Spearheaded by Qatar National Tourism Council and collaborated by different companies and organisations, the Summer in Qatar campaign has so far put forth multiple music, comedy, and stage shows besides having entertainment activities for children and families at different shopping malls.
The latest attraction from the campaign is going to be a fascinating stage show by the Blue Man Group, a wildly popular theatrical phenomenon. The group will be visiting Doha for the first time as part of their latest world tour. Expect the unexpected, as Blue Man group takes the audience on a one-of-a-kind journey featuring new music, fresh stories, custom instruments and spectacular graphics.
The award-winning extravaganza will take place at Al Mayassa Theatre of Qatar National Convention Centre from August 14 to August 17.
Formed in 1987, Blue Man Group is a performance art company that is known worldwide for its various stage productions which typically incorporate many different categories of music and art, both popular and obscure. The group has continuing theatrical productions in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City, and Orlando.
A typical Blue Man production employs 7–9 full-time Blue Men who are selected through an audition process. In addition to the stage theatre show, the group has had multiple national and global tours, appeared on various TV programmes as both characters and performers. The group has also released multiple studio albums, contributed to a number of film scores, performed with orchestras around the US and appeared in ad campaigns.
The group actually grew out of a collaboration between three close friends namely, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Its first public appearance was a celebration of the end of the 1980s. The three men wore blue masks and led a street procession that included the burning of a Rambo doll and a piece of the Berlin Wall. MTV’s Kurt Loder, who covered the event, drew attention to the strange Blue Men – and what began as creative disturbances on the streets of the city became a series of small shows at downtown clubs, and eventually a full performance at the Astor Place Theatre in 1991. In July 2017, the group was bought by Cirque du Soleil, who announced that they would expand the concept.
There are a number of different themes found in various Blue Man performances that included; science and technology, information overload and information pollution, innocence, self-conscious and naïve imitation of cultural norms.
Blue Men always appear as a group of three. This is because not only are Blue Men viewed as outsiders to the rest of the world, but three is the smallest group possible when endeavouring to create a community. Many of the Blue Man skits involve one of the three Blue Men performing in a manner inconsistent with the other two.
In 1999, the group released Audio, their first studio recording. Although it contained some of the music from their stage productions, it was chiefly a collection of full-length instrumentals featuring new instruments.
In 2002, the group participated in Moby’s Area2 tour, giving a more rock-oriented performance than in the theatrical shows. Songs developed during this tour appeared on 2003’s album The Complex.
Unlike Audio, The Complex, featured a variety of vocalists and guests including Tracy Bonham, Dave Matthews, Gavin Rossdale and Venus Hum. The record spawned its own 2003 tour, How to Be a Megastar, the first headlined by Blue Man Group. The tour deconstructed the traditional rock concert experience into its often cliched parts and was chronicled in a 2004 DVD release. The tour featured Tracy Bonham and Venus Hum as supporting acts.
Announced in 2009, the group began performing for the first time at sea on Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship Epic. From July 2010 to March 2015, Epic alternated 7-Day Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings from Miami with nightly Blue Man Group shows.
During a national tour in 2010, the group visited various cities in the United States, Canada and Latin America. The tour included elements from their then-current theatrical performances, and new elements created for the tour. To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the group gave a special performance with Dave Matthews at the Astor Place Theatre in New York City, collaborating on the song Sing Along. For their 25th anniversary, the group took a global tour kicked off in Singapore in March 2016.
