Blue Man Group Bluevolution World Tour Festival Theatre 9th October 2024 Review
Blue Man Group - Bluevolution World Tour is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh until Sunday 13th October, and with a selection of evening and matinee performances, there is an opportunity for everyone to catch up with this show.
If you are already a fan of Blue Man Group then you will understand why they have become so popular. If you are new to them, then here is a quick résumé. Blue Man Group is an American performance company founded in 1987 and their shows offer a unique updated format of the classic mime artist performance. On stage, never more than three at any one time, the Blue Men bring their very distinctive style of humour and a lot of drumming/percussion to the stage. For this tour, the drumming/percussion is augmented with the introduction of a new character called “The Rockstar”.
The Blue Man Group shows are advertised as being suitable for aged 3 years+, but tonight, as I suspect at every show, adults made up the vast majority of the audience. There is obviously something in the Blue Man style of humour that appeals to the child in all of us.
To become a “Blue Man” you have to be skilled at drumming, around 6 foot in height and able to wordlessly emote what is happening on stage. The Blue Men have very distinctive personalities and embody innocent, hero, scientist, shaman, group member, and trickster.
Silent performance, like old silent movies, has one huge advantage over many other art forms as it can wordlessly cross so many language and cultural barriers, and this plays a huge part in the success that the Blue Men have had in so many different countries. As tonight, their humour is also universal. The sketch highlighting our constant battle with passwords to our technology is one good example of this.
The Blue Man himself may be silent, but this show is far from silent as their percussive skills on paint drums and a variety of unusual instruments is obvious. A large part of this show is also the wide range of audio and visual technology that is used throughout this 90 minutes, with no interval, performance. The basic mime concept of the Blue Man Group may be a very old one, but this is very much a 21st century stage set that they are performing on.
If you have booked seats for anywhere near the front of the theatre, be prepared to put on your disposable rain coat (handed out) and engage in some mild audience participation.
The Blue Man Group is a show full of surprises, and I have no intention of giving any of these away in this review. It is also a show full of humour and charm and a theatrical experience unlike any that I have seen before.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If you are already a fan of Blue Man Group then you will understand why they have become so popular. If you are new to them, then here is a quick résumé. Blue Man Group is an American performance company founded in 1987 and their shows offer a unique updated format of the classic mime artist performance. On stage, never more than three at any one time, the Blue Men bring their very distinctive style of humour and a lot of drumming/percussion to the stage. For this tour, the drumming/percussion is augmented with the introduction of a new character called “The Rockstar”.
The Blue Man Group shows are advertised as being suitable for aged 3 years+, but tonight, as I suspect at every show, adults made up the vast majority of the audience. There is obviously something in the Blue Man style of humour that appeals to the child in all of us.
To become a “Blue Man” you have to be skilled at drumming, around 6 foot in height and able to wordlessly emote what is happening on stage. The Blue Men have very distinctive personalities and embody innocent, hero, scientist, shaman, group member, and trickster.
Silent performance, like old silent movies, has one huge advantage over many other art forms as it can wordlessly cross so many language and cultural barriers, and this plays a huge part in the success that the Blue Men have had in so many different countries. As tonight, their humour is also universal. The sketch highlighting our constant battle with passwords to our technology is one good example of this.
The Blue Man himself may be silent, but this show is far from silent as their percussive skills on paint drums and a variety of unusual instruments is obvious. A large part of this show is also the wide range of audio and visual technology that is used throughout this 90 minutes, with no interval, performance. The basic mime concept of the Blue Man Group may be a very old one, but this is very much a 21st century stage set that they are performing on.
If you have booked seats for anywhere near the front of the theatre, be prepared to put on your disposable rain coat (handed out) and engage in some mild audience participation.
The Blue Man Group is a show full of surprises, and I have no intention of giving any of these away in this review. It is also a show full of humour and charm and a theatrical experience unlike any that I have seen before.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com