Broadway Utica Turned Utica Blue
Broadway Utica proved 35 million people cannot be wrong! Primal, primitive, and oh so silly, the Blue Man Group transformed the historic Stanley Theatre into a modern, rock-n-roll soundboard that stole the audience’s hearts and brought them to their feet.
Rows of people, young and old, families and couples, and an extra special group of women celebrating a friend’s 50th birthday, set the tone for the evening before the vibrant lights, beating drums, and boisterous ensemble caught their attention.
One could call the Blue Man Group an ingenious sensory overload. Mute but boisterous, three cobalt blue men arrive on stage with handcrafted percussion instruments that sends a wave of thunder over the crowd. These men welcomed guests inside their industrial designed set, where they ignited beats that bounced around futuristic screens. Lights flashed across the audience as the blue men switched skits, and introduced an array of abstract art that left one wondering if local artist Angela DeCarlis was in the audience.
Children cheered when the blue men tossed marshmallows into the audience, and then sat wide-eyed as one of them managed to catch over ten marshmallows in his mouth.
Audience interaction was second to the heavy drumming that radiated throughout guest’s bodies. Frantic hands waved in the air as the blue men walked through the aisles in search of a volunteer. From a creative take on a rubber chicken to an unplanned marriage, it was clear that the delightfully bizarre performance would leave nothing unturned. However, while guests held their breath as a giant bullseye was placed in front of an innocent bystander, ready to be pummeled with paint filled water balloons, a sudden interruption of late theatregoers caused the blue men to drop their balloon, forget the bystander, and sound an alarm that illuminated the latecomers who interrupted the show.
Defying categorization, the Blue Man Group‘s exquisite light show, which included a giant lighthouse-style flashlight that surveyed the audience, and musicians, set up in a Motely Crew style cage, accompanied each clownlike activity with precision.
In addition to being creative, intriguing, and infused with a playful pun on modern technology that resonated with most audience members, the Blue Man Group’s exceptional performance art left guests curious – and covered in bright, fluorescent streamers and confetti shot out of handheld cannons.
Difficult to explain, but impossible to forget, Broadway Utica put the blue in the heart of every Central New Yorker.
