To cap off an already jam-packed weekend o' fun, Colin treated me to dinner and a performance of Blue Man Group (complete with a we-need-to-kill-some-time walk through the Boston Public Garden, which is always a treat in nice weather). Ever since he found out I was moving to Boston, he'd been talking about this show, and for Valentine's Day this year, he gave me an IOU for tickets. Things got busy, and we never managed to go--until now!
I had NO IDEA what to expect. I had seen plenty of posters of the iconic blue faces drumming in a spray of brightly-colored paint, and I had heard enough about them to know that it was a wildly eccentric variety show. I imagined it something like Stomp!, the percussive dance show that makes use of pipes, trash cans, brooms, and whatever else they can find to make music. That wasn't too far off.
The best part was definitely the drumming on barrels of paint. They could have just drummed all night, and I would have been happy. In fact, I sort of want to try drumming on a barrel of paint now.
The three performers (all men, approximately the same height and build, all painted blue) also used pipes as instruments, played catch with marshmallows and paintballs, and generally made a huge mess on stage. I was terrified of being selected for audience participation, but I escaped unscathed. The performers were incredible. They were silent and had the most expressive eyes. As I'm writing this, I'm staring at myself in the mirror, trying to make faces - no, not faces, eyes - as emotive as they did. Their expressive eyes made me laugh so hard, and Colin and I agreed afterward that the performers probably changed their expressions a little each night just to keep things fun and a bit improvisational.
As a side note, Colin and I also agreed that Blue Man Group could inspire a lot of elementary school science fair projects. If only I had known that when I was a kid! Making instruments out of pipes would've been so much cooler than doing a taste test to see if people could tell the difference between sugar and artificial sweeteners. (They couldn't, but I got to eat a lot of sugary/fake-sugary snacks.)
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