Audience members in the first three rows wore clear, plastic rain ponchos. This was a wise decision because Blue Man Group's less than hour-long show turned out to be something of a messy affair.

Complete with sewage jokes, fake vomit and an act in which one of the blue men spit three gumballs out of his mouth into an audience member's hand, the performance was not for the squeamish.

Blue Man Group's longevity—the group has been performing since 1987—may be due to the timeless quality of the messy gimmicks. There is just something intrinsically funny about grossing each other out.

But more is at work in Blue Man Groups' performances than a simple desire to amuse and entertain. The performance also spoke directly to the anxieties of the information-age generation. Complete with several acts that included giant iPads (called Gi-pads) and iPhones, Blue Man Groups' performance juxtaposed the sterile efficiency of the ever-burgeoning technology sector with the timeless reality of human bio-fluids.

Regardless of what they were "talking" about, whether it was vomit of Gi-pads, Blue Man Group was busy making the audience uncomfortable, taking every opportunity to wander about the auditorium with simianesque movements. Slathered with thick blue paint and utilizing only mime to communicate, the Blue Men successfully creeped out many of their audience members.

Those parts of the show that weren't blatantly counter-cultural (isn't all art a little subversive?) were just rollicking fun in an almost vicarious way. I mean, who wouldn't want to slather themselves in oily blue paint and beat on giant drums? And if there wasn't a sort of implicit don't-try-this-at-home clause in the whole performance, I would be tempted to try spitting paint out of my mouth onto a spinning canvas.

But it wasn't just vicarious fun that was had at Blue Man Groups' performance. Aside from that lets-see-how-uncomfortable-we-can-make-our-audience portion of the show, there were also several moments of good, clean audience participation. Blue Man Group employed call and response to get the audience involved, and at one point even had the entire audience stand up at shake their "badonkadonks" while a voice over listed ever conceivable word for "butt."

The best interactive moment, however, was undoubtedly the grand finale in which the Blue Men let loose 10 or so giant white balls into the audience to be bounced about above our heads. They then shot streams of toilet paper into the fray, before adding silly string and billowing white silks.

Whatever else may have gone on throughout the evening, whatever their points about technology and human alienation may have been, their message at this juncture could not have been more clear. Amidst all the grown-up insanity of Gi-pads and iPhones, and the messy reality that we all still have to barf every once in a while, Blue Man Group was saying in their wonky, awkward, childish way, that life is still beautiful.

Emma may be reached at emcaleavy@su-spectator.com