![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/LAC_BlueManGroup_BhurinSead-BySethKubersky_7405.jpg\")
Credit: Seth Kubersky<\/p>\nCredit: Seth Kubersky<\/p>\n
Nineteen years after the Blue Man Group debuted their first Orlando production at Universal CityWalk, and six years after they closed it in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world-renowned troupe of percussionist performance artists is back on I-Drive at Icon Park, just down the street from Epic Universe. I recently toured BMG\u2019s new purpose-built venue beneath the Orlando Eye during final preparations for their Friday, May 1, grand opening, where I spoke with team captain Bhurin Sead about his journey to becoming one of the Blue Men and passing their iconic aesthetic down to the newest members.<\/p>\n
Sead grew up outside Fort Worth playing music, but says he never considered making his living onstage until he was studying biology at the University of Texas in Austin, where he joined his friends\u2019 Asian American theater troupe. It was a bunch of kids that just wanted to get together and perform, he recalls. \u201cThrough that, there\u2019s something about collaborating with other people \u2014 being on stage, performing, writing together \u2014 that I really enjoyed, but didn\u2019t know what the career options would be, and had no plans of continuing professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
After two and a half years working in a biology lab manufacturing siRNA, Sead was getting the itch to perform again when a Blue Man Group open call notice caught his eye. He\u2019d seen their New York City production as a volunteer usher and been \u201coverwhelmed\u201d by the show, and was familiar with their popular Intel Pentium television ad. The initial audition he went through in 2007 isn\u2019t dissimilar to the ones he leads now, starting with a simple \u201cfixed point\u201d exercise involving standing still and making eye contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do in Blue Man is a stripping-away of things, and all that\u2019s really left is us greeting each other with our eyes,\u201d Sead explains. \u201cThere\u2019s something about being physically neutral [and] being open and looking at somebody that\u2019s really vulnerable \u2026 so an exercise like that really forces people to drop all those habits that we have and just be there with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the second stage of auditions, prospective Blue Men get into \u201cbald and blue\u201d makeup and learn a portion of the show, after which they may be invited to training, which Sead calls an extended audition process. \u201cWhen I trained, we would be in a studio for five weeks before we stepped foot on the stage, [but] now it\u2019s evolved to where we found that the only real way to see how someone does is to get them onstage as soon as possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After about two weeks, new trainees are swapped into portions of actual performances, gradually learning all the parts under the directors\u2019 guidance. \u201cSo much about the character is responding to people, responding to the audience, and you just can only do so much of that in a closed space like in a studio; we need to see them in front of an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his nearly two decades with the Group, Sead has performed across North America (including one summer in Orlando) and even toured Japan, whose audiences he describes as \u201cvery attentive and very generous and very giving in terms of their response.\u201d Perhaps most memorably, he was part of the closing cast when New York City\u2019s run ended last year. \u201cAs devastating and sad as it could be at a show closing, I think what it really brought out was how valuable the community was,\u201d Sead recalls of the final performance, which reunited longtime cast members. \u201cThere was a lot of love in the room that it felt special to be a part of, even though it was a tough thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sead has been working on BMG\u2019s Orlando return for over a year, collaborating with artistic director Matt Ramsey on some of the brand-new material that will augment their classic content, which will comprise about two-thirds of the show. \u201cAll Blue Man material is iterative; you can plan and conceive ideas, but you won\u2019t really know until it\u2019s in front of a live audience, because so much of what Blue Man does is the relationship [with] the audience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The common thread between the new bits and old, according to Sead, is the underlying theme of connection: \u201cWhether we\u2019re commenting on smartphones, commenting on AI, it\u2019s always geared towards understanding how does that help or not help our connection between people. \u2026 When Blue Man started it was about connection. That\u2019s always stayed constant throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, as a recent Central Florida transplant, Sead says he misses some aspects of life in the Big Apple but praises parts of this area that are \u201creally beautiful \u2026 to drive an hour and get to the beach or drive 45 minutes to get to the springs, it\u2019s great.\u201d He\u2019s especially appreciative of the \u201cwarm and inviting\u201d welcome given Blue Man Group\u2019s appearance at February\u2019s Immerse Festival, saying it made him realize that \u201cBlue Man has had a presence here. People know who Blue Man are, and they\u2019re very excited to have us back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orlando\u2019s daily dose of what matters. Subscribe to The Daily Weekly.<\/p>\n
Related Stories<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tJerry and Jackie Lau lure customers down to the tourist zone with nearly four decades of Cantonese restaurant cooking experience \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tPlus a new four-part adaptation of \u2018Lord of the Flies,\u2019 because that\u2019s JUST what we need now\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tOne of the more distinctive newgazers emerging right now\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in April 29-May 5, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"I-Drive\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/JWS_0110.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Streaming](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/FILM_Cr.-Juan-Rosas-Netflix-\u00a9-2024-MANONFIRE_102_240904_JR_00044_R.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TLU-No-Clue-photo-credit-Frames-by-Vince.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n