World’s Bluest Men Take over Vancouver – Blue Man Group, March 25-30
Photo credit: Marco Maas | Flickr
The world’s most famous blue men are coming to Vancouver.
Blue Man Group brings its wild drumming, interactive art and zany contraptions to Queen Elizabeth Theatre, March 25-March 30. A staple in Las Vegas for more than a decade, not to mention cities around the world, the unique troupe consists of three men covered in vivid blue paint. They don’t utter a single word, instead using drumming, technology and expression to communicate with the audience.
The blue men got their start as guerrilla performers on the streets of New York City. Their unusual theatrics combined vaudeville, the Marx Brothers, Kodo drumming, punk aesthetics and references to Japanese popular culture, according to an article by the Vancouver Sun’s Francois Marchand.
Their breakout hit was the 1991 off-broadway play called Tubes, which – as the name implies – saw the blue men spending a lot of time playing with, linking up and banging on PVC pipes. This cemented their personas as innocent and childlike explorers, discovering technology for the first time and seeing it in a new light.
Photo sourced from Wikimedia Commons
Over the years, their performances have evolved to integrate cutting-edge multimedia. The current touring show features an enormous LED curtain that spans the entire stage and is lit up with graphics, plus a giant HD video screen. Meanwhile, an old-fashioned live band is chugging away to a frenzied climax. The current band consists of two drummers, a bass player and someone playing the zither, an stringed instrument native to Eurasia.
The result is a high-energy show that seems to resonate on different levels to all ages. There’s intense music, brilliant visuals, lots of interaction and, of course, a splash or two of blue paint along the way.
Blue Man Group plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver from March 25-March 30. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster, with some seats still available for as low as $65.65
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Article source: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2014/03/22/worlds-bluest-men-take-over-vancouver-blue-man-group-march-25-30/
