൯ BLUE MAN GROUP

Blue Man Group is a creative organization founded by Phil Stanton, Chris Wink and Matt Goldman. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight Show, Scrubs, FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman, and Arrested Development; and a children's museum exhibit ("Making Waves"). All of the organization's appearances star a trio of performers called Blue Men.

The Blue Man can be considered a type of homologue, a creature approximating a real male human being. The strongest and most obvious Blue Man characteristic is his static appearance, namely, the ear-less, bright blue head and face, and nondescript, utilitarian clothing. In action, the Blue Man does not speak and his face is usually expressionless, although suggestions of curiosity, surprise, wonder, chagrin, etc. are sometimes visible. The Blue Man does not communicate through speech or broad body language or gestures; rather, he communicates through intense eye contact and simple gestures. He acts impulsively and primarily as a group of three, "checking in" with the other two when making decisions and before moving to their next action. The Blue Man's outwardly apparent motivations are often presented in mild caricature in order to make a humorous and/or ironic point to the audience. Additionally, the Blue Man is inscrutably motivated to drum. They even have their own hand gesture, called the "Blue Man Salute", which is made by raising both arms in the air. These characteristics provide a character free of stereotypes or race and allow all members of the audience to identify with them equally.

Meryl Vladimer, the Artistic Director of The CLUB, saw their work and commissioned Blue Man Group to create a full-length show. The resulting piece, Tubes, took off after Vladimer persuaded New York Times theater critic Stephen Holden to review it. Blue Man Group's popularity continued to snowball, resulting in a performance at Lincoln Center titled "Serious Fun", and eventually an Obie Award and aLucille Lortel Award, which led producers to take the show to off-Broadway. Tubes opened in 1991 at the Astor Place Theater in New York City.

Blue Man Group won a special citation in the 1990-1991 Village Voice Obie Awards, and a special award in the 1992 Lucille Lortel Awards, which are for excellence in off Broadway theatre.

It was decided that cast members would stay in character at all times while in makeup, meaning after shows they would still not speak to audience members, and the only "autograph" they would sign would be a smudge of blue paint. When shown a "new" piece of technology, such as a cell phone or even an old pair of binoculars, they will simply stare at it in wonder. [wikipedia]