The guys with the blue heads have opened a grade school.
One of the most joyful, creative, fun and memorable experiences you can have in Manhattan is the Blue Man Group's show. Silly, thoughtful, absurd, intellectual, surprising, participatory, all of those adjectives apply. But most of all, the word, "creative," pops into mind. To have such untrammeled creativity... what would it be like? I wonder. Well, at least I got the t-shirt.
Most of us creatives are supposed to work within a snug box defined by a client's sensibilities, intelligence, risk aversion, and budget -- not to mention the "input" of a slew of other "stakeholders." Anybody who's done "creative" work for a large corporation can relate.
But Blue Man Group is like the free child we were at age 2, 3 or 4. No boxes for us. Experimental, delighting in discoveries of new colors, shapes and sounds. We explored all of that, and ways that physical objects act when you do THIS to them -- or THAT. Like a toddler pushing his Sippy Cup off the table 20,000 times and making Mom fetch it -- or squishing his rice cereal out the sides of his mouth and giggling as it drips off his chin.
It's only natural, in a way, that Blue Man Group should start a school to encourage kids to indulge in what the grown-ups call "silliness." Guess what? That silliness is the way we started learning to be fully, creatively human. Remember? That was before public schools sat us in rows, made us raise one finger or two to go to the potty, and discouraged us from "discovering" anything the teacher didn't present to us. "Hey, that piece of snot from my nose looks pretty funny on that other kid's head." "Johnny, it's time-out for you." "Awwww..."
If I had $27,000+ per year to send my pre-schooler to Blue School, I'd do it in a New York minute, as they say. Read all about it here. And if you want to see a video from the Blue School, go here.
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