Concert review: Blue Man Group brings new color to OUAB’s acts

Members of the Blue Man Group play unique instruments made from plastic pipes, flexible poles and other unusual objects.
Credit: Courtesy of TNS

I arrived at Ohio Theatre Monday, and there were tons of students eager to get into the hall to grab their seats. As the doors opened, students rushed in and ran to the front of the theatre. I’ve heard before that people in the lower deck usually have the best experience at Blue Man Group’s shows. The people in the first couple of rows where given ponchos to protect their clothing and we were left with funny slogans that ran across the screen until the show started.

“They’re freaking awesome!” said Adam Todoran, a fourth-year in psychology, “I’m pretty biased because I’ve seen them before, but it’s a completely different show every time you see them. It’s a different type of live performance from any other show that a musician or entertainer would put on.”

The show began with acknowledging some random members in the audience by asking them to stand and having the crowd greeting them hello. The audience also sang “Happy Birthday” to one of the audience members who was celebrating her birthday.

The lights dimmed and Blue Man Group appeared on the stage staring at the crowd with their piercing green eyes and cobalt-colored skin. The stare was a long disturbing gaze that seemed almost mime-like with a hint of confusion. They began adding paint onto the heads of drums while one Blue Man pounded on them. This caused a flurry of glowing neon colors to fly all over the place.

This show was definitely about the arts, the colors and the music. One of the Blue Men threw paint balls into the other two’s mouths while they spat the paint out onto canvases to produce beautiful paintings. They also had a live band with them to help produce upbeat rock music as they beat on different tubes and pipes.

The Blue Men Group definitely had no boundaries when it came to the crowd. They were very interactive with the audience throughout the show — from having people throw things into their mouths to getting people out their seats to dance with them. One of the men jumped off the stage and began to climb the backs of the audience’s chairs while touching people’s heads as he climbed up. There were a lot of times where the men would even get up close and personal in the audience’s faces while looking for volunteers to help out with their stunts on stage.

One of the volunteers was put into a body suit and given a helmet to protect his face. They doused him in paint, strung him upside down by his feet and pushed his body against a canvas to make a body print. At the end, they presented him with the canvas to take home.

The show came to an end with animated stick figures coaxing the crowd out of their seats to dance and shake their money-makers. The whole production team came out and threw massive beach balls that lit up with different colors into the crowd for them to bounce around. Tissue paper and streamers were also blown into the crowd by huge fans. Overall, it was a pretty fascinating sight to see, and one unusual for OUAB, which gave out the tickets for free to students.

“The Blue Man Group is very different from a lot of the performances that OUAB usually brings out and that’s what intrigues people.” said Hannah Halischak, a second-year in theater and strategic communication.