B'way Update: Blue Man Group; Encores News

Blue Man Group will make its Broadway debut
this holiday season.

Blue Man Group, the three-person performance troupe which had one of the longest runs in Off-Broadway history, will be making their Broadway debut with A New Holiday Surprise at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. The limited holiday-season engagement will begin previews Nov. 12 with an opening set for Nov. 17 and play through Jan. 3, 2027. The group's run at the Astor Place Theater ended on Feb. 2, 2025 after three decades and more than 17,000 performances. The brainchild of three friends, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman, and Phil Stanton, Blue Man Group had the bald, blue-faced trio pounding drums full of paint, oozing Twinkies from their chests and performing other various oddities. During the course of the run, several actors took over the roles and the franchise expanded to Orlando and Las Vegas. 

"This production marks two exciting milestones: Blue Man Group's first-ever holiday production as well as its Broadway debut," said Marie-Josée Adam, President and CEO of Blue Man Group. "This is exactly how we envisioned the iconic trio would re-enter the New York marketplace: with a brand-new show packed with holiday fun, unexpected surprises, and a few twists that only Blue Man could pull off. We can't wait to welcome a whole new generation of families into the Blue Man world for an unforgettable and wonderfully unpredictable holiday experience."

The show will tour to Chicago and Boston and other cities to be announced.

In other news, Encores has announced the complete cast for its concert staging of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown. SNL veteran Rachel Dratch (The Rocky Horror Show and those homeowner insurance commercials) will play Patty (not Peppermint Patty) and Emmy winner Jeff Hiller (HBO's Somebody Somewhere) will play Schroeder. They will join previously announced David Hyde-Pierce as Charlie Brown, Danielle Brooks as Lucy, Jin Ha as Linus, and Ayo Edebiri as Snoopy. Sam Pinkleton (Oh Mary!) directs. This indicates they will be using the original script by Clark Gesner and not the one for the 1999 Broadway revival which replaced Patty with Charlie Brown's little sister Sally (played by Kristin Chenoweth who won a Tony for the role.) Charlie Brown will play Feb. 3-14 at City Center.

In addition, Encores' previously announced production of Hallelujah, Baby! will be replaced by a new staging of Let 'Em Eat Cake, the 1933 sequel to Of Thee I Sing. Hallelujah has been postponed for further development--probably meaning updating the book for this 1967 tuner on race in America. Cake (March 17--28) should be interesting. It's a satiric political fantasy depicting a sitting President disputing his loss for re-election and mounting a revolution to regain power. Sound familiar? This sequel by the Gershwins, George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind takes a darker tone than its predecessor Of Thee I Sing and only ran 90 performances.

Off-B'way Review: The Monsters; High Spirits

Aigner Mizzelle and Okieriete Onaodowan
in The Monsters.
Credit: T. Charles Erickson

The two-actor cast of Ngozi Anyanwu’s The Monsters at the intimate Stage II at City Center in a Manhattan Theater Club production, go through quite a workout in its 90-minute running time, both physically and emotionally. So does the audience. Anyanwu’s tight and devastating script rings some familiar bells in the estranged-family division, but her script is honest and heartfelt. Her direction is well-paced and, with the aide of Cha See’s lighting, creatively transforms Andrew Boyce’s simple gym setting into a myriad of locales.

As the play opens, Big and Lil (short for Little) are disconnected African-American siblings, survivors of an abusive father. Big, whose real name is not revealed until the end of the play, is a champion mixed-martial arts fighter. His half-sister Lil (actual name: Josephine) attempts to resume their once close relationship after 15 years of silence. Gradually, their severed bond is knit back together as Big trains Lil in MMA. As she raises in the ring ranks, long buried resentments and secrets are revealed and their conflict erupts in a grueling grudge match. (Gerry Rodriguez is the masterful fight director.)