Torontonians Ignore High American Culture.....

[M.Dancer]

Toronto has Blue Man Group feeling ... blue

JAMES ADAMS

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Toronto — New York-based Blue Man Group is shuttering the only Canadian production of its famed stage show less than two years into what it had hoped would be an open-ended extended run.

The show is set to close at Toronto's 700-seat Panasonic Theatre Jan. 7, just 19 months after its official opening there. It's the first time BMG, which started off-Broadway in the late 1980s, has had to cancel a production. Currently shows are running in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Boston, London and Berlin. Poor attendance has been given as the reason for the Toronto demise.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto.../Entertainment/

Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

[Wilber]

Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

London and Berlin are well north of Toronto.

[M.Dancer]

Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

London and Berlin are well north of Toronto.

They were liked in London?

How far the Empire has fallen....

[Wilber]

Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

London and Berlin are well north of Toronto.

They were liked in London?

How far the Empire has fallen....

I've never seen them except for some of the TV commercials they have done. Pehaps it is because London is large enough and cosmopolitan enough to cater to many tastes and Toronto is not.

[M.Dancer]

Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

London and Berlin are well north of Toronto.

They were liked in London?

How far the Empire has fallen....

I've never seen them except for some of the TV commercials they have done. Pehaps it is because London is large enough and cosmopolitan enough to cater to many tastes and Toronto is not.

I read that they opened in London in 2005 with so so reviews......

http://www.curtainup.com/bluemangroup.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articl...w_feature.shtml

http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/blueman-rev.htm

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0...1643298,00.html

Blue Man Group is a complete no-brainer, devised not by artists but by people with cash signs in their eyes and the hearts and souls of marketing men

Blue Man Group is pretty puerile but that is deliberate. It will therefore appeal far more to youngsters and party groups rather than discerning theatre purists. Whether the show has the legs to last as long on this side of the Atlantic as they have at home remains to be seen

The sight of one of the Blue Men catching marshmallows in his mouth and regurgitating them as an instant conical sculpture is such that perhaps this show shouldn't be on at a theatre so much as mounted as an installation in the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall.

Had me worried there.......

The brightside of this story is that the BMG didn't waste public money like Lord of the Derivitives

[Liam]

...Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

BMG usually entertains the locals for all of about three months. Once the locals have seen it, the show thrives on tourists. Perhaps Toronto doesn't present as much a tourism draw as those cities where BMG still runs?

[Wilber]

Just wondered why they were being used as an opportunity to take a shot at the US. Like the US is the only country that ever produces and markets junk.

[M.Dancer]

...Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

BMG usually entertains the locals for all of about three months. Once the locals have seen it, the show thrives on tourists. Perhaps Toronto doesn't present as much a tourism draw as those cities where BMG still runs?

Maybe.....if that's the case we will see how long it runs in London, where the Mousetrap still opens....

But to compare, Toronto sees around 21 million tourists per year, Chicago 33 million, New York, 40 Million and Boston.....under 15 million.....but it has only recently opened I believe in Boston........

Now Vegas.....why shouldn't it do well in Vegas? After all, any City that showcases Celine Dion.....

[America1]

Toronto has Blue Man Group feeling ... blue

JAMES ADAMS

From Friday's Globe and Mail

Toronto — New York-based Blue Man Group is shuttering the only Canadian production of its famed stage show less than two years into what it had hoped would be an open-ended extended run.

The show is set to close at Toronto's 700-seat Panasonic Theatre Jan. 7, just 19 months after its official opening there. It's the first time BMG, which started off-Broadway in the late 1980s, has had to cancel a production. Currently shows are running in New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Boston, London and Berlin. Poor attendance has been given as the reason for the Toronto demise.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto.../Entertainment/

Apparently, in some parts of the world (south of here) the Blue Man Group is considered high avant garde art. In Toronto, they were considered boring and idiotic.....

Feeling kinda high on yourself today M. Dancer?

I think it’s amusing that some Canadians (M.Dancer for example) really feel like they are superiour to Americans b/c of the most obscure crap. Honestly, the infroirty complex some of you have with the US/Americans is mind blowing. You really need to relax, most Americans don't even think of Canadaians as being in competeiton with us, So,,, please let it go...

[Remiel]

Probably because many Americans tend to think they are superior to everyone else...

[M.Dancer]

Feeling kinda high on yourself today M. Dancer?

