A Blue Man Group show will move into a new 500-seat theater at Icon Park, the International Drive entertainment complex announced Thursday.
The show’s location is in the development-planning stage and approval process, and the goal is to open in late 2024, officials said. The theater’s entrance would be on the Universal Boulevard side of the 20-acre complex, near the base of the Orlando Eye observation wheel.
Blue Man Group performed in a prominent space at Universal Orlando, accessed through Universal CityWalk for 14 years, before the show was discontinued in 2021. The new production will have a “significant amount of new elements,” Jack Kenn, managing director of Blue Man Group, said Thursday.
“We have our classic things that we have in all the Blue Man shows, but certainly a new look to the show, a new feel of the show and we’re excited about our custom-built theater,” he said. “All of those things are going to make it feel new to our Orlando audience.”
Kenn has worked with Blue Man and Cirque du Soleil for 20 years and has been in his current position for about a year, he said.
“When I first came back, one of my goals for Blue Man was to grow the brand. We had already started two new shows this year, one in Shanghai and one in Japan, which will open soon, and then my next goal was to bring back Orlando because it was such a great market,” he said.
He reached out to Universal Orlando about the previous theater but “they were going to use that space for something else,” Kenn said. “It was a great conversation with them, and we’re looking forward to future partnership again. But it became clear that we needed a new location.”
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Blue Man performances are marked by unique musical, lighting and comic productions as well as blue-skinned, apparently bald and speechless, performers. It started in New York City in 1987 and currently has continuing shows there as well as in Las Vegas, Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin and Shanghai. It also conducts domestic and international traveling tours.
In 2017, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group purchased Blue Man Productions. Cirque continues to operates a show called “Drawn to Life” at Disney Springs.
“What I like about it is it’s almost a new component,” Chris Jaskiewicz, Icon Park’s president and CEO, said. “We have attractions. We have terrific restaurants and bars. We have live entertainment every night. … This is the first live show that we’re going to have, so it adds a whole new category.”
Icon Park, which opened on I-Drive in 2015, features other attractions, including the 400-foot-tall Orlando Eye observation wheel, Madame Tussauds Orlando and Sea Life Orlando Aquarium, all of which are owned by Merlin Entertainments Group. Icon Park is a few miles from the Orange County Convention Center and the construction site of Epic Universe, the theme park that Universal Orlando plans to open in 2025.
“There’s a lot of great vendors that we can partner with [at Icon Park],” Kenn said. “There’s just a lot that we can do there and gives us a lot more flexibility in other partnerships and deals across across Orlando.”
The new theater will be in the shadow of the wheel, facing Universal Boulevard.
“This particular spot is right in the center. There’s a large grassy area directly behind the Eye,” Jaskiewicz said.
How blue will it get back there?
“They have really good creative talent within their company, and they are proposing lots of very interesting ideas to paint the town blue,” Jaskiewicz said.
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