Blue heaven

ONE of the first tasks Frenchman Aurelien Bernard had to learn was not spreading the famous non-drying make-up paint of the Blue Man Group (BMG) everywhere. That’s a welcome relief for audience members attending the BMG Megastar World tour which reaches the MetroRadio Arena, Newcastle, on May 23.

“We wear scullcaps and the ‘paint’ is make-up mixed with Vaseline. Then you have to be careful how you stand and be aware of not spreading blue everywhere. Playing the Blue Man character is being able to do this.

Sometimes its murder and a bit messy.

In the beginning it took something like an hour for me to get made-up, but now, with the help of someone else, I can be ready in 15 minutes.”

And has he ever questioned why he’s blue for a character he describes as “hero, clown, thief and pop idol”?

“In a way it’s not the hardest question to answer. It’s the most asked question because there is no explanation, but the colour is right. It came out of a dream and, if you think, if we used red we’d look like devils and if we were green we’d look like martians.”

“I think it’s great that we’re silent because we connect with the audience on another level and it’s a very interactive show and the whole show is about music. We have to really look at people and react to everything they do. There may be a laugh and we have to react and it’s fantastic when we go to the audience and really look people in the eyes to gauge what they’re thinking,” he says.

Bernard says the hardest part of becoming one of the three true Blue males on stage is the length of time it takes to really embody the spirit of what the BMG are trying to portray on stage.

“I think the character is very aware and you have to be very focused. It is hard to retain that focus and never drop from your character,” he says.

He’s been based in Berlin recently after completing a European tour and is looking forward to taking part in the UK tour to Newcastle. “There are four of us in the cast, but only three on stage. The dynamic for the comedy only works with three and also we highlight it as being the beginning of the Blue Man tribe. But if someone becomes ill or injured the fourth cast member means that we never have to cancel a show.”

Is he happy to be anonymous?

“I think you get the best of both worlds. You get to be a bit of rock star on stage but in the street you’re never bothered. I like the idea that the character could be anyone because this person is in all of us. This is our creativity and also the child in us.

When you grow up you tend to throw out the baby with the bathwater. The stuff you do as a kid, such as drawing and painting, you don’t attempt any more and we demonstrate this in the show and try to re-find our sense of wonder.

“For the Blue Man the stage is a playground for art and music.”

IF someone had come to US executive producer Greg Hagglund with the idea of touring three silent bald blue-faced men playing homemade instruments and creating messy artworks he admits he would have turned them down.

“I don’t think I would have bought the idea. I don’t think I’d have had the vision that the co-founders of this show had. If you were to be in a pub having that conversation 20 years ago, I don’t think personally I’d have gone for it,” says Hagglund.

What was essentially street theatre back in 1987 has become a worldwide franchise which has pulled in audiences of more than 16m with regular shows in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Berlin, Toronto, London and Amsterdam. “We have had success around the globe because this is not the normal light entertainment or concert event. This is not an attraction that gets a tremendous amount of radio airplay or has a weekly television show. The phenomenon really is I guess from grassroots, meaning that people go to see the BMG somewhere around the world and fall in love with the performance and tell their friends. So it’s a real fanbase show with an age demographic from kids to grandparents,” says San Louis-based Hagglund.

Some legacies of the BMG, since Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink gave up the world of catering for New York street art in the late Eighties, remain as mysterious as the invention of the Drumbone, PVC instrument, Big Drum and Airpoles to create the dynamic and rhythmic sounds which has led to hit CDs.

Then there is the messy world of whirlpool drumming, marshmallow throwing (well spitting actually) and paint spitting (no other explanation required).

Hagglund says: “Megastar is like a story about all the great arena concerts in the Seventies and Eighties and it’s like love letters to the past.

The Blue Men have so much fun in terms of teaching themselves and teaching the entire audience into becoming a megastar or rock star.

There’s also a great time to be had with the silliness that goes on in the rock ‘n’ roll world,” he adds.

Some of the artworks created on stage by BMG are given away to the audience.

“I’m aware that these items are cherished by audience members, but I’m not sure they are worth anything.

But I remember once when a band manager asked what the band was worth and he was told ‘I guess it’s worth what you paid for it’ and the artwork is worth what someone will pay for it,” says Hagglund.

Such was the sell-out response to the Blue Man Group’s visit to London’s O2 arena in February that the US-based company decided that a UK tour was essential.

“We felt in our hearts that a Megastar tour would be well received,”

says the executive producer who, with partner Paul J Emery, had been interested in a contract with BMG since 2003.

“We fell in love with the shows and saw the reaction of the audiences and knew that this was something we had to become a part of and in 2006 we gave a presentation of how we’d handle Megastar and were awarded the tour. We’ve been producing it worldwide ever since then. I’ve done a lot of shows and tours and events of every conceivable nature in the last 30 years and I find this one of the most rewarding. People enjoy this and they have fun and can bring their families to a sophisticated show which inspires them,” he explains.

■ Blue Man Group: Megastar World Tour Live arrives at the MetroRadio Arena, Newcastle, on May 23. Tickets: £39.50. Box Office: 0844-493-6666, metroradioarean.co.uk