Blue Man Group perform yesterday during a press conference to announce a permanent Toronto production. (Photo: Greg Henkenhaf, SUN)

The famed oddball Blue Man Group is coming to Toronto, with its own theatre and plans to set down roots in the city for a decade or more.

And while this may be good news to fans of the performance-art phenomenon -- which has been seen everywhere from The Tonight Show to award shows to commercials to a Barenaked Ladies video -- it has local performing arts unions singing the blues.

About 50 members of Canadian Actors' Equity, the Toronto Musicians' Association and IATSE (representing backstage workers) picketed with "Boycott Blue" signs yesterday in front of the Phoenix Concert Theatre, the site of a performance/press conference announcing the effectively permanent launch of Blue Man in Toronto at the former New Yorker Theatre.

The New Yorker was bought up by the entertainment producing giant Clear Channel, and is being gutted and renovated with technical and financial input from Panasonic (it will be renamed The Panasonic Theatre in June when the first Toronto Blue Man production opens).

A street-art experiment combining aspects of Chaplin and Dadaism, Blue Man Group began with founders Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink pounding out music on PVC pipes and spraying paint to artistic effect. As the bizarre experience caught on, the show expanded with permanent productions in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and, last year, Berlin. Blue Man spokesperson Manny Igrejas says the troupe has played to more than five million people.

Running afoul of the unions, however, is new to Blue Man. Igrejas says the "community of artists" vibe of the troupe remains, and that the performers are not considered actors. "Some are from drum-and-bugle corps, some started in our crew. Our crew is non-union, some started as interns and some were fans."

Igrejas said the cast and crew they hired that were members of unions simply obtained permission from their locals to join Blue Man.

Canadian Actors Equity, however, says it has no provision for members to work in non-union shows. "We want to open up the opportunity of Blue Man Group to professionals -- not just professional Canadian actors but musicians and crew," said Equity executive director Susan Wallace. "These opportunities are now closed to the professional community of Toronto."

The unions and Blue Man are set to meet in New York on Friday. Igrejas noted that in one case, Las Vegas, the group has agreed to union backstage crew. "So we do adapt. But our position is pretty firm. We're looking forward to meeting them at the table. There's nothing carved in stone, but our position is, 'This is what we do and what we bring to the table, what do you do?'

"The thing is we are not just passing through, this is not a road show. We're going to be here hiring as many Canadian performers and crew as possible and settling down for years.

"This is new to Equity, and this is new to us. We're like the Blue Man character, we're as curious about you as you are about us."