New Yorkers are feeling blue over the end of another Big Apple institution.
The Blue Man Group received a standing ovation from hundreds of teary-eyed fans during the beloved trio’s final hometown show in downtown Manhattan Sunday after more than three decades performing off-Broadway.
Fans wearing blue beanies to emulate the electric-blue painted bald heads of the mute trio lined up around the block outside the Astor Place Theater where the group has performed more than 17,000 shows over the last 34 years.
And while lovers of the painted drummers are disappointed their favorite crew won’t be coming back to town, they were not disappointed by the final show.
“God, it was amazing. I’ve seen Blue Man Group I don’t know how many times, but it’s in the double digits,” said 33-year-old Harlem resident Melania Duvnjac after the show let out.
“This performance knocked the others out of the park because the heart of the show was always its emotional energy that played back and forth between the audience and the blue men, and tonight everyone was feeling the loss so deeply,” she told The Post.
She said the audience was filled with weeping fans and the emotion of the three mime-like performers even felt enhanced with the curtain closing on the New York institution one last time.
“You sensed it in the blue men, even though their faces were, as always, expressionless. But people all around me were crying and clapping. I was definitely crying,” Duvnjac said. “It’s a New York institution, and like all New York institutions, it’s something that you take for granted until it’s gone. I’m so glad I got to have this night.”
Others said they felt they were bidding adieu to a trio of longtime friends.
“I saw my first show here 20 years ago when I was single and lived within walking distance, and now I’m here again to see it off. Phenomenal last curtain. Phenomenal. I will never forget it. The crowd hung on to every drum beat,” said 40-year-old Sophie Koenig of Long Island.
“People were repeating the lines by heart. People were in tears at the finale. I went on a lot of first dates to Blue Man Group before meeting my husband, and the boys in blue stayed in my heart even when the dates did not. I’m going to miss their presence here, I really am,” she said.
The Blue Man Group started banging paint-splattered drums in NYC in 1991, and was so successful that it was expanded across the country and world to Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Berlin.
The show was acquired by Cirque du Soleil in 2017, which helped expand its reach beyond the Big Apple.
When Blue Man Group announced the closer of its NYC shows at the Astor Place Theater in November, fans jumped quick to pick up tickets.
“When I heard this was the last performance I went online that second and grabbed a ticket. I’m sure if I’d waited five more minutes I would have missed my chance,” Duvnjac said.
Why the group decided to end its NYC shows remains unclear. Longstanding shows in Chicago will also come to a close on Wednesday, but performances in other cities are expected to continue.
Some local fans felt that in saying goodbye to the Blue Men, they were saying goodbye to a part of themselves.
“Blue Man Group has always been very special to me. It left a huge impression on me when I saw it for the first time as a senior in high school with my then-girlfriend, who I’d later end up marrying. It was just so revolutionary, so original, and that finale – it still blows my mind,” said 44-year-old Philadelphian and five-time Blue Man-goer Michael Mather.
“I feel very lucky to have been born where I could go to a show like this and feel rocked to my core. So, a very emotional experience being here for the final show. The standing ovation seemed to go on forever, and deservedly so, because I think a lot of us felt like we were saying goodbye to a part of ourselves from a more innocent time,” he said.
“Blue Man Group forever.”
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