Laughin’ and Cyan

Blue Man Group

I’m not sure the physical theatre ensemble Blue Man Group has changed much since I last saw them at the Briar Street Theatre about eight years ago.  Back then, in an apparent effort to stay current, the three mute, bald and blue-bodied percussionists engaged in some tomfoolery with large smartphone-styled props, although mostly they banged lustily on drums, clambered over the theatre’s seats, and caught marshmallows with their mouths.  Friday night — still at the Briar Street Theatre — three new but still blue performers once again engaged in a bit of tomfoolery with large smartphone-styled props, banged lustily on drums, clambered over the theatre’s seats, and caught marshmallows with their mouths.  

It’s hard to believe, but this pleasant if somewhat juvenile and family-friendly show with comic miming, homemade drums fashioned from pipes, and paint splattering everywhere once was considered a bit avant garde, displaying what was frequently described as a punk and Dada sensibility and earning comparisons with physical theatre forbears Mummenschanz.  More than two decades ago, a review in the New York Times deployed terms such as “deadpan sophistication” and praised the group’s “sharp exposition of the tangled issues facing the information era.”

The emphasis on contemporary communications is still the same, but the Blue Man Group’s satirical jabs at smartphones and the Internet feel as soft as the marshmallows they toss at the audience.  We’ve all, by now, seen the dark side of the Internet, and hardly need some painted and paint-splattered mimes to tell us that passwords are annoying or that the Internet is analogous to underground plumbing and to the organic matter that the plumbing flushes away.

We’ve all moved on.  Audiences have gotten sharper and more cynical, and there probably wasn’t a single adult in the audience who hadn’t had one or many bad online experiences that far outstrip any mild-mannered onstage silliness.  A fair proportion may have also encountered the hilarious Blue Man mockery on the classic absurdist sitcom Arrested Development, whose own satire was far sharper than the Blue Men themselves.  

This current incarnation of the show advertises “visual technology upgrades,” but they aren’t impressive — just some animations that fall a million miles short of what the audience has likely seen from, for example, the performers’ blue brethren in the Avatar movies.  

So if Blue Man Group is offering up the Same Old Same Old, Dated Dye Job Blues, is it still worth seeing?  Well, given that a good portion of the audience seemed to be in the 6 to 12 age range, I would say sure.  The children laughed and giggled consistently, albeit not riotously, at all of the candy tossing and paint flinging.  For them, the bald blue men were something fresh and new and funny.  It also strikes me as a good show for couples on a first date, since so much of the show consists of audience interaction (and in fact, audience members in the first few rows have to wear plastic ponchos to avoid inadvertent dyeing.)  Blue Man Group’s time has clearly passed as a mildly subversive, semi-avant garde sensation — their indigo got up and went — but as an evening of silly family fun, they still are capable of offering up a banging good time. 

Recommended

Reviewed by Michael Antman

Presented July 24, 2023 through March 31st, 2024 at Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted

Tickets are available at blueman.com

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com