Cyanmania: noun;  The crazed feeling one experiences after witnessing a truly spectacular performance by the Blue Man Group.

It is rare experience to leave a show speechless, wanting more, wishing you could be BLUE.  In fact, cyanmania only occurs after seeing a Blue Man Group performance.  You never know what you’re going to get yourself into the moment  you purchase a theater ticket in this city.  My usual rule is buyer beware!  But be assured, complete with many laughs, great live music, and multimedia theatrics, the Blue Man Group is the eighth wonder of the world.

Although the three “blue men” never speak a word, their body language and facial expressions communicate (in a sort of friendly alien way) what they are trying to convey to each other and the crowd.  BMG is also highly interactive, where at any moment you can be plucked from your seat, taken involuntarily up to the stage and made a participant of the show. I was fortunate enough to have a video camera stuck down my throat and projected for everyone to see (apparently, one of the many baptismal procedures you must experience before becoming a blue man).

For those wondering, besides laughing from beginning to end, the also show provokes us to think about what art is, and it’s value. For example, one blue man creates a work of art from spitting paint out of his mouth and onto a canvas. The other stuffs his mouth with marshmallows and spits it out to form a “sculpture”.  He then proceeds to put a price tag on it that reads, “$4,000.00.”

The show also dives into music, and the different ways we can mix art with sound.  It makes sense that many people come to see BMG simply to hear their amazing grammy-nominated music, played on unusual, but everyday materials.  (There is one part when they play a song from giant tubes, and drums with paint poured onto them).

Even the music they take to a whole new level.  One of their more famous sketches — “How to Be a Rockstar” —  a computer simply gives them lessons on how to be a rockstar.  First: simple head bob.  Then, fist pump to music that fans want to hear. Someone yells out, “Play Freebird!!” from the back.  And check.  Rockstar.  This sketch became an entire tour in the US.

When you see BMG, you can’t be afraid to participate.  They like to take people from the audience and use them in their sketches frequently.  The fact that they don’t speak makes you give in and just do what they say, as they never give up on a pursuit.  At one point they took an audience member, led him backstage, gave him a frock, painted him blue, tied him up, and pushed him against a canvas to get a point across to the audience.  A movie was shown just before on how today artists paint objects and throw them on canvas to show “the emotion and suffering the artist has endured” which then sells for high prices and makes it into prestigious museums.

And of course the BMG certainly know how to throw a party, they’re final act.   I’ll just say this: there is a reason you get a poncho with your ticket if you sit close to the stage!

[Ed. note:  High 5 often gets blocks of Blue Man Group tickets, but you have to be either on our e-newsletter or a fan on Facebook or following us on Twitter to get them.  They go fast!]