Blue Man Group finds humanity in connection

For a quarter-century, the Blue Man Group has remained one of entertainment’s most indescribable phenomena.

This is, in no small part, due to the fact that the Blue Men themselves do not talk to help describe themselves. Nor do they make, at least while onstage, any discernible facial expressions. Such is the appeal of the enigmatic entertainers who have wowed audiences worldwide with their multisensory stage experience.

The globe-trotting trio returns to Gallo Center for the Arts for back-to-back-to-back performances Thursday to Saturday, April 7-9. The group was last in Modesto in 2011 and returns by popular demand.

What can be said about the Blue Man Group’s energetic, interactive and always colorful shows is that they have entranced some 35 million people around the world. And, for the past 10 years, Adam Erdossy has been one of the men under the paint. The New England native has performed with the group in shows in New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Sydney and beyond since 2006. Earlier this year he joined its national tour. Before donning the blue, he acted off-Broadway, staged managed, studied kung fu and more.

He said those disciplines have all fed into what it takes to embody the Blue Man. Erdossy spoke with The Modesto Bee from the road in Tennessee. As a Blue Man, he performs about six to eight shows a week. Four men travel and rotate playing the three Blue Men in each show and are accompanied by four musicians each night. Erdossy did his best to describe the indescribable and what it takes to be a Blue Man.

Q: When you joined Blue Man a decade ago, did you realize it would become such a long tenure in the group?

A: Absolutely not. It definitely was a dream come true type of situation. I was a theater actor and really liked music but didn’t really fit into the Broadway musical scene. Blue Man turned out to be a perfect amalgamation of those two things. Before I did Blue Man, I could never comprehend how someone would do the same show over and over again. But here I am, 10 years later. That speaks to not only to the audiences and how dynamic the show is, but for the performers and how dynamic the show is. It is so interactive with the audience; it really changes the show. The live aspect and interaction with the audience give the show a life a lot of theater doesn’t have.

Q: The signature blue that makes Blue Men blue men is paint. Tell me about the transformation process. Do you feel different once covered?

A: Yes, it is quite a process. It doesn’t take hours and hours; it takes about 40-45 minutes. It is more so a process. It’s a transition; you do feel very different once you don the makeup. It takes away internally those things and gets you to drop your ego. The makeup externally accomplishes the same thing. It doesn’t hide as much as it brings out. It brings out a person in you that is more available to everybody.

Q: You’ve acted as well as had technical stage experience and even studied kung fu. How does all that factor into your work as a Blue Man?

A: Well, it’s more about finding the Blue Man within people. That is the one thing the founding guys – (Chris Wink, Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton) discovered. Everyone has a connection to the Blue Man. It’s about finding that character inside of people, which is difficult. Everyone comes from different backgrounds – some are musicians; some never picked up drumsticks, like myself; some are actors.

Q: So what makes a Blue Man?

A: We think of the Blue Man character as in its essence he is a bit of a mix-up of three different traits – the shaman, the hero, the trickster. You see the Blue Man character always embodying these characteristics – he is a bit of a mystical character and primal. The reason he is so engaging to everyone is that he is so innocent. It’s not in the sense of a lack of intelligence; he has a mystical fierce intelligence. What is more wonderful about him is the Blue Man character lacks ego – there’s never anger, jealousy – which we associate with being human. But he is also very human in a primal sense.

Q: Why do you think the Blue Man Group has been able to both capture and maintain such appeal among audiences for so long?

A: I think a huge part of that is the Blue Man character itself. It connects people in a lot of different ways – primal, innocence, fascination with exploration and connection. The show, if anything, is completely about the connections between us. The show, even though it has been around for 25 years, has evolved a lot. It had to evolve because the ways we communicate and connect to each other as humans has changed drastically – even over the past 10 years.

So we’ve incorporated new technology, new screens. It’s a way to deconstruct the ways we connect and feel disconnected. The show has maintained this intrigue and excitement from audiences all over the world because of that. It helps all of us to reconnect with a more primal way of connecting with everyone. Phones and social media are very much a facade; there’s no deep connections. The show is about giving people the opportunity to explore that in a theater.

Q: What is your favorite part of current – or past – shows?

A: Well, the most fun part is the audience interactions. I love playing the music; the music is great. It’s so much fun to interact with musicians on stage. Probably my most fun, cherished time on stage is when we invite audience members to go onstage. We go through a connective ritual. We’ve done this in different cities, Japan and Australia. One of those things I have deeply cherished is that we can do this everywhere in the world and have a similar connection with people. It’s one of those things that knocks barriers down. People think we’re so different, but we really aren’t. There are more things that connect us.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Blue Man Group finds humanity in connection."