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Dissertation Final 6.4.pdf (1.15 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
From the Avant-Garde to the Popular: A History of Blue Man Group, 1987-2001
Author Info
Harrick, Stephen
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447855816
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2015, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Theatre.
Abstract
Throughout the United States toward the end of the twentieth century, popular theatre proliferated on the nation's stages and in other entertainment venues: concert halls, comedy clubs, Broadway stages, and more. One of the notable offerings was (and still remains) Blue Man Group, a vaudevillesque performance troupe that plays music, performs scenes, and creates a sense of community amongst the attendees. Though now enjoying enormous mainstream success, Blue Man Group was once a fringe, avant-garde theatre, creating politically charged performances on the streets of New York City for free to those in close proximity. This study examines Blue Man Group's history, from its beginnings through 2001, by looking at how it transitioned from its avant-garde roots into a popular theatre appearing on national television and in front of thousands of spectators each night. Following Mike Sell's assertion that the thorny term "avant-garde" art is "premised on the notion that the modern world--its institutions, its social relations, its art, its cuisines, its economies--is terminally out of joint" (2011, 7), this study seeks to demonstrate that Blue Man Group's first public performances, in the experimental theatre spaces and on the streets of New York City, emerged from a frustration with American culture. I argue that after opening a long-running production in New York, the organization took steps away from its avant-garde roots through questionable business practices and widespread expansion. In turn, I consider the group's recording and releasing an album, which in effect turned its live event into an unchanging experience. I contend that by 2001, Blue Man Group had turned its back on its avant-garde outlook, as is evidenced by its opening of a production in Las Vegas and its appearing in nationally televised commercials for a computer company. In so doing, Blue Man Group eschewed its avant-garde roots while expanding its brand, thereby becoming part of American popular culture. Though I argue throughout that popularity is not a transgression to avoid, I assert that in the case of Blue Man Group, the search for it led the troupe to abandon the avant-garde ideals from which it originally developed.
Committee
Jonathan Chambers, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Lesa Lockford, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Marcus Sherrell, M.F.A. (Committee Member)
Andrew M. Schocket, Ph.D. (Other)
Pages
183 p.
Subject Headings
Theater
;
Theater History
Keywords
American theatre history
;
Blue Man Group
;
avant-garde
;
popular entertainment
;
spectacle
;
music
;
New York
;
Chicago
;
Boston
;
Las Vegas
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
Harrick, S. (2015).
From the Avant-Garde to the Popular: A History of Blue Man Group, 1987-2001
[Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447855816
APA Style (7th edition)
Harrick, Stephen.
From the Avant-Garde to the Popular: A History of Blue Man Group, 1987-2001.
2015. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447855816.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Harrick, Stephen. "From the Avant-Garde to the Popular: A History of Blue Man Group, 1987-2001." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1447855816
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
bgsu1447855816
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Copyright Info
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.