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 It was 1995.No one had ever seen anything quite like it in Boston. Three silent men with bald caps and blue grease-painted heads took the stage at the Charles Playhouse, beating drums, spraying paint, tossing food, looking quizzically at each other and the audience, questioning authority.
     Those guys - the Blue Man Group - have never left the Charles. They started with “Tubes” and continue now with the retooled “Tubes/Rewired.” (About a quarter of the show changed in 2004.) They perform eight times during a normal week – up to 21 times during holiday weeks. The 524-seat theater is nearly always full.  And it’s not just a local phenomenon. The Blue Man Group has companies in six other cities. There’s also an international touring show called “How To Be a Megastar Tour 2.1,” what they call a satirical, interactive “workshop” on how tocreate the “perfect rock concertexperience.” In May, that tour re-launches in the UK.
     It’s doubtful that in 1988 Blue Man Group founders Phil Stanton, Chris Wink and Matt Goldman envisioned the levels to which their performance art-cum-music show would reach.   “I think they had ambitions,” said general manager Jonathan Screnci, who’s been with the Boston production eight years and started out as the drummer in the musical group that accompanies the Blue Men on stage. “But I’m amazed continuously” at its appeal. “This is cross-generational.”
     Certain things you can count on. The Blue Men will always bring an audience member on stage to sit at a table and bob their heads to the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK.”  The backing band will play loud psychedelic, Pink Floyd-like instrumental rock. Twinkies will be consumed – and regurgitated. It will get a little messy – and wet - at the end.
   “But,” says Screnci, “the show does change. There’s a certain interaction between the Blue Men and the audience. It’s a real of-the-moment experience. It’s vaudeville recreated for the 21st century.”
    Mike Brown hits his six-year anniversary of being a Boston Blue Man in June. He began with the company in New York, where it all started. “I first saw Blue Man in 1997,” he said. “I was a young actor in college. I knew how to play the drums and when I saw the show I fell in love with it.” He began working behind the scenes, auditioned to be a Blue Man, got the gig, and is now “living the dream.”
     The Blue Men share a sense of curiosity, wonder and playfulness. They make intense eye contact with each other and the audience. A Blue Man will act up upon occasion - and then check for approval from the others.
     Brown said a Blue Man “looks at our world and wants to spin it on its head. He looks at the world more innocently and he’s more curious than the average person who has walls put up. The Blue Man has no ego; he’s not afraid to leap off a cliff to see what will happen. He is a bit clownish. He’s not afraid to be embarrassed, and probably doesn’t know what embarrassment is. He’s trying something new because he can.”  Shows: Wed – Fri. at 8, Saturday 5 and 8, Sunday 1 and 4. Tickets: $62. they've got some special $41 Xmas holiday deals going, too.

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