They’re blue — and they’re back. Next month, Blue Man Group returns to Evansville at The Centre’s Aiken Theatre for a Broadway series performance that showcases the Group’s unique musical talent. Evansvillians may recall this bald trio’s 2007 performance at Roberts Stadium; each member adorned in basic black utilitarian clothing and covered from head to toe in bright blue paint, and producing pulsating percussive vibes, voiceless comedy, and stunning visual effects.
The band, which performed its first big show off-Broadway in New York City in 1991, quickly developed a strong following for its avant-garde interactive concerts and now tours throughout North America.
An oft-anticipated occurrence at a Blue Man Group show is the wild spray-paint-on-paper antic that splashes paint on audience members sitting in the first few rows. (Don’t worry; plastic ponchos are provided and we hear it’s colored water.) Musical numbers are performed by banging on PVC pipes and surfaces, interacting with the Group’s background band, and using edible props — Twinkies, Jell-O, and marshmallows — which frequently end up on those in the first row.
“Tubes,” a crowd favorite, “is almost impossible to describe in a few sentences,” writes Jason Zinoman of The New York Times. “It’s one of the only long-running hits that audiences will see for the first time without knowing what to expect.”
The troupe’s earless, alien-like appearance makes each scene “endearing and very funny,” says Connie K. Kim, a reviewer for CBS in San Francisco. “There’s something about their wide-eyed, completely blank, blue faces that conveys an innocence and naivety that is simply irresistible.”
