Blue Man Group celebrates 25 years in Chicago by Frank Meccia

It is hard to believe that 25 years later, Blue Man Group is still playing in Chicago. Twenty-Five years of music, entertainment, and buckets of water paints can not stop people from getting their fill of these 3 blue latex covered silent men. For 90 minutes, they provide nonstop entertainment, without uttering a single word. Here are some facts about these Blue Men, they use 18K buckets of paint per year worldwide, 23K broken drumsticks, there are 70 Blue Men seen in 25 countries. There are not too many shows that can boast a record like this. They first started out 30 years ago, then opened up a show at the Briar Street Theatre in Chicago, 25 years ago. I have seen this show 3 times over the last 25 years, and I never got bored. Too be honest, I got up at 3:30am for work that morning, and at 9pm I was still wide awake jumping up and down with these guys. They have a way of immersing the entire audience into their show. And remember the first 3 rows the theatre provides ponchos for you to wear. You can figure out why on that one.

They find ways to provide music from newly constructed instruments and provocative sounds from objects you never would have thought of. This is a combination of lights and sounds never seen before. Amazing how this theater has stood the test of time. Seats are still comfortable, and there are no bad seats in the entire theatre. They even manage to get the balcony audience involved in this show. For their 25th anniversary they had a pre-bash party at Dry-Hop Brewery, east Lakeview’s newest establishment. While there, try their Soft Bavarian Pretzel with whole grain mustard, and there Margherita Pizza baked in their stone fire oven. There beer list is large, but do try the Blue Man beer, wonderful European pilsner beer. Dry-Hop is located at 3155 N. Broadway, two blocks from Blue Man, very easy parking, just remember park at least 12 inches from the curb, I got a ticket from the City of Chicago.

Briar Street theatre is located at 3133 N. Halstead, plenty of parking.

Blue Man Performances are:

Thursday and Friday  8 p.m.,

Saturday at 2pm and 5pm,

Sunday at 1pm and 4pm.

Ticket prices are $49-$69, with group and military discount. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, or at the Briar Street Box Office. Let’s see how this show is doing for my 90th birthday or their 50th anniversary.