Arizona local returns home with 'Blue Man Group' at ASU Gammage

Adam Zuick is bringing a splash of blue back to his home state when “Blue Man Group” hits the ASU Gammage stage.

For 10 years, Zuick established his roots in the Valley. He received his education from Arizona Conservatory for Arts and Academics and Paradise Valley Community College and was a member of Arizona Broadway Theater.

Zuick has been a lead in “Blue Man Group” since 2013 and will be bringing the show back to Arizona on Nov. 15-17. Since the show’s run at ASU Gammage in 2014, there have been many new changes.

When “Blue Man Group” first went on tour, the show explored how a blue man reacts to the current world. In the new tour, the audience sees the world through a blue man’s workshop.

“They’re very comfortable with their space,” Zuick said. “It creates a very different vibe.”

For the revamped show, new instruments, new music and an entirely new performance will be introduced. With Zuick’s background deeply embedded in piano, learning new instruments came naturally to him.

Coincidentally, Zuick has changed alongside the show.

Over the past six years as a man in blue, Zuick said he has grown in more ways than he could have imagined.

“I was putting on a character then just letting myself be,” he said. “Over the years, I have gained more of a vocabulary of what can happen on stage.”

"Blue Man Group" tour. Photo by Joan Marcus

Zuick explained that becoming a blue man goes far beyond slathering blue paint all over your body; it is a mentality. It’s a lifestyle.

“My ‘blue man’ is very much me — it’s me without all the boundaries that I would put up on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

For Zuick, the impact of the blue man has directly affected his personality offstage.

“Because of how free I feel when I’m in character, it has loosened me up as a person,” he said.

As a result, he hopes audience members can experience the same freedom he feels with “Blue Man Group.”

“It helps bring the weirdness out in other people,” he said. “They can be who they want to be, they can dance if they want to, they can stand up and clap if they want to.”