can't wait for blue man group

How to be a Rock Star: Blue Man Style

The Blue Man Group MegaStar World Tour hits Seoul for the first time in June. The show will run for 16 days from June 10 to 22 at the Sejong Center Main Theater, Gwanghwamun. / Courtesy of Mast Media By Cathy Rose A. Garcia Staff Reporter Three bald guys painted in bright blue, running around the stage pummeling PVC pipes and drums to create unique beats, all while not saying a single word: this is the world-famous Blue Man Group performance. The Blue Man Group is bringing its ``MegaStar World Tour'' to Seoul for the first time in June. The show will run for 16 days from June 10 to 22 at the Sejong Center's Main Theater, Gwanghwamun. Blue Man Group was founded in 1988 by Phil Stanton, Chris Wink and Matt Goldman, who were then working as caterers in Manhattan, New York. From their street performances, the Blue Man Group has become a 700-person international organization involved not only in theatrical performances, but also music, TV and film. Most people will recognize the Blue Men from those quirky Intel 3 TV commercials a few years ago. Seth Freed, senior executive for Blue Man Group International, said the primary goal of their projects is to ``transcend language and culture to connect people through universal humor and rock music.'' The MegaStar World Tour is a satirical look at the rock industry, as it follows the innocent Blue Man character's road to becoming a rock star. The Blue Man character uses an instruction manual for the ``perfect rock concert experience,'' and figures out the formula for stardom, while engaging the audience in a humorous, exciting way. Laura Camien, Blue Man Productions director for marketing and press, said the MegaStar World Tour expands on the Blue Man character, which was first introduced in the original Blue Man Group show. ``We wanted the character to expand and do more things. With the character being innocent and curious, we can just place the character in new surroundings and let him explore it and see what humor comes from it. So we took the character and put him in a rock concert setting. He has to learn quickly how to entertain the audience,'' she said. While applying the title ``megastar'' to the innocent Blue Man sounds absurd, Freed said the real megastars of any concert are the audience. ``It is the energy of the audience that makes any live performance truly great,'' he said. Attending one of the Blue Man performances is a described as a ``diverse combination of 21st century multimedia theatrics, music, visual art, comedy, science, and state-of-the-art technology.'' The show features a set of custom musical instruments, like the piano smasher, air poles, PVC instrument, drumbone and tubulum, all made of out PVC pipes. If you're wondering about the wet-looking blue paint used on the characters, Camien said it is a unique color called ``Blue Man blue'' which is only available exclusively for the company. ``The founders didn't really choose blue, but blue chose them. It wasn't a rational choice. It was creative. Blue was all there was. They knew the character was blue and that he wasn't going to speak. They started to question how he would express himself. And they realized there are two ways to express his emotion, through color and music," she said. The Blue Man Group's worldwide success has been both surprising and humbling, even for the officials. ``The secret of our success is the innocent and curious character of the Blue Man. People can relate to the Blue Man. Living in a high-tech world, we can all attest that sometimes technology is our best friend and other times its has complicated our lives beyond belief. Here is a sweet character, very childlike trying to figure out the world around him. Its funny the way he interprets things,'' Camien said. The show will only be in Korean, but Camien said the storyline is fairly easy to follow and there is no need to translate the music. Even children can appreciate the Blue Man performances, since it involves a lot of humor and action. ``Children who come to the show can relate to the character immediately. Like he's their best friend because that's how they see the world. They are still trying to figure out the world for themselves,'' Camien said. More than 2 million people have seen the Blue Man MegaStar World Tour around the world. The Blue Man Group's MegaStar World Tour makes its Asian debut in Seoul in June. It will also visit France, Austria, Germany, Holland and Denmark later this year. Tickets range from 50,000 won to 150,000 won. Visit www.blueman2008.co.kr or call (02) 541-6235. cathy@koreatimes.co.kr