I think it’s amusing that some Canadians (M.Dancer for example) really feel like they are superiour to Americans b/c of the most obscure crap. Honestly, the infroirty complex some of you have with the US/Americans is mind blowing. You really need to relax, most Americans don't even think of Canadaians as being in competeiton with us, So,,, please let it go...

Certainly not in a spelling competition with you

........so if you think the Blue Man Group is "obscure crap" (you're half right)....exactly how deep down is your bunker buried?

[America1]

Probably because many Americans tend to think they are superior to everyone else...

See what I mean by inferiority complex.

Did you ever, even for a second, think that maybe it's b/c we might just enjoy different things and that we don't care if you like what we like or vise versa?

[America1]

Feeling kinda high on yourself today M. Dancer?

I think it’s amusing that some Canadians (M.Dancer for example) really feel like they are superiour to Americans b/c of the most obscure crap. Honestly, the infroirty complex some of you have with the US/Americans is mind blowing. You really need to relax, most Americans don't even think of Canadaians as being in competeiton with us, So,,, please let it go...

Certainly not in a spelling competition with you

........so if you think the Blue Man Group is "obscure crap" (you're half right)....exactly how deep down is your bunker buried?

I'm sure there is lots of thing you wouldn’t want to compete against me in but that’s a different topic completely.

Bunker buried??? Anyone want to explain that one?

[killjoy]

I hate to say it but I have to call it like I see it: America1 is right (sorta), Canadians pay WAYYYYY to much attention to the US in making direct comparisons to themselves.

It is said that America looks out to the world and wants to see themselves looking back. That is to say that they wish to see the world more like America. If there is any truth to this then Canadians look out to the rest of the world through America. We're not interested in anything international unless it is somehow connected to America, and even then it's always in relation to America.

Personally I don't care if Americans love their handguns or if Americans want/don't want gay marriage, if they think pot is as bad as cocaine (and love it almost as much), if they have a democrat in office or a republican (contrary to popular insistence there is no viable connection between the conservatives and the Republicans or the Liberals and the Democrats), or whatever the f##k a drunk like Ann Coutier said today.

Canadians will insist until their dying breath that there is no similarity between Americans and themselves.....unless of course that meant turning off the Simpsons forever.

“Talking to Americans”, is a prime example of our “love-to-bash-them” obsession. The ironic thing about that show is it doesn’t make Americans look dumb, it makes us look like childish idiots.

.

[gerryhatrick]

We're not interested in anything international unless it is somehow connected to America, and even then it's always in relation to America.

That is not true. I don't know what your heritage is, but many Canadians have varied interests. You should refrain from generalizing.

Perhaps your observation is a result of us being neighbours of the USA. Obviously given the facts that the US is a superpower and our neighbour a great deal of what we are concerned with also concerns the USA. That is true for many of the worlds nations simply due to the US being a superpower.

i.e. everyone is concerned with Iraq.

[killjoy]

Why is it every time someone says something you don't agree with you accuse them of being something other than Canadian Gerry?

I mean isn't that a lot like saying if you don't support Afghanistan you don't support the troops?

Gerry I’m Canadian, and frankly if you can't see how obsessed with the US Canadians are then really I have to wonder either about your age, heritage or honesty.

Why don't we talk about Darfur? Because Americans aren't talking about it. How come we're not talking about Yugoslavia? Because americans aren't talking about it.

Gerry I'm 200% more Canadian than you'll ever be, but maybe since I'm not an arrogant Toronto know-nothing know-it-all I don't qualify in your estimation. Too bad. I'm more Canuk than you're ever going to be.

"Any intelligent person" could see right away that if I know about “Talking to Americans” then I’m Canadian, it’s not like that show is on cable or something.

You should really try to think more before speaking.

.

[Remiel]

You do realize that since we live on the same planet, that we are bound to be talking about many of the same international issues at any given time? I suppose we only talk about trade with China because the Americans talk about, because we're too dumb to think of the advantages ourselves? Does the UK only talk about what the US talks about, because their headlines seem to be about the same things too? I suppose none of us want to see more arms treaties in the world, because the US doesn't want to talk about it?

[killjoy]

You do realize that since we live on the same planet, that we are bound to be talking about many of the same international issues at any given time?

That would not explain our obsession witht their gun laws, their movie stars, all the dirty little gossip about their congress people, their lifestyle and every little thing they do around the planet and how we feel compelled to expalin to ourselves at every juncture why we're so different than them. Canadians are obsessed with Americans and you don't have to be Canadian to see it.

