You\u2019re sitting in a theater among nearly a thousand other people, waiting for the show to start, as red words begin to scroll across an electronic board. One of its first messages asks you to \u201cMake that noise they used to make on the Arsenio Hall Show.\u201d So, everybody, including you, makes a collective \u201cWhoo whoo whoo!\u201d sound while circling a fist in the air. Then, you\u2019re informed that someone in the audience is celebrating a birthday, for which you\u2019re instructed you to say \u2014 not sing \u2014 the words to Happy Birthday.<\/p>\n
Without warning, you\u2019re part of the show, even before the curtain rises at Universal Orlando\u2019s Sharp AQUOS Theatre to reveal three bald, earless, bright blue-painted heads and faces, known as Blue Man Group (BMG). One of them is Richard Cravens, \u201994.<\/p>\n
What comes next is an interactive adventure like no other. Though the threesome never speaks, each Blue Man says a lot about innocence, joy, camaraderie and living in the moment. You might be asked to join in that moment on stage to eat Twinkies or have your ears drummed. Or you might stay in your seat, bobbing your head to the beat of PVC pipes, airpoles, a zither and a drumbone, just a few of the unusual instruments you’ll see and hear Cravens and the other Blue Men play. Either way, you\u2019re a participant, not just an observer, for two mesmerizing hours of vibrant artistry and innovative sounds.<\/p>\n
BLUE PHENOMENON<\/strong><\/p>\n Orlando is only the fifth city in the nation to host a Blue Man Group stage show, and summer 2009 marks its two-year anniversary at Universal Orlando. The original Blue Man Group theatre show began in New York, where it still goes on, along with shows in Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n BMG has also gone international, performing shows in such cities as Berlin, London and, the latest addition, Tokyo.<\/p>\n But Blue Man Group is more than just a show. The blue guys also have a touring rock concert called How to be a Megastar Tour 2.1<\/em>, as well as several DVDs and CDs, including Grammy-nominated AUDIO<\/em> and The Complex<\/em>, which features other artists like Dave Matthews and former Bush front man Gavin Rossdale.<\/p>\n B.B.M.G. (Before Blue Man Group)<\/strong><\/p>\n Music has come naturally to Cravens since his parents bought him a drum for his first Christmas. He sang in all his elementary school productions and was in the school band starting in the sixth grade.<\/p>\n After his first year on a music scholarship at UCF, Cravens realized he didn\u2019t necessarily want to earn a degree in music. Since he wasn\u2019t exactly sure what he wanted to do at that point in his life, he switched his major to business. But soon after, he took a general psychology course as an elective and was hooked. \u201cEverything about psychology intrigued me,\u201d he says. \u201cI had no idea what I was going to do with a psychology degree, but I knew it was the major for me.\u201d<\/p>\n While pursuing his new passion, Cravens continued to play music \u2014 tenor drums and snare drum \u2014 in the UCF Marching Band. \u201cA lot of my fun memories at UCF came from being in the band,\u201d he says. In fact, some of his closest friends today are people he met in the Marching Knights.<\/p>\n While he was in college, Cravens worked as a student musician at Disney, where learned how to be a performer.<\/p>\n After graduating from UCF with a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology, he started graduate school at the University of Florida, where he took more classes in psychology, played in the marching band and continued to work part time at Disney until he was offered a full-time opportunity at the Magic Kingdom.<\/p>\n Blue Man Group\u2019s motto is \u201cFollow Your Bliss,\u201d Cravens points out, and that\u2019s exactly what he had to do.<\/p>\n \u201cI honestly never thought I would make a career out of [playing the drums],\u201d he explains. \u201cIt was just something I enjoyed doing. [This] was a real opportunity to make a living pursuing my passion, and I figured I could always go back to school later if I wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n BLUE MAN IN TRAINING<\/strong><\/p>\n After working for Disney for nearly 14 years, Cravens was ready for something different.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a theme park entertainer was more for the sake of entertainment,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe audience isn\u2019t going to take anything away from it. But performance is not just for the sake of performance \u2014 you can use it to reach people on a different level.\u201d That\u2019s why he decided to audition for Blue Man Group. He loved the idea of using music and performance as a vehicle to reach people.