By the time Blue Man Group opens at Monte Carlo, Jabbawockeez will be long gone

By John Katsilometes

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011 | 11:24 a.m.

The blue hue is washing away the plucky youngsters masked in white.

When Blue Man Group arrives at Monte Carlo in the fall of 2012, the hip-hop dance production Jabbawockeez will have long bounded from the stage.

“Blue Man Group will have the theater to themselves,” Monte Carlo President Anton Nikodemus said in a phone interview this morning, his first since it was confirmed by hotel officials Wednesday morning that the Blue Men would leave The Venetian for Monte Carlo next year. “They have 14 shows a week and will be integrating a multitude of different ideas.”

The result is that Jabbawockeez will have vacated the Monte Carlo Theater. As Nikodemus outlined, the Jabba crew signed an initial 6-month contract in October. That contract is up in March, and there is no commitment from the hotel to keep the act on longer than that original 6-month commitment.

“We’re evaluating our options,” Nikodemus said. “We have had a great working relationship with them, and they’ve been extremely successful for us.”

But the Blue Men are a whole different entity. In moving from The Venetian to Monte Carlo, the three-man troupe will require an enhanced theater similar to the showroom they have occupied at The Venetian for the past six years.

“They are looking at the design of the theater, elements to enhance that experience,” Nikodemus said. “The entrance and the whole welcoming process will be brand new at Monte Carlo.”

That process will likely mean closing the doors to Monte Carlo Theater for at least a few weeks next year, making it unlikely anyone will be performing at the hotel venue in the summer. The theater was originally built for Lance Burton, whose act was famously steeped in traditional magic and illusions.

Conversely, there is nothing traditional about Blue Man Group, unless you consider beating drums splashed with day-glow paint and chomping Cap ’N Crunch to the rhythms of a rock band “traditional.” BMG’s annual toilet paper bill is probably equal to the entire budget of some of the city’s less-adventurous productions.

Blue Man Group opened at Luxor in 2000 and abruptly moved to The Venetian five years later just as MGM Mirage was taking over ownership of Luxor as part of its acquisition of Mandalay Bay Resort Group.

Even at the time, MGM Mirage officials said they would have loved to keep the Blue Man Group in place. But the troupe had other ideas.

“It was purely a question of timing,” Nikodemus said. “Thy had made the decision to leave and were committed to The Venetian. By the time (MGM Mirage) took over, it was too late.”

BMG went on to great success at The Venetian, and serious talks began between MGM Resorts (the company’s updated name) and the troupe’s hierarchy last year, as comic impressionist Frank Caliendo announced that he would be leaving the hotel this April so he could spend more time with his family.

Of Blue Man Group’s onerous approach to entertaining, Nikodemus said, “They bring a dynamic creativity and playfulness to the hotel. It is an extremely unique form of entertainment in its use of comedy and multimedia theatrics.”

Though BMG’s stage show still has scenes familiar to those who saw the troupe in its first days at Luxor, expect some tweaks for the Monte Carlo.

“They are completely enhancing the show, with signature pieces for those who have not seen Blue Man Group yet,” Nikodemus said.

Those enhancements will be left to BMG’s founders, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. Expect effects borrowed from BMG’s current national tour to be installed in the new Monte Carlo show.

“Next year, as we get closer to putting tickets on sale, we’ll have a better idea of what will be different,” Nikodemus said.

Those tickets will likely average $80 to $85 each, Nikodemus said. Appropriately, the hotel’s hinting at the announcement of BMG was fittingly clever … and colored. An image of Monte Carlo shaded in blue was posted Tuesday on the hotel’s Facebook page.

“We also started issuing blue room key cards to all of our guests,” Nikodemus said, chuckling. “They had no idea what that was about.”

They do now.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.