There are a lot of things in this world that you know they exist, you have somewhat of an idea what they are, but beyond that, you’ve given them very little thought. Whether it be a show, a video game, or a movie. For me, one of the things on this list is the Blue Man Group at Universal Orlando Resort. Even in the year I spent working at Universal, I never made it to the show.
Well, time to fix that.
The Box Office said seating was open from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. We got there right around 7:30 p.m. and had plenty of time to kill. Despite my hatred of concession stand prices, we got a pretzel and drink because I didn’t feel like listening to my stomach growl the whole show. The concession stand person talked me into paying the extra $3 for a refillable souvenir cup, but it’s honestly the cheapest souvenir cup I’ve ever bought and it’s dishwasher safe, so I’m okay with it.
We were seated in the far right section, but we were seated on the inside part of it so it was almost like being in the middle section. We had a clear view of the stage and four annoying little kids sitting in front of us, but at least they were short.
There were four small monitors with scrolling red text mounted around the stage. Right at 8 p.m., what is probably the oddest pre-show I’ve ever seen in my life started. It would scroll across the name of a random person and some strange accomplishment like a 1997 Olympic medal winner or a sheep riding Rodeo Champion, then have that person stand up and the rest of the audience congratulate them. Then we had to very specifically say the words to “Happy Birthday to You” and not sing it, since it’s not public domain. It then progressed to a Pledge that they made the whole audience recite together about not using electronic devices during the show.
The show started with what I always pictured Blue Man Group being: paint splatters and drumming. They actually painted a canvas and gave it to someone in the front row of the audience. The most impressive part of this segment involved one of them throwing something to the other and him catching it in his mouth. They must have done this eight times, and didn’t miss once!
The next portion of the show involved giant GiPads, clearly a non-copyrighted version of iPads. I was more impressed with the timing and responsiveness of the screens than I was the comedy, and spent most of the time trying to figure out if someone was manually controlling the effects or if their timing was really just that good.
It was about the end of the GiPads segment when the infamous “Late Song” began to play. A couple walked into the show late so they literally stopped the entire show so all three performers could stare at them, and a camera man came from backstage to put them on the teletron.
The entire show had no dialogue. There are some pre-recorded sound effects and phrases but the Blue Man Group never says a word. Each act or segment is anywhere from five to fifteen minutes long, and the show was compromised of eight or ten acts. Some of the segments were all musical instruments and drumming, some had more paint, and two asked for audience “volunteers”. I say “volunteers” because they were picked with no real choice. Since so much of the show is music and visual gag, it’s a difficult show to describe. Blue Man Group’s official run time is 90 to 105 minutes. We got out just before 10 p.m.
Blue Man Group is definitely a one of a kind experience. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The music was my favorite part by far. They never played more than ten seconds of any popular song to avoid paying the rights, but it was cool to hear them actually playing “Smoke on the Water” on PVC pipe drums even if it was short. Some of the humor is sort of hit and miss. Most of the show I found pretty funny, but there were a couple of gags that fell just short of disgusting.
Cost: General admission tickets start at $60.00. There is a Florida Resident special for $49.00
Duration: The whole thing with parking and the walk through City Walk is a little over two hours.
Value: Cool to do once.
Add Ons: There is a VIP Experience for $199 that includes the show, a backstage tour, meeting a Blue Man Group member, playing an instrument and snacks.
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