I suppose we only talk about trade with China because the Americans talk about, because we're too dumb to think of the advantages ourselves?

really no point trying to explain what I'm talking about to you since emotion has obviously blinded you to something I feel certain you could see or admit if the idea was presented to you in a more paletable form.

Does the UK only talk about what the US talks about, because their headlines seem to be about the same things too?

They certainly do suffer from the same obsession. I'm sorry but you're only highlighting my point with your contention that these issues and stories of the day are somehow universal and yet they aren't. The UK are American-centric and you miss the greater picture completely. This is why we don't hear about "Evil French Imperialism". because we don't care. It's not something Americans care about and if we paid attention to it we wouldn't have our chance to bash them because they have nothing to do with it.

Really it's quite pointless to contend we don't suffer from this obsession considering how many famous Candians have pointed it out. We have about a dozen non-local Canadian TV channels that struggle to stay afloat and yet for 50 years we've been obsessing over their HBO's, over their Nixons and Clintons and Vietnams and their real-life crime dramas.

It shows in our every attempt to draw the US into every debate of the day that is ours and has nothing to do with them:

We don't want to change our immigration because we don't wanna be "like Americans".

We don't want to touch or even fix our health care because of our knee-jerk fear of "turning into Americans".

We destroyed our armed forces because we "don't want to be like Americans".

We live this day-dream of 'peacekeeping' because we don't wanna be like Americans....

Heck we even model our advertising campaigns (Canadian brand beer?) based solely on "not being American" ...apparently "not being American" is more important than buying decient beer.

I'm sorry but I believe it's patently obvious and if you weren't on the defensive you'd be able to admit it.

It's all an illusionary projection that we decieve ourselves with and if we ever got over it we could start to really get this country moving.

First we looked up to England. Now we obsess with the US.

.

[Remiel]

First, it is estimated that over 50% of illegal guns in Canada come across the border from the US. So yes, we are obsessed with their gun laws because they appear to have a negative affect on us.

Their movie stars? There are Canadians in Hollywood too, very succesful Canadians. It's purely a numbers issue. And it isn't like I don't watch Canadian films, either. Hell, I'd happily watch stuff made in Quebec if they'd show it more often, as long as it subbed. Dubbed real life sucks.

As for television, the shows I watch the most religiously are made in Japan and dubbed in Canada.

And you are trying to argue that in order to not be obsessed we Americans, we have to do everything exactly like them. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Not.

[M.Dancer]

Feeling kinda high on yourself today M. Dancer?

I think it?s amusing that some Canadians (M.Dancer for example) really feel like they are superiour to Americans b/c of the most obscure crap. Honestly, the infroirty complex some of you have with the US/Americans is mind blowing. You really need to relax, most Americans don't even think of Canadaians as being in competeiton with us, So,,, please let it go...

Certainly not in a spelling competition with you

........so if you think the Blue Man Group is "obscure crap" (you're half right)....exactly how deep down is your bunker buried?

I'm sure there is lots of thing you wouldn?t want to compete against me in but that?s a different topic completely.

Bunker buried??? Anyone want to explain that one?

Love to. Blue Man Group is an American Pop Culture hit. They've gone from free performance art to starring in IBM commercials to becoming the McDonald's of live theatre, performing in 6 cities simultaneously.

Yet you describe it as "obscure crap". So, how deep is your bunker buried to miss the last 10 years of american pop culture?

[Wilber]

It shows in our every attempt to draw the US into every debate of the day that is ours and has nothing to do with them:

We don't want to change our immigration because we don't wanna be "like Americans".

We don't want to touch or even fix our health care because of our knee-jerk fear of "turning into Americans".

We destroyed our armed forces because we "don't want to be like Americans".

We live this day-dream of 'peacekeeping' because we don't wanna be like Americans....

Heck we even model our advertising campaigns (Canadian brand beer?) based solely on "not being American" ...apparently "not being American" is more important than buying decient beer.

You hear some or all of this on a daily basis. Many Canadians cannot seem to define themselves in a way that is to a large degree "not American".

Why else would someone start a thread like this which has no other purpose than to crow about Toronto's supposed cultural superiority over those Americans?

Love to. Blue Man Group is an American Pop Culture hit. They've gone from free performance art to starring in IBM commercials to becoming the McDonald's of live theatre, performing in 6 cities simultaneously.

Yet you describe it as "obscure crap". So, how deep is your bunker buried to miss the last 10 years of american pop culture?

Among other things Americans have also brought us jazz, the blues and rock and roll. Is this not also pop culture?

