“Blue Man Group,” the long-running entertainment featuring cobalt characters drumming, spilling paint and lobbing marshmallows, is slated to return to its multi-year home at the Briar Street Theatre, located 3133 N. Halsted St. on Chicago’s North Side.
The re-opening day is set for Aug. 18
According to managing director Mary Grisolano, the new show will feature modifications to the production “to ensure people are comfortable.” Always highly interactive, “Blue Man” previously featured cast members working in very close proximity to audience members and marshmallows used as projectiles. Grisolano said that the whole production was being looked at to ensure that nothing was jarring in the post-COVID environment. She also said that some of the newer segments of the show, which has been revised a couple of times during a run of more than two decades, were being further workshopped and improved.
Blue Man Group is now a part of Cirque du Soleil, which has emerged from a financial restructuring and plans soon to open its Las Vegas spectacles, including “Blue Man.” Grisolano said that the performers and musicians who were working prior to the pandemic closure are being given the right of first refusal for the reborn production. The New York production is expected to open shortly after Chicago.
Tickets to the Chicago show go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. at www.blueman.com.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
