Blue Man has Susquehanna roots

BY CAITLIN HEANEY
Times Shamrock Writer

The stars of Blue Man Group might all look the same with their bald heads, black attire and trademark colorful skin, but one of the cast members will stand out for sure when the show returns to Scranton this weekend.

Susquehanna native Mike Brown has been part of Blue Man Group for more than a decade and will be on stage when Broadway Theatre League of Northeastern Pennsylvania brings the show to Scranton Cultural Center at The Masonic Temple for four shows from Friday to Sunday, Nov. 8 to 10.

Brown lived in Susquehanna for about four years before heading to Virginia Beach, Va., where he grew up, but he still has plenty of family in the greater Scranton area planning on coming to check out the show.

“I’m so excited to be in Scranton,” Brown said this week by phone from the tour’s stop in Wausau, Wis. “It’s a fun town, and it’s going to be so great to see my family and have them see what I do.”

Brown, now based in Boston, first encountered Blue Man Group in 1997 when he saw a show and “just fell in love with it.” He joined the production as a crew member and then became part of the cast after an open audition a few months later.

Since then, he has performed with the troupe in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, Berlin and Oberhausen and on Norwegian Cruise Lines. He has been on the road with the current tour since August and has enjoyed seeing the different towns and everything that comes with it.

“It’s a really awesome adventure,” he said.

Blue Man Group last performed in Scranton in 2011 as part of its first tour of smaller theaters, but audience members can expect to see a different spectacle this time around.

“The Blue Man always is sort of shifting the show sort of annually, and so there is a lot of newer material within the show and just in terms of like what is culturally relevant, really,” Mr. Brown said. “Blue Man is always sort of investigating the world in terms of technology and socially and community-wise, so in terms of those things, the show is always new and fresh.”

The Blue Men do not speak during the show, conveying their meanings through actions and music. The shows are known for their creativity and humor, and they often incorporate multimedia and audience interaction to enhance the music. Audience members really enjoy the face-to-face contact they can have with the performers, Brown said.

“Blue Man is all about breaking that sort of fourth wall that exists in most theatrical events, and Blue Man is going to come out into the space and really interact with everybody because that’s what he really wants,” he said. “The show is about creating this larger sense of community and connecting with everybody.”

Blue Man Group has been around for many years and has shows worldwide, and Brown believes what has made the show last for so long is its universality.
“We don’t speak, so therefore when people come to see the show, you kind of make up the story for yourself,” he said. “You kind of determine who you think the Blue Man character is and why they’re here and what they’re saying to each other as they interact. I just think that is really what makes the show so strong.”

Brown said audience members can expect to “laugh their heads off” taking in what he described as a fun, live experience unlike any other show.

“There’s going to be a lot of music,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of paint and other awesome liquidy things flying all over the place that people sometimes might get a chance of feeling firsthand, which is dangerously exciting, and also just a really funny, thoughtful experience.”

Blue Man Group is presented by Broadway Theatre League of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Friday, Nov. 8, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 9, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 10, 1 p.m., at the Scranton Cultural Center at The Masonic Temple, 420 N. Washington Ave., Scranton. Tickets are $35, $49 and $60 and are available at the box office, over the phone at 800-745-3000 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.