[M.Dancer]

Why else would someone start a thread like this which has no other purpose than to crow about Toronto's supposed cultural superiority over those Americans?

Among other things Americans have also brought us jazz, the blues and rock and roll. Is this not also pop culture?

Among other things Americans have also brought us jazz, the blues and rock and roll. Is this not also pop culture?

Yes and what does this have to do with anything?

Perhaps the thread wasn't so much as "crowing" over Toronto's cultural superiority but rather the banal crap that is foisted upon us......perhaps it is a laurel of the publics independant mindedness versus the mass marketing machine that tells us what is cool......In the last couple of months we have seen the demise of Lord of the Rings (The Musical!) and Blue Man Group..... In the BMG case it comes on the heals of the demolition and rebirth of a theatre rebranded as the Panasonic (slightly ahead of their time) and the lock out of the theatre guilds.

I for one am thrilled that this phenomena which has all the soul of a TV commercial got the cold shoulder. I sometime hear that the market forces always correct....and to that I answer Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton and 50 Cent.....marginal talent propelled by magnificent marketing.......

.......and after years of being force fed purile pop and artificial spectaculars, the public became the market force.

.....but if you prefer to think it was simply america bashing....I won't ruin your day.

[America1]

Feeling kinda high on yourself today M. Dancer?

I think it?s amusing that some Canadians (M.Dancer for example) really feel like they are superiour to Americans b/c of the most obscure crap. Honestly, the infroirty complex some of you have with the US/Americans is mind blowing. You really need to relax, most Americans don't even think of Canadaians as being in competeiton with us, So,,, please let it go...

Certainly not in a spelling competition with you

........so if you think the Blue Man Group is "obscure crap" (you're half right)....exactly how deep down is your bunker buried?

I'm sure there is lots of thing you wouldn?t want to compete against me in but that?s a different topic completely.

Bunker buried??? Anyone want to explain that one?

Love to. Blue Man Group is an American Pop Culture hit. They've gone from free performance art to starring in IBM commercials to becoming the McDonald's of live theatre, performing in 6 cities simultaneously.

Yet you describe it as "obscure crap". So, how deep is your bunker buried to miss the last 10 years of american pop culture?

"Pop culture hit"? Are you kidding? Jessica Simpson is a pop culture "hit", the BMG is a barely a blip on the American cultural screen. They are just 1 of a thousand different live acts playing in any number of cities at a given time. You act like they were the half time act at the super bowl (there is another, the Super bowl is a "cultural hit").

[M.Dancer]

You act like they were the half time act at the super bowl (there is another, the Super bowl is a "cultural hit").

Irony Central

Monster’s “Today’s the Day” Spots Set To Unveil During Super Bowl

To Include Blue Man Group’s Hit Cover of “I Feel Love”

New York—January 26, 2004 --Monster will unveil two new television spots during the Super Bowl on February 1st. One of them, “I Feel Love,” features the driving sounds of Blue Man Group’s cover of Donna Summer’s disco mantra. The 30-second spots are part of Monster’s “Today’s the Day” campaign which features vivid images of people from all walks of life going through their morning routines with a pumped, ready-to-take-on-the-world attitude. The copy line sums it all up: “Get Ready For A Job You Love.” The spots were created by Deutsch, Inc. of New York

[America1]

You act like they were the half time act at the super bowl (there is another, the Super bowl is a "cultural hit").

Irony Central

Monster’s “Today’s the Day” Spots Set To Unveil During Super Bowl

To Include Blue Man Group’s Hit Cover of “I Feel Love”

New York—January 26, 2004 --Monster will unveil two new television spots during the Super Bowl on February 1st. One of them, “I Feel Love,” features the driving sounds of Blue Man Group’s cover of Donna Summer’s disco mantra. The 30-second spots are part of Monster’s “Today’s the Day” campaign which features vivid images of people from all walks of life going through their morning routines with a pumped, ready-to-take-on-the-world attitude. The copy line sums it all up: “Get Ready For A Job You Love.” The spots were created by Deutsch, Inc. of New York

HAHAHAHA - Nice try BUT,,,, having your 'cover' of a Donna Summer’s (it being an instrumental of her song being the reason it was picked anyway, not the popularity of the BMG group) song played in the background of a 30 second commercial for monster.com is no where close to being THE half-time act at the Super bowl.

BTW Amazon.com Sales Rank for the BMG hit 'I Feel love' was #277,493 (what a smash hit!!!)