Blue Man Group coming to Universal Orlando (updated)

Good & Bad

Good = Blue Man Group was the highlight of my New York City trip a couple years ago, I not only do I look forward to seeing them again, I recommend them to almost any person I know, should the topic arise.

Bad = Last time I went to Florida was in 1997, I'm going again in a month, and probably won't be back for a while. I don't think I'll be able to see this Orlando show anytime soon.

Just ordered my tickets for opening night. Fifth row (first after the poncho section), dead center. :)

Poor Nickelodeon Studios. :(

Bah. This is a much better arrangement. I did Nick the year it opened, and even as a TV guy it was only moderately interesting.

The prices for BMG listed on Universal's website are very reasonable and much less than what I paid last winter for the BMG show in Vegas. It looks like BMG/Universal are doing some very smart marketing.

Agreed. We took our children there when the Nick thing was huge, and we had a good time. But the Blue Man show is far more appealing to a wider audience and now that the kids are grown, Universal will definitly be on the agenda next year.

Good move Universal.

More from the Orlando Sentinel.

Why can't it open in May? When I'm going to be there.

Tony, BMG goes through crazy casting procedures. What they do is that they hire all locally, but put in vet Blue Men and cast in the show to help train them, then they gradually go to the full cast. Once you see the stage and everything you'll also know why it'll open in June.

It's not the stage... it's the theater. Building a show like this is not that complex, except maybe in the construction of the instruments. The show's "look" is 90% lighting (and 10% paper). But re-purposing a building, that doesn't happen overnight. The converted a department store in my town to a movie theater, and it took about six months. This is conceptually similar to that, with a boxy building having a theater carved into it.

True Jeff, should have used better words. Thanks.

Here's the time frame I've heard so far....

Work to proceed November 22,2006
Exterior work to be done by February 2,2007
Soundstage work completed March 30,2007
All work completed and C.O. obtained April 13,2007

So about four months to re-purpose the building. That's impressive. Leaves only a couple of weeks to build the show, though who knows how much of that they'll do off-site or in a different building anyway.

Also, the Toronto show is scheduled to close before then. I haven't seen that show, so I don't know how it compares to the Vegas and Berlin shows (which were very similar), but I imagine they could move some of the larger props like the persistence of vision statues (I LOVE that bit) to Orlando if they need to.

"Rods and Cones," duh! If you weren't so anti-iTunes you could buy the video from Vegas. :)