Let It Be a Ticket to Yesterday

“You say you want a revolution. Well, you know we all want to change the world.”

The Beatles

“Revolution”

And change the world they did.

“It’s the music of a generation. It’s our generation,” Ralph Castelli said.

As a little boy, Castelli was one of millions to realize the world had changed when he watched the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. He has since spent nearly 25 years as a member of the most highly regarded Beatles tribute band in the world, Rain, which will make its debut Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

With selections from nearly 200 Beatles songs, the evening is geared to please fans from all stages of the band’s life together — from their first American televised experience to the later days of long hair and sitars.

Castelli described a Rain show as a full-sensory experience.

“It’s a rock concert with a theatrical element to support the concert,” he said. “The support is in on-screen television commercials, which set the time. As the show moves forward [through the Beatles catalog], so do the TV commercials. We built sets around all the album covers, and we have six costume changes. It’s really quite an experience; everything we do is note for note. … Some people say it’s a psychedelic experience,” he laughed.

Castelli grew up in a musical family of Italian American immigrants in San Gabriel.

“I was fortunate — I had my mother and my father, and there was always music in the house,” he said. “I had several brothers, and I was heavily influenced by them. I was fortunate to have a drum set, which I would use as much as I could.”

One day, while Castelli was still in grammar school, his brother told him the Beatles would appear on the Ed Sullivan Show that night.

“What are the Beatles?” Castelli asked.

But he sat down in front of the set, little knowing that it would change his life.

“I watched them perform twice on the Ed Sullivan Show, and then I went into the back room, closed the door, put on ‘Meet the Beatles’ and listened to it over and over,” he said. “That one just lit the fuse.”

Castelli credits the Beatles with revolutionizing popular music.

“They set the stage for everything after them,” he said. “They were the innovators. I really want to thank John, Paul, George and Ringo for teaching me to play and for introducing a whole generation to great music.”

As a fellow drummer, Castelli was impressed by Ringo’s panache.

“He was a charming fellow on that drum set,” Castelli said. “It wasn’t like he was just in the back. He was a Beatle, and it was as entertaining to watch him as it was Paul or George.”

By high school, Castelli played in several bands, along with participating in sports; he had no idea what his future would become.

“After high school, there was a huge ad in the Los Angeles Times for a Beatles lookalike-soundalike for a Broadway show,” Castelli said. “After about three or four callbacks, I was cast as Ringo Starr.”

That show was “Beatlemania,” which went on to have many touring productions and a feature film.

“I was cast as the drummer for the movie, out of all of the Beatlemania Ringos out there,” Castelli said.

Beforehand, he had only experienced the Fab Four’s music live courtesy of the world’s first tribute band.

“When I was that age, there was only one band that played Beatles music,” Castelli said. “They were called Rain. Rain actually coined the phrase ‘tribute band;’ they predated ‘Beatlemania.’ I saw their keyboard player in high school, and then I got to play with him in the band; when ‘Beatlemania’ ceased touring, he put together an all-star cast for Rain.”

Castelli said he’s excited by the popularity of the new remastered Beatles albums, as well as the Beatles Rock Band video game.

“As the curtain goes up, there’s three generations of Beatles fans in the audience,” he said.

“When the Beatles came to the U.S. in 1964, the parents took their kids. Now the kids take their parents.”

For Castelli, a Southern California native, the show’s Costa Mesa stop will be a sort of homecoming; his family will be in attendance, and he hopes to visit with friends.

“We’ve been blessed and fortunate to have such a successful show running for so long,” he said.

But he discounts any idea that he’s inspired future drummers himself, as Ringo did.

“I followed in Ringo’s steps,” he said. “He taught me. If anybody learned from me, that’s wonderful. But it all comes from him.”

If You Go

What: Rain, a tribute to the Beatles

When: Tuesday through March 28; Off Center Bash after party following March 27 performance

Where: Segerstrom Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa

Cost: Tickets $20 and up; after party $50 and more.

Information: (714) 556-ARTS or ocpac.org