Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Return to Luxor adds years to lives of the timeless Blue Men

Joe Jonas, Alan Ritchson at Blue Man Group

Blue Man Productions

Alan Ritchson, a Blue Man and Joe Jonas at Blue Man Group in Monte Carlo for “I Can Do That” on NBC.

Joe Jonas, Alan Ritchson at BMG

Joe Jonas, center, and Alan Ritchson, right, at Blue Man Group in Monte Carlo for “I Can Do That” on NBC. Launch slideshow »

Blue Man Group Skydiving to Monte Carlo

The Blue Man Group skydives onto the Monte Carlo, the new home of their show which opens tonight, Wednesday Oct. 10, 2012. Launch slideshow »

The Blue Men are timeless. They defy the advancement of age. There are no Blue Babies, Blue Teens or Blue Geezers. No Blue Man Group puberty or midlife crisis.

It’s a good thing because the characters in Blue Man Group plan to be in VegasVille for a long time. BMG will still be tossing marshmallows into one another’s mouths and pounding the PVS pipe into what, for the normal population, would be their twilight years.

The operative year is 2025. As part of their move from Monte Carlo to Luxor, which happened in a big heapin’ hurry, Blue Man Group has received a healthy contract extension. BMG had signed a 10-year deal five years ago; the troupe has effectively tacked on another five years as MGM Resorts has provided the blue-hued crew a healthy vote of confidence.

“We have always had a great relationship with Blue Man Group, and putting them back into Luxor will be cool for them, for us and for Luxor,” MGM Resorts President Bill Hornbuckle said during a phone interview Thursday, the day the company announced plans to develop a 5,000-seat theater at Monte Carlo that would unseat the Blue Men and send them back to Luxor. “We love what they do for the company.”

The ripple of moves forces the current theater tenants at the Luxor theater, the dance production Jabbawockeez, to pack up and move to Beacher’s Madhouse nightclub. That, too, is a return to a production’s original home. Jabbawockeez debuted in Las Vegas at Hollywood Theater in the spring and early summer of 2010, and its strong ticket sales over two runs persuaded then-Monte Carlo President Anton Nikodemus to sign the masked hip-hop team for a residency that started in October of that year. They moved to Luxor two years ago as BMG relocated to Monte Carlo.

Both shows should be in their new homes by November.

Blue Man Group’s history in Las Vegas reaches back even further, to February 2000, when they arrived at Luxor after building momentum in New York and Chicago. Founded in 1988 by New York buddies Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton, the Blue Men did impressive business for six years at Luxor before moving to the Venetian when the hotel began prepping for its short-lived production of “Hairspray.” Eventually, the theater became home to the Cirque du Soleil/Criss Angel production “Believe.”

This move back to Luxor creates a highly concentrated entertainment lineup on that hotel’s second level, where just across the floor from the Blue Men, at Atrium Theater, Carrot Top and “Fantasy” perform nightly. The static, side-by-side exhibits Bodies and Titanic are on that level, too.

BMG General Manager Jack Kenn doesn’t need to reach back too far to remember when MGM Resorts’ theater plans began to touch the Blue Men. It was just about six weeks ago.

“It happened very quickly,” Kenn says. “There were different places and different options mentioned, but we are super-excited to be with MGM and to be with them long term.”

Blue Man Group will be playing a venue smaller in seating capacity and performance space than the current theater at Monte Carlo, which seats 1,200. The theater at Luxor, built for the Jabbas, seats 830. Advantageously, Blue Man Group’s show has been presented in a variety of theater spaces over the years, including one — New York’s Astor Place Theater — that seated fewer than 300. The BMG theaters in Boston and New York are set up to seat 500 to 600, meaning that along with being ageless, the Blue Men can adapt to any space requirements.

“This is a smaller space, but being in the house will be an amazing experience,” Kenn says. “The seats that are furthest from the stage are just 90 feet away, so you’re really in the face of the Blue Men.”

Not every act in BMG’s show at Monte Carlo, where the theater seems sky-high, will transfer to Luxor. The show-ending descent of giant, colored balls is going to be a tough fit.

“We are going to vet the space and look at what we can do, creatively, and that is one act we’re looking at very closely,” Kenn said. “But I’m expecting that the creative guys are going to surprise me.”

As for the advancement of time, looking 10 years down the road, Kenn said the Blue Men will not age onstage.

“They won’t grow old,” he said. “That’s what’s great about the Blue Men. They are always painted blue, and they are always the same.”

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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