Behind The Curtain At Blue Man Group’s New Venue
Luxor Hotel Casino is preparing a homecoming of sorts. The avant-garde trio known as Blue Man Group is returning to the pyramid this month after ten years of Strip-hopping. Luxor’s atrium-level theater, which most recently had been home to Jabbawockeez PRISM, is undergoing a transformation for a scheduled November 11th Blue Man opening. I took a sneak peek behind the curtain last Friday while dropping by to see Carrot Top (more on him later in the week). What I found was a refreshened space nearly ready to be unveiled.
Blue Man Group has been a Las Vegas entertainment staple since September 2000. That’s when it debuted at Luxor Hotel Casino…and performed five full years there before moving to Venetian. Now that construction and renovations at the soon-to-be-renamed Monte Carlo Hotel Casino have forced them out of their most recent residency, BMG will be returning to Luxor in a much smaller space. The show itself will be retooled to fit the confines of their new home.
Consequently, the dance crew Jabbawockeez has been forced out of the Atrium theater to accomodate BMG. They too will be downsized at their new location inside MGM Grand‘s former “Beacher’s Madhouse” venue, now known as Jabbawockeez Theater (let’s hope that a haz-mat crew came in first to remove any remaining traces of Miley Cyrus). The moves should come as no surprise to those who’ve witnessed the declining popularity of both shows.
A few months ago…
A few weeks ago
Jabbawockeez in particular has been hit hard. The last time I saw their PRISM show, on a traditionally-busy Saturday night, the auditorium was less than half filled. This, despite deep discounting (and MyVegas freebies) widely available on an already inexpensive ticket rate.
A recent conversation that I had with an MGM Resorts marketing exec confirmed my suspicions: Blue Man and PRISM were under-performing in their current venues. “Trust me”, he said. “It’s in the best interest of the shows. Both will benefit from the moves”. Jabbawockeez had originally been slated for a six-year run in the long-empty theater, which once housed an IMAX motion-simulator attraction before Luxor’s de-theming initiative.
As for the renovations, things seem to be on course for the November 11th soft opening. All traces of Jabbawockeez have been removed, and Blue Man likenesses now cover the visible exterior of the theater. Merchandise is beginning to fill the shelves of the store, and Blue Man mannequins have replaced the Jabbawockeez crew.
A wide bar and concession stand remains to the left of the showroom entrance, but we suspect that frozen cocktails in various shades of the prism (get it?) will now be replaced with blueberry slushies.
In front of the bar, we spied a technician hard at work with wiring and electronics. We didn’t interrupt, for fear of scaring the poor guy. He was, after all, working late at night…in the dark…near a human bodies exhibit and a haunted Titanic attraction…on Halloween weekend.
We also didn’t risk sneaking under the curtain to glimpse the auditorium itself. Hopefully it’s receiving a sound upgrade this time around. The previous audio system was surprisingly muddy, and an unfortunate weak link in the technology-dependent PRISM musical production.
No doubt the theater has been retrofitted to accommodate the unique needs of a Blue Man show…which can get very wet and messy. So if you’re going, you may want to avoid wearing white.
Blue Man Group starts preview showings on November 11th, with the official grand opening on November 18th. Tickets start at $64 up to $124 dollars and can be ordered via this Ticketmaster link, but we found a Travelzoo.com offer that will save you big bucks through June of 2016.
Photos: [Sammasseur, Michael Movestro]
A fitness buff and Vegas fan. Sam enjoys shows, bargains, and cheap healthy eats.
