A `BLAST' THIS EXTRAVAGANZA MOST CERTAINLY IS.

Byline: - Evan Henerson

WHEN THEY arrive in the lobby to greet the audience after the performance, the players of ``Blast'' appear to get the rock-star treatment, something most drum and bugle corps musicians probably don't foresee in their future when they first pick up that French horn in freshman-year band class.

Then again, the musicians and ensemble assembled by artistic director James Mason and the organizers of his touring ``Blast'' incarnation are not merely adequate band members. To blast with ``Blast,'' you need skills spanning a couple of artistic disciplines, and energy and attitude to match. You need to kick brass, in formation, and rock the house.

Which is exactly what the current incarnation of ``Blast'' does. The Theater League tour that continues its three-city Southern California leg in Long Beach and Pasadena is virtually indistinguishable from the company that first visited UCLA's Royce Hall in late 2002.

That's a credit to Mason, acting director George Pinney and whoever else from ``Blast'' is scouring the nation's universities for this kind of talent. I suspect new blood is constantly being circulated in and out of the ``Blast'' road company. The structure of this show never really needs to change.

Even now, some six years after the show made its London debut, (and more than four years after snagging a special Tony award), ``Blast'' is still a weird and wonderful anomaly - a stereotypically uncool art form brought electrically to a new dimension. You can hear a symphony orchestra playing Ravel's ``Bolero'' any day of the week; but until you've seen the drummers and horn players of ``Blast,'' you've never heard it like this.

Mason, whose Star of India drum corps gave rise to the theatrical show's concept, has his players in dark jumpsuits, pounding away on drums, blaring through horns or twirling colorful flags. Performers are constantly in motion, assembling into a stylized formation (choreography is by Jim Moore, Pinney and Jonathan Vanderkolff) and rarely standing still.

The performance's 16 selections are a mixture of hot and fast numbers, wailing blues and an occasional bit of playful noodling. There is also a vocal madrigal: Aaron Copeland's ``Simple Gifts'' from his ``Appalachian Spring'' suite.

The high-intensity ``Battery Battle'' between a pair of master drummers is sufficient to bring down the house and prompt younger audience members to pester their parents for sticks, skins and lessons. My 7-year-old half-jokingly (I hope!) requested the purchase of a tuba. Name another performance that could inspire that demand.

BLAST - Three and one half stars

Where: Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach.

When: 8 tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Also, March 17-19 at Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Tickets: $20 to $48.50. [phone].

In a nutshell: Marching band musical precision and athleticism mix with thrilling results.