A Visceral Experience that Touches Every Sense': An Inside Look at Beck's One-of-a-Kind Summer Event

On July 6, 2013, Glenn Beck will unveil his summer spectacular, "The Man in the Moon" at the USANA Amphitheater in Salt Lake City, Utah. 20,000 tickets will be available February 19 (at 9am MT) for an event slated to infuse inspirational story-telling with state of the art special effects.

Beck has promised that the event will be a new way to celebrate the Fourth of July. The whole weekend will be a departure from the hot dogs, beer, and fireworks displays scored by Bruce Springsteen that have defined Fourth of July festivities in recent years. Instead, the Man in the Moon will be a family friendly event that tells an inspirational, uplifting, and entertaining story celebrating the values, principles, and history of America.

The story will focus on the building of the nation, covering everything from the first Native Americans to the Founding Fathers; from the Great Depression and wars to milestones in industry, art and science, all from the perspective of the Man in the Moon.

Beck said he was inspired by the pioneering storytelling techniques of Walt Disney and his Imagineers who sought to foster a sense of family and community in everything from their movies to TV shows and their parks. Similarly, Beck hopes that the Man in the Moon will showcase the better world he hopes can exist.

The Man In The Moon "is probably the biggest show we have ever done on a performance level," Beck said. "We are pushing envelope of creativity."

"It's the American story told as a fable," from the perspective of on high. When asked to describe the performance in just a few words, Beck said it will be, "classic edgy, unseen before and overwhelming."

Engineered by the team at American Dream Labs, which Beck describes as "a place to break through on technology storytelling ideas and inspiration," Man In The Moon is sure to amaze. Told in the style of a children's pop-up book, complete with 20-30 foot tall automatons, "you'll be sucked inside the moon and see what he knows."

"This is the American story told in a radically different way," Beck explained.  "You will love, you will ponder and you will think about this for a long time to come."

But his vision for the event could not be realized by himself alone, thus Beck enlisted the help of Ben McPherson, whose career as a painter and visual artist focuses on themes of faith and questions "who we are and why we are here."

While The Man in the Moon is not designed to be specifically religious in connotation, it is, according to McPherson, meant to be used as a metaphor for a higher power's perspective of us, as people.

"We are telling this story from a fabalistic point of view and juxtaposing that with our idea that from our limited human perspective  things are finite."

With all of the "chaos and destruction" going on in the world today, McPherson hopes to transport the audience outside of their own subjective worldview and show them a different perspective.

With the use of high-tech visual and special effects, the artist, along with Beck's production crew have been engineering new uses of projection mapping and mobile screening along with traditional theater typsets and stage effects. 

"Glenn and I came up with this idea together," McPherson told TheBlaze in an interview before explaining his specific role in bringing this event to a live audience.

"I signed on to help him build some of the visual elements and to preserve the vision by helping to choose music, composers, the underscore and performance elements.

He admitted that this "was a daunting undertaking" for him but that he feels honored for having been given so much artistic control over the event.  In terms of where he draws inspiration from, the artist told TheBlaze that spending time with Beck, who he "admires creatively," coupled with studying cutting-edge events and experiences created at Disneyland have served as the building blocks for his creative process.

"We went to Disneyland when we started kicking this around, and being there and looking at what they are doing artistically, and examining their processes – it was such a fertile ground for conceiving and building on our ideas."

McPherson said several elements will help set this event apart from others. Among the physical components he is employing will be hydraulic automatons, musical renditions, projection mapping, mobile screening technology that will help change out sets in record-speed and truly transport the event into the audience so that they become active participants, rather than mere spectators.

"It will be more Cirque du Soliel in nature," said McPherson. "Everything will be mysterious and surreal."

In parting, McPherson said that if he could convey one thing to those considering attending the event, it would be that Man In The Moon will be "a visceral experience that touches every sense."

"It's not about you being a passive observer as much as it is about you becoming completely enveloped by the event."

​To purchase tickets for Man in the Moon you can visit the event's web page.

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Related:

• Glenn Beck Reveals Some Exciting Details About His Trip to the American Dream Labs in Salt Lake City

• Beck Teases His 3-Day ‘Man in the Moon’ Event: America’s Story Told Like Never Before