Blue Man Group: Environmentally Aware?
by Kara DiCamillo, Newport, Rhode Island on 05.21.07
This past weekend, we went to check out the Blue Man Group while here in Chicago. For those that haven't had a chance to catch the show yet, it's certainly something to see. With their colorful lights and fantastic music, our eyes were glued to the stage the entire time. One of you wrote in to tell us about the Blue Man Group's campaign to inform people about global warming when we asked "Who's Your Favorite Green Musician." But we have to say, they are definitely more blue than green (ha). Not only are their instruments made from PVC, but if any of you have seen the show, you know how it ends - paper is passed through the audience while their strobe lights are flashing. This TreeHugger couldn't help but cringe as the unbelievable amount of paper unrolled from more rolls than we could possibly count throughout the theater. And the pile at the top of the stage when the lights went on was certainly a site. Does anyone know if they recycle that paper since, according to their website, global warming is one of the most serious problems? ::Blue Man Group
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They're anti-union too.
Anti-union isn't necessariley a bad thing. The UFCW for example is a union that is not needed. I was forced to join it while I was working part time through college, it was nothing ut problems.
At least at the show in Vegas, they make a big point of letting you know that the paper that comes out is all recycled to begin with and recycled at the end. I would guess that it is the same for their traveling shows.
I saw the show in Boston a few weeks ago, and I was wondering the same thing. I ended up asking some of the people working there and they said that the paper used in from recycled sources, and in cleaning up afterwards, they try to recycle as much as possible. As for the lighting, strobe lights, neon, and fluorescent lighting isn't that bad for the environment. However, it can't be denied that the PVC is a detrimental factor. Anyone know anything about the paint they use?
At least at the show in Vegas, they make a big point of letting you know that the paper that comes out is all recycled to begin with and recycled at the end.
Because it's post consumer recycled before and then post show recycled after the show really isn't good logic as it is wasted in the middle.
Granted I didn't like the show for other reasons but was pretty disturbed by the TP ending myself.
I worked for the Blue Man Group for about 3 years on the cleaning crew and also doing props. They will tell you that the paper they use is recycled but all that paper gets thrown out at the end of the show. Throwing out the garbage at the end of each show is a big job. Occasionally other junk accumulates in the bowels of the theatre and an industrial dumpster is called for to dispose of other garbage. The amount of garbage they create is amazing! The environment backstage is extremely toxic with spray paint filling the air along with cleaning solvents, aerosol cans, paints and other carcinogens. They like to conjure up a kind of corporate "tribalism" to bolster a false image of new age community but believe me when I say that it is all theatre. It has no basis whatsoever in real earth environmentalism. What they do is strictly for profit at the expense of their pseudotribal facade. The last time I worked for them was 1995. I can only imagine how many landfills they have created.
As an addendum to the last comment I made let me add this and then I will let this go: As each of the Blue Men in their afterlives make their way down the River Styx toward Hades, they will be forced to bear witness to the enormous quantiy of garbage and toxic landfills they have created in the name of philistine art.