Monday March 30 

Okay, that NCAA foolishness is over at the Garden. Time for some real fun. The Harlem Globetrotters are twirling, spinning, dunking and - we're guessing - beating the heck out of the Washington Generals. In a world that constantly changes, some things stay the same, as Billy Bragg sang in "Levi Stubbs' Tears."

But there's a wrinkle to the 'Trotters game tonight. We'll explain:

Last weekend, it was pretty much business as usual at the Charles Playhouse. The Blue Man Group was on stage stuffing Cap’N Crunch in their mouths, spraying paint, banging away on PVC pipes. A third of the way into Friday’s show, the Blue Men descended into the audience, poking around for participants.  They found one a tall man in a red basketball uniform. A Harlem Globetrotters uniform. And, so Anthony Blakes – better known as “Buckets” – stood up and tossed three Toblerone cookies up in the air, down the aisle, toward the waiting mouth of a Blue Man. He was two for three.
     On Monday March 30 at 7 o’clock, the Blue Man Group will enter the Globetrotters arena, a world of razzle-dazzle b-ball and tomfoolery, where “Sweet Georgia Brown” is always whistled. The Blue Man Group will be at the TD Banknorth Garden, joining the action as the Globetrotters – 29-men strong - take on their arch-rival, the Washington Generals.
    It’s actually not that big a rivalry. The last time the Generals won was 1971. (Once, on “The Simpsons,” Krusty the Clown put down a bundle, betting against the Globetrotters. “I thought the Generals were due!” he growled, upon losing.) The Globetrotters record, Buckets explained before the Blue Man show, is something like 22,800-plus wins against 345 losses, going back to when Abe Saperstein founded the team in 1926. The Harlem Globetrotters, actually formed in Chicago, played serious basketball in their earlier period. They beat the 1948-49 Minneapolis Lakers  – all white, need we say – twice n exhibition games. The emphasis on clowning and trickery came later.
    But what is the connection between the Globetrotters and the Blue Man Group - three mute men in black garb, bald caps and blue heads?  “I used to love the Smurfs,” said Buckets, with a laugh. More than that, though, he sees common ground in what the Globetrotters have long done and what the Blue Man Group do. “I first saw them in Chicago in 2000,” Buckets said. “I thought they were entertaining, unique and creative in the way they presented themselves. They’re always turning heads, doing something completely different.”

     Which is the same way Mike Brown – one of five actors who rotate in the Boston Blue Man show – sees it. “The Blue Man Group and the Globetrotters are timeless entertainment,” he said. Both entities, he added, display physical talent, and create characters people can relate are willing “to do something new or difficult just for the sake of trying it. Both the Globetrotters and the Blue Man Group are popular beyond any belief. They’re both iconic. And with us collaborating, you know you’ll see something different.”
     What form that will take, no one’s going to say.      “At first, we thought we’d do a half-time appearance,” said Blue Man Group’s Boston general manager Jonathan Screnci.  “Then we thought, what if we collaborated and integrated [our bits] into their classic bits?” All he’ll reveal: “We’ll appear, we’ll disappear, we’ll be all over the place. And we’ll create a signature piece for this game.” Tickets: $161.50 -$19.50. (This is an expanded version of a story that ran in the Boston Herald, www.bostonherald.com ,  last week)

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