"Blast!" Producer Jim Mason is pretty busy these days. Not only are the two casts of "Blast!" still entertaining thousands daily, but Mason and his Star of Indiana organization are currently putting the finishing touches on "Shockwave," their follow-up to the Blast! Broadway hit, before auditions begin by May.

The Shockwave cast will consist of 40 members, Mason said, including a five-member saxophone section.

"We're adding woodwinds to the ensemble," he said, "so it's going to be weighted differently. We'll have two alto saxophones, two tenors and one bari, just like a traditional big band section. They'll double on flute and clarinet."

That element alone will give Shockwave a different flavor from the drum corps-style spice that Blast! relies on. But the new show will move away a bit from its marching roots, too.

"There's going to be a lot more interpretive movement," Mason said. "Certainly with Blast!, we pushed the envelope in terms of marching and playing. We've learned a few things from that. (Shockwave) will be a very athletic design."

Can they find five saxophone players who can play on a professional level and move like drum corps veterans?

"The whole thing is finding someone athletic enough to do the body movement," Mason said. "When you get someone from Drum Corps International, Bands of America or Winter Guard International, they have that understanding. Can we find saxophones to do that? That exploration will be fun and interesting, to say the least."

Another new sight for Blast! fans will be the change in the percussion section. As Drum Corps World previously reported, Shockwave drummers will be in pods hanging from the ceiling over the stage.

"There will be two or three floating percussion spheres," Mason said, each about eight to 10 feet in circumference. "They'll have a retro-modern feel from the '50s. They'll be like huge Christmas ornaments." Inside these ornaments will be a wall of state-of-the-art electronic percussion equipment, including Midi triggers, CAT synthesizers and an array of sampled sounds available at the touch of a mallet or stick.

How will the drummers get up and down from them? "That's the magic of theater," Mason said with a chuckle. The stage will likely have arches and loop-de-loops leading to and from the percussion spheres to make the stage look a bit like a roller coaster in terms of architecture.

There won't be a traditional drum line with snares, tenors and bass drums; Shockwave will have only three percussionists and one drum set player. But, that doesn't mean they won't strap on marching percussion, Mason said.

"One of the key things with Shockwave is finding performers with the ability to multi-task. I know we have two trumpets and two trombones that have excellent percussion chops. So instead of four percussionists, we'll have eight. There's a special type of performer who can do that. We really try to convey that to the audience."

Arturo Sandoval, the famed Latin trumpeter, is known for starting his concerts on trumpet and French horn, then picking up a mic to sing, sitting at a piano to play an elegant solo only to finish off with a stirring timbale flourish.

"So, for example, maybe there will be a percussionist that can spin something," Mason said. That mirrors the world of drum corps, where the Madison Scouts have an innovative section of "X-men" that perform in the percussion section and also work with guard equipment.

The Shockwave "visual ensemble" will have eight performers, but it's unclear at this point what they'll be doing. "We're debating the degree of what we'd call color guard work versus dance and even people who can perform magic," Mason said.

The rest of the ensemble will be made up of eight trumpets, six trombones, three French horns, three tubas, two keyboards and one electric bass.

"We're taking (jazz great Stan) Kenton-esque music and putting it in motion," Mason said.

Mason, a musician, knows what it's like to supply the music off-stage while the spotlight shines on someone else. Shockwave will be a bit of "band kids' revenge," if you will, with the musicians physically starting the show in the traditional Broadway show confines of the "pit" area, only to work their way onto the stage.

"They want to act, dance and revel without boundaries," Mason described. "It was time to push away the chairs and music stands and let the musicians be the actors. Music is a language of it's own."

The theme of the show plays on '60s pop culture and the feeling of breaking new boundaries, ala Beatles mania. The music will be based on rock tunes, contemporary jazz and world music.

The original cast will embark on an U.S. tour of smaller venues than the Blast! tour, with the first show in late September.

Blast! at Disneyland
The majority of the Blast! Broadway cast is performing at the "California Adventure" theme park on the Disneyland grounds in Southern California.
"It's doing very well," Mason said. "We're still performing three to four shows a day with anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 people in attendance. I'd say we're averaging 4,000 a day." The group will remain there through its contract, which expires in January of 2003, but will then probably embark to another location overseas, Mason said.

Blast! U.S. Tour
The touring cast has been growing in strength and popularity, Mason said. "The response has always been good in terms of fan response, but we've also had a really strong winter" during a stretch that included shows in California, Arizona, Florida and Georgia. Mason said venue operators are rebooking Blast! on the spot, and he hopes it will run at least until 2004.
"It's really a testament to the show," Mason said. "We're just going to keep running it as long as we can."

Next step?
The Blast! and Shockwave creators are already working on ideas for other productions...