A new Wiggle shows his true colors
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These are times of significant change for the Wiggles. The difficulties for the four-man Australian children’s music group began in late 2006 when Greg Page, a.k.a. the Yellow Wiggle, was diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance -- a disease of the nervous system for which there is no cure. Page is currently living comfortably, but touring is out of the question. And that threatened to bring the Wiggles to a standstill.
Enter Sam Moran. Educated at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Moran slipped on Page’s trademark yellow skivvies and helped the group squirm out of what might have been its demise.
And Moran has not only sustained things, he’s taken the Wiggles’ music in a different direction, according to founding member Murray Cook.
“We’ve reassessed what we do,” says Cook, known to toddlers as the Red Wiggle, and to hard-core aficionados as the Intellectual Wiggle. Sam “is a really different sort of personality. He’s forgetful and we’ve incorporated that into the act.” Andy “has a really beautiful singing voice.”
How this 17-year-old monster of kids rock might sound with the addition of a classically trained singer -- and the first member who didn’t come of age in Australian rock bands -- will be cloaked in mystery no longer. The Wiggles play four shows of highly interactive sing-alongs at the Nokia Theatre on Saturday and Sunday.
Each performance is certain to include time-honored characters Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword the friendly pirate.
Seventeen years into a journey steeped in the performance of songs geared for juvenile minds, it’s not just the intellectual members of the band who’ve given thought to the point of it all.
“We have teenagers who have fond memories, coming up to us,” points out Jeff Fatt -- OK, the Purple Wiggle. “And they say thank you.”
“We were mostly rock ‘n’ roll musicians before we started doing [the Wiggles],” says Cook, who is well-read in addition to being red.
“The feedback we get from most parents is that it doesn’t drive them as crazy as most children’s music. I think what I’m most proud of is the trust that parents have with us, that they can put their kids in front of a video and know the child’s going to have a positive experience.”
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‘POP GO THE WIGGLES LIVE!’
WHERE: Nokia Theatre, 777 Chick Hearn Court, downtown L.A.
WHEN: 1:30 and 5 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
PRICE: $22-$40
INFO: (213) 763-6030; www.ticketmaster.com
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