{"id":235599,"date":"2026-04-17T13:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/235599\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:13:21","slug":"blue-man-group-readies-fresh-show-for-new-orlando-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/235599\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Man Group readies fresh show for new Orlando theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

Workers and technicians are hammering away in preparation for the return of Blue Man Group<\/a> to Orlando, right down to the placement and pounding of PVC pipes, one of the ensemble\u2019s distinctive musical instruments.<\/p>\n

The new show opens May 1 in the freshly constructed Blue Man Theater at Icon Park<\/a> on International Drive. Performances again center on a blue-skinned, smooth-headed trio who interact with their surroundings and audiences without uttering a word. They communicate through movement, music, visual effects and unexpected, humorous moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really great opportunity to sort of build the show up from scratch,\u201d said Bhurin Sead, Blue Man captain in Orlando. \u201cI think you\u2019ll definitely see a lot of new elements in the show, but I think it still retains, like, the old soul of Blue Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group was a fixture for 14 years \u2014 more than 6,000 shows \u2014 at Universal Orlando<\/a> until the pandemic hit in 2020. The show closed down\u00a0along with much of the Central Florida tourism industry, and in early 2021,\u00a0it was announced that it<\/a>\u00a0would not reopen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But that changed again with the 2024 announcement that Blue Man would move into a structure made for them near I-Drive. The bright white, curved-roof theater \u2014 with blue trim, of course \u2014 is nestled near the base of the Orlando Eye observation wheel on the Universal Boulevard side of Icon Park entertainment complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s custom-built, so everything in here is to our specs,\u201d Sead said.<\/p>\n

\"LeftZachary Olson (from left), head of automation department; Daniel Pooley, head of carpentry; Kevin Connolly, head of the musical instrument department; and musical instrument technician Bruno Ufret work on the PVC in the new Blue Man Theater, on Thursday. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

The theater, which has a capacity of 574 spectators, has black flooring, walls and ceiling. The seats are dark blue. The stage is bi-level to accommodate musicians and large digital screens to interact with audience members and performers. The stage is flanked on each side by a towering mass of PVC pipes. The building has a small lobby and merchandise area, as well as dressing rooms and office space backstage.<\/p>\n

\u201cSize is something that\u2019s really important for us. We want something that feels big, like, has a spectacle of a big show, but it still has the intimacy,\u201d said Sead.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Man has its roots in New York City, and that theater sat 280, 290 people, so really tiny shoebox,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to still capture that intimate feel where there\u2019s not a bad seat in the house, the audience still feels the Blue Man\u2019s presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BlueBhurin Sead’s job title is Blue Man captain for Orlando. He performed with the group at the Universal Orlando location for a few months in 2008, but the bulk of his time has been in New York and Boston, he said. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Their theater at Universal, the home of Nickelodeon Studios once upon a time, had 1,000 seats in its Blue Man phase.<\/p>\n

Standard Blue Man fare, such as bright paints and flying marshmallows, will be in the new show along with new matter, Sead said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we write stuff, it\u2019s from the Blue Man\u2019s perspective. And the Blue Man is sort of like innately curious about our world, innately curious about how we connect people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence \u201cis very present in our world right now, and it\u2019s natural that the Blue Men would want to investigate. \u2026 How does this affect our connection to one another, connection to ourselves and things like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Disney: Opening day, songs for Muppets roller coaster set<\/a><\/p>\n

But what about the old bombastic, big-ball finale of yore?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something we\u2019re still actively working on, the finale,\u201d Sead said, though he anticipates that exuberance, immersiveness and a party atmosphere will be elements.<\/p>\n

Blue Man Group, formed in New York City in 1987, was purchased by Cirque du Soleil<\/a> in 2017. Cirque continues to produce \u201cDrawn to Life\u201d at Disney Springs<\/a>. Last year, Blue Man\u2019s longtime productions in New York and Boston concluded their runs. The company still has a standing show in Las Vegas and touring versions.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new 574-seat Blue Man Theater is next to the Orlando Eye at Icon Park on International Drive. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Orlando show are available at blueman.com<\/a>. Prices range from $59 to $122 per person. Start times vary for the 90-minute show. On some 2026 dates, the theater will remain dark, but others will feature three performances.<\/p>\n

dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workers and technicians are hammering away in preparation for the return of Blue Man Group to Orlando, right…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,104,28,114,266,2609,1335,139,141,140,109,76687,76688,76689,3478,2411,106,1316,107,3434],"class_list":{"0":"post-235599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-music-and-concerts","14":"tag-orange-county","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-orlando-headlines","17":"tag-orlando-news","18":"tag-social","19":"tag-social-entertainment","20":"tag-social-theme-parks","21":"tag-social-travel","22":"tag-theater","23":"tag-theme-parks","24":"tag-things-to-do","25":"tag-tourism","26":"tag-travel","27":"tag-universal-orlando"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}