a very unique theatrical ensemble. Both actors earned their spots, but the process is about more than their individual talent, as the article implies repeatedly. An artistic director of the Blue Man Group was quoted regarding this idea, saying that becoming a Blue Man isn’t about personal glory, fame, or anything of the like. It’s about becoming the character and embodying it fully for the betterment of the group as a whole and finding fun in the collaborative effort of it. Personally, I think this kind of anonymity in a very famous performance is a really interesting juxtaposition. Bouffard’s comment highlights this perfectly in that he is unrecognized outside of the show yet performs in front of thousands regularly. He enjoys the freedom in the traveling that the Blue Man Group gives him. Honestly, sounds like a dream come true.
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