<\/p>\n His favorite way to do that comes in a piece of the show he calls the PVC 4.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a great musical and character arc of discovery that takes place in the song,\u201d Cravens explains. \u201cIt\u2019s like a microcosm of the whole show. It has a powerful climax that captures the whole audience and brings a great energy to the theatre. It captivates everything about the Blue Man \u2014 his innocence; uncertainty; the joy of what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n He earned the opportunity to perform that piece on stage after a long, grueling process \u2014 one that he describes as a cross between Survivor<\/em> and American Idol<\/em><\/p>\n After initial auditions in several cities, a rare few make it through for a New York City callback. But Cravens was one of the lucky ones.<\/p>\n Following two days of being judged strictly on his ability to perform the character, he made it to the eight-week Blue Man training in New York, where potential BMG members are expected to make progress every week. If they don\u2019t, they are sent home, just like on a reality game show.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be tough and intense. They want to see how people react under stress,\u201d Cravens says. \u201cThe most important thing is getting rid of your own ideas about the character, which are probably false, and just try to react in the moment in a truthful way and without ego. It\u2019s a general tearing away of things that aren\u2019t a Blue Man.\u201d<\/p>\n After months of Blue Man training in New York and Chicago, Cravens came home to Central Florida to open the show at Universal Orlando, where he has been performing for the past year.<\/p>\n A TYPICAL DAY IN BLUE<\/strong><\/p>\n Cravens and his fellow performers arrive at the theatre about two hours before their first show of the day. After a quick sound check on stage, the guys start getting into costume and makeup. Then, they break for a brief group meeting before finishing off their costumes and head painting, and warming up backstage until show time.<\/p>\n Although there can be up to three performances in a day, due to the physical demands of the show, Cravens and his fellow BMG members never perform in more than two.<\/p>\n As you might imagine, being a Blue Man is greasy, sticky, ooey, gooey work. Thanks to hypoallergenic cleansers and a stringent cleansing routine, the faces under the paint are able to keep a healthy complexion. But that doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s never a trace of blue left behind.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I might have permanent blue eyeliner on,\u201d Cravens says. \u201cIt takes about three or four days of not doing shows to get off all the paint. I even blow blue out of my nose for days after every show. But it just becomes part of your personality \u2014 you just accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n IT\u2019S NOT EASY BEING BLUE<\/strong><\/p>\n Blue Man Group members are known for being able to express reactions and emotions through straight faces. But how do they keep from laughing when something funny happens? Like, for example, when a fellow Blue Man decides to incorporate a new dance move into the show.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest time to keep a straight face is when one of us does something we\u2019ve never seen or done before,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not as hard as you think. You\u2019re in a different mindset [during the show] \u2014 you are the character.\u201d<\/p>\n Audience reaction is key to every Blue Man performance, because in Blue Man Group show, the audience becomes part of their world.<\/p>\n \u201cThe subjective nature of our show lets everyone take away something similar, but it\u2019s different too,\u201d Cravens says. \u201cI think a lot of times people are truly affected by our show on different levels.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a play that involves the entire audience, and the audience gets to say lines in the play. The audience gets so intertwined with the story. They have a profound effect on what we do up there.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes the men in blue have to improvise large parts of the show due to unexpected technical problems or audience reaction, like one time when an obviously intoxicated man tried to walk up on stage during a performance. Cravens promptly met him at the stairs and escorted him back to his seat before the situation could escalate. (Had the man been belligerent, he would have been escorted out of the theatre.)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so much about the reality of the moment,\u201d he says. \u201cWe notice everything. We even notice when people get up to go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n