TROY – There’s a reason Bill Kropinak bears such an uncanny resemblance on stage to the late John Lennon, and it’s not just his incredible attention to detail.
Kropinak, quite simply, has portrayed Lennon longer than Lennon himself did.
“That’s pretty crazy, really,” said the Ohio native, who brings his tribute band Beatlemania Magic to Hobart Arena on Friday night, Feb. 13. “It’s pretty amazing that we get a chance to do this. We’re humbled by the chance to portray one of the greatest bands in the world.
“We love what we’re doing, and it doesn’t get old.”
Kropinak, a lifelong Beatles fan, assembled his first Fab Four-style band nearly 30 years ago and formed Beatlemania Magic in 2008. Joined by Russ Saylor (Paul McCartney), Mark Baranski (George Harrison) and Burt Scheel (Ringo Starr), all of whom are from the Pittsburgh-Youngstown area, he played nearly 50 shows last year – the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ “invasion” of North America – and has toured 24 states.
He’d do it eight days a week if he could.
“The people we meet after the shows or even just from Facebook – our minds are blown hearing how we’ve touched people with our interpretation of the Beatles,” he said. “Many, many people who actually saw the Beatles say they can’t believe it. They say it’s like seeing the Beatles on stage again. You can’t get a better compliment than that.”
The band, which has played before as many as 15,000 fans, has been lauded for its remarkable eye – and ear – for detail. Harmonies, the staple of early Beatles songs, are spot on. Costumes are identical to those the Beatles wore. Except for Scheel, who is a couple of inches taller than Ringo, band members are almost the exact height and weight as the Beatles. They perform using Gretsch, Hofner and Rickenbacker guitars, a Ludwig drum kit and Vox amps.
When Saylor was recruited to play Paul, he was strictly right-handed. In less than a year, he learned to play the bass left-handed, just like McCartney.
“We all have the desire to be as close to the real thing as possible,” Kropinak said.
The group’s 90-minute set will include some 40 songs, beginning with the Beatlemania era and continuing through Sgt. Pepper, the White Album, Let It Be and Abbey Road.
“We’ll do the greatest hits with some B sides,” said Kropinak, whose personal favorite is the riff-driven “I Feel Fine,” from the Beatles 1965 album.
Kropinak has never met any of the Beatles – although he did run into original drummer Pete Best and Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, years ago – but sometimes feels he knows the talented but troubled Lennon, who tragically was killed by a crazed fan in 1980.
“You do get a feel for the character you are portraying,” he said. “I started doing this so many years ago, you feel you do understand some of the things he was thinking and going through.”
Then he catches himself.
Kropinak related a scene from the documentary “Imagine: John Lennon” in which a disheveled stranger who was living in the garden of Lennon’s English estate is invited in for breakfast. The stranger believes Lennon is speaking to him through his lyrics, but Lennon insists they are mere words – that it’s just a song, and the man is reading too much into it.
“I kind of feel the same way about this,” Kropinak said. “We’re just having fun.”
HOW TO GO – Tickets, at $20 for reserved seats and $15 for general admission, may be purchased in advance at the Hobart Arena box office and at hobartarena.com or on the night of the show. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the show at 7:30. To learn more about the band and listen to its remarkable sound, go to beatlemaniamagic.com.
