Blue Man Group to Close East Village Venue After 35 Year Run

After 35 years, the Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatere is closing in February 2025, a huge shock after having maintained its presence on the Lower East Side for as long as it has.

The Blue Man Group is a long-running show (performed in several locations across the country) featuring three silent men, painted blue. They play music, interact with audience members, perform silent skits, and embrace the general absurdity of the entire situation.

The show comes with a unique sense of humor. For instance, when guests walk into the bathrooms, they are greeted by a six-minute song with variations of the lyrics, “Bathroom. Bathroom. Bathroom. It’s the bathroom, in the Blue Man lobby.”

This absurdly simple humor has been a hallmark of the Lower-East side for 35 years, but sales lately have been pretty lackluster. As of Dec. 2, 2024, an average of 174 of the theater’s 281 seats were still empty for each of the show’s upcoming 41 performances (from Dec. 2 through Dec. 26). That’s 62 percent of the theater being empty per show. The most full performance of the 41 assessed had only 25 empty seats, while the most empty still had 246 available seats.

It is worth noting that this data (collected via Ticketmaster) was from several days after the show’s upcoming closure was announced. As in, if people wanted to guarantee they see it before it leaves New York City forever, they had plenty of time to buy tickets already. Of course, there are still several weeks before it leaves, and people may simply buy tickets closer to the performance dates, but still, it is noteworthy.

There is not accessible information on ticket grosses or capacities for past Blue Man Group shows, but its notoriety in mainstream media indicates that many people saw it over the years. According to the New York Daily News, reportedly more than 50 million people have seen it—though, not all in New York City, with the production playing in several locations around the world.

With low ticket sales in mind, the closure makes some sense, but still leaves the question of why now specifically. Cirque du Soleil (who has owned the Blue Man Group since 2017) has made no official statement on the closure as of publication—almost two weeks since the announcement. The managing director of the show put out a statement, quoted in the New York Daily News, but otherwise there has been little official conversation on the monumental closure.

“It seems that Cirque has a very specific way of addressing closures that they haven’t quite nailed yet,” said Selena Audrey, a Cirque du Soleil fan who follows the company and its productions extremely closely and is “extremely devastated” by the closure announcement. “No one likes announcing a closure, it’s upsetting for all involved. Most likely, this will not be addressed further.”

She added, “I would love to one day work for Cirque. I enjoy what they do and to watch things close as a fan is disappointing.”

The New York show is not the only one to close soon, with the Chicago production closing shop on Jan. 5, just under a month before the New York closure on Feb. 2. Though this is simply speculation, the closures of these two Blue Man Group productions may be related to the openings of three new Cirque du Soleil shows: Auana, Alizé, and Ludõ. New shows require more money, and perhaps the goal of the closing is to redirect funds from operating the New York and Chicago locations into those shows, and the re-opening of Blue Man Group in Orlando.

From 2007 to 2021, Blue Man Group performed at Universal Orlando Resort. The production got its own theater in the Universal Studios Florida park, located on what had previously been the site of Nickelodeon Studios.

The production technically closed in 2021, but it actually never re-opened after COVID-19 shut down all park operations. Cirque du Soleil saw major layoffs from the pandemic, and even filed for bankruptcy at one point in 2020. So, many fans assumed the slow death of the Blue Man Group at Universal Orlando Resort—slow, because the building it had been in is still intact, seemingly untouched, and at least somewhat visible from certain parts of the park.

In June, the show’s coming return to Orlando was made public, with some details about the new location.

“There is no greater world-stage than Orlando for exciting family fun, making it a natural choice as a home base for Blue Man Group,” Managing Director of Blue Man Group Jack Kenn said in a statement on Icon Park’s website. “Our fans are eager for the Blue Men to be part of their Orlando vacations, and our creative team is thrilled to create a new type of experience that is even more immersive and personalized to Orlando.”

However, Blue Man Group’s return to Orlando will not be at Universal, as it is moving from the large theme park to a far smaller amusement park, ICON Park. With an entrance right on I-Drive in Florida, ICON Park is not the same kind of destination Universal is. It does not have immersive themed lands, or state-of-the-art attractions, but does have attractions more akin to carnivals. It features some classic rides (arguably most famously, the Orlando Eye ferris wheel), museums like Madame Tussauds and the Museum of Illusions Orlando, and other entertainment and dining options.

“ICON Park will roll out the blue carpet to welcome Blue Man Group back into our ‘unbelievably real’ destination,” said ICON Park President and CEO Chris Jaskiewicz. “With their unique blend of creative energy and entertainment, they are a perfect fit with the world-famous entertainment brands here at ICON Park, and we look forward to the Blue Men becoming ambassadors for our entire destination.”

ICON Park did not respond to a request for further comment before publication.