Imagine this: a show where lights, drums, pipes, mushy banana paste and mute, painted men come together to perform a symphony of exotic sounds and sights. Sounds crazy, right?
But this theatrical dream is already a reality. Blue Man Group is coming to Jesse Auditorium on Tuesday.
“It’s more of an experience than a show,” Blue Man Russell Rinker says. “You’ve got these three not alien, yet not human (beings) exploring human culture and leading the audience on a journey using music and technology.”
What exactly does an average Blue Man Group experience entail? Lights, experimental music and the audience having to wear ponchos to avoid being splattered with paint. That’s right. The people in the front three rows risk being turned into Jackson Pollock pieces as the Blue Men smash drumsticks and mallets on their drums’ paint-coated covers.
However, the show isn’t just epic music scores and random streaks of paint flying around.
“People are surprised how funny the show is,” Rinker says. “They’ve seen commercials and videos on YouTube, and what they see is this crazy circus-y stage performance. People are shocked to find out how funny it is, with lots of tribal beats that really get into them.”
Columbia is jumping and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the not quite alien but not quite human performers.
“I’ve seen them once before, and I really can’t wait to go see them again,” freshman Elliott Dean says.
But if you’ve already seen them once, should you be seeing them again? The answer is, of course, yes.
Rinker strongly recommends giving the show a second viewing.
“Some people may have seen the tour before, but there is a lot of new material,” Rinker says. “We have a theater show sometimes and a rock show other times. This tour is a mix of them both.”
To the lucky few that managed to snag a ticket to the sold-out show, Rinker says you’re in for a treat.
“(Our new show) talks a lot about texting and social media. All stuff really relevant to today’s society,” Rinker says. “And the audience is also getting a classic Blue Man Group performance. It’s widely acclaimed as one of the best performances we’ve ever made.”
