Life Style

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK
Thursday, Oct 20, 2005, Page 14

Blue Man has gone from alternative to mainstream, very quickly. PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

In a spare rehearsal space just north of Houston Street in Lower Manhattan, Kuba Pierzchalski was trying to make a masterpiece. In his left hand he rotated a white canvas; in his right, a giant bottle of electric yellow paint. Rather than reach for a brush, however, Pierzchalski opened his mouth, took a deep breath and poured the yellow goop in. Seconds later, the paint came shooting out of his mouth, landing on the canvas in a bright, sloppy swirl.

"Not bad," said Michael Dahlen, his instructor, eyeing the slowly drying work. "But let's try it again and this time really spit it out."

This is Blue Man Group boot camp, where sane adults are encouraged to behave like crazed kindergartners. When not spewing paint, these men catch small water balloons in their mouths, bang the melody to Madonna's Like a Virgin on calibrated drums or learn to communicate with their eyes (Blue Men don't speak).

It's an intense five-week rehearsal and, though it looks like play, this is anything but a well-orchestrated romper room for these future men in blue. "It's a grueling process," Dahlen said. "These aren't skills that people hone in their everyday lives."

What began as an experimental performance-art trio 14 years ago in the East Village has slowly grown into a small global empire. There are now "Blue Man Group" shows in Manhattan, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and Berlin.

A few weeks ago, Blue Man Theater, a 1,760-seatcomplex, opened at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where the group has previously performed at the Luxor hotel.

"The stage at the Venetian is more than five times the size of the entire theater in New York," Matt Goldman, a founder of Blue Man Group, said. He was referring to the 298-seat Astor Place Theater where "Blue Man Group" has played since 1991. "It's massive."

Next month, the Blue Men will begin playing the West End in London.

All this expansion has meant that dozens of new Blue Men must be recruited and trained. In the past year, casting calls have been held in Montreal, Seattle, Los Angeles and Orlando. This month, more than 50 hopefuls attended an open audition at the Astor Place Theater. Some wanted to play in the show's band. Most were willing to be bald, blue and mute.

"I've been wanting to shave my head for a long time, so this will be a great catalyst," joked John Allen Dzuriak, a dance studio owner with a winning smile and thinning hair.

In August, Pierzchalski was one of six European men picked to train in the US for the London company; those six were eventually cut to three.

All those chosen had to fulfill a height requirement of around 1.82m.

"You have to have a common exoskeletal physicality," Goldman said. "You can't ever look at a Blue Man and think there's the tall one, there's the short one, there's the overly curvaceous one, because all of those things are supposed to disappear."

Pierzchalski recalled being asked to share an interesting story at his second audition in London. He then had to tell the same story again using only mime. He was asked to tell the story for a third time with just his eyes. "It sounds impossible to do," Pierzchalski said, "but I did it."

At the start of their boot camp this summer, the men were given thick binders filled with notes on everything from the history of the show to character development. Though it is not readily apparent, each Blue Man has a distinct personality.

"The right character is excitable, almost doglike," Dahlen said. "He's pretty quick on the uptake. The center guy is more by the book, but he read the wrong manual, the 2003 version this year, and the left guy, he's the trickster, he usually seems to have a little something up his sleeve."

During the 10-to-7 workday, the men practice catching marshmallows with their mouths and achieving the Blue Man's signature look: wide-eyed innocence.

"Remember to be vulnerable," Dahlen said, as Callum Grant, a 22-year-old actor from Scotland, did his best to look like a three-year-old entering Toys "R" Us for the first time.