It’s weird to watch three men painted blue stare wide-eyed and wordless into an audience.
It’s weird that the blue men then make entire acts out of catching marshmallows in their mouths, or spewing UV paint from holes in the chests of their sweatshirts, or staging a silent blind date between two audience members.
The way they creep around the stage, pigeon-toed and wild-eyed, twitching nervously at every audience noise, is weird.
The way they never speak or smile or break character, even for a split second, is weird.
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And it’s weird that this very weird formula has been captivating audiences for 37 years – until, that is, you see it for yourself.
Because every bit of oddness of a Blue Man Group show, including the Bluevolution World Tour currently at The Lowry, is balanced with brilliant comedic timing, genuine percussive talent, and ever-changing stage design.
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At points during their show they make music from a drainpipe that they turn into a sort of drum-trombone hybrid.
They make music from cereal boxes and fake smartphone screens, and art from gumball machines and even an audience member.
The Blue Man Group making percussion from Cap’n Crunch cereal. Credit: SuppliedA star moment of The Blue Man Group at The Lowry. Credit: Supplied
The Blue Man Group warms up the crowd by displaying birthday messages or words of congratulations to specific audience members, like an Olympic gold medallist sat in the stalls, encouraging everyone to join in.
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They fire out so many coloured streamer ribbons at one point that a child who’s walking down an aisle ends up entangled like a mummy on its way to a 90s rave.
They’re helped along throughout the show by a small, video game-like drumming presence in a sort of blue dreadlocked bob wig, who – to sound very Gen Z – gives me the ick.
There’s a fair amount of audience participation and if you don’t like the thought of a blue man staring at you (even when you try your hardest to look anywhere but back at him) it might not be the one for you.
UV paint and a set of drums are an iconic Blue Man Group stunt. Credit: Supplied
And there are moments where it all gets a bit too weird for my tastes, like when an entire segment is made from the sound of them stuffing Cap’n Crunch cereal into their mouths or whipping neon aerials around.
It’s impressive but it doesn’t actually SOUND good. (See also: beatboxing. Yes it’s very impressive that you can make a trumpet noise at the same time as drumming with your lips but shall we just not).
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Still, with 37 years of sell-out success across the planet, The Blue Man Group is a creative and entertaining way to spend an evening.
And honestly, everyone should see this legendary piece of live entertainment at least once.
The Blue Man Group Bluevolution World Tour is on at The Lowry until Sunday 6 October – get your tickets HERE.
Jersey Boys at Palace Theatre, Manchester – Oh, what a night
Amy Williams
20 years, 65 major awards (including Tonys, a Grammy, and an Olivier), and seen by over 27 million people worldwide – it could only be Jersey Boys, and now it’s back at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.
This is one of those shows where you realise just how many songs you know and love by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, but may not know the story behind the band themselves. How they started, how big they became, how they fell apart, and how they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It follows the four boys from Jersey (who each narrate their parts of the story), how it started as just Tommy and Nick and a range of different guys along the way, until they found the one who has a voice like an angel, Frankie Valli, and this started to change the direction of their success.
But they were missing a key part, a good song writer – enter Bob Gaudio, and the creation of The Four Lovers, who then became The Four Seasons.
Mixed with issues of debt, loan sharks, prison time and more, it wasn’t the smoothest of sailing for them, and as they said themselves, they didn’t create a movement like the Beatles. But The Four Seasons were for the factory workers, the dads, the working class people who could relate to them.
One thing we need to talk about, is just how INCREDIBLE the vocal performances are in this tour of Jersey Boys, staring Luke Baker as Frankie Valli, Carlo Boumouglbay as Tommy Devito, Lewis Kennedy as Nick Massi, and Toby Miles as Bob Gaudio.
Jersey Boys is back in Manchester, for a run at the Palace Theatre
A special mention for Luke Baker, because as iconic as Frankie Valli’s voice is, he very perfectly matched it.
The musical features some of their biggest hits including Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Beggin’, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Walk Like A Man, and of course, December 1963 (Oh, What A Night) which had everyone up on their feet dancing at the end.
This show is incredible from beginning to end, and would recommend everyone go to see this.
Jersey Boys is running at the Palace Theatre in Manchester until Saturday 19 September, and you can grab your tickets HERE.
High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Daisy Jackson -
3rd October 2024 
