Have a blast with Phineas and Ferb at Comcast Arena

Published 7:10 pm Wednesday, January 18, 2012

There are 104 days of summer vacation. Or are there?

The creative duo of Phineas and Ferb attempt to build the greatest creation ever, if you happen to be a kid wishing summer vacation would never end. And you not only get to watch, you get to be part of the action.

Phineas and Ferb will bring “Disney’s Phineas and Ferb: The Best LIVE Tour Ever!” to Comcast Arena on Sunday with the usual cast of characters from the Tri-State area, including sister Candace, Perry the Platypus, the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz, Buford and Isabella and the Fireside girls.

The gang will also bring 14 rocking tunes, a marshmallow launcher, a fighting Ninja sequence and some surprises.

“It’s that kind of a show where you want to get up and move yourself,” said Adrian Baez, who plays Phineas and has been traveling with this show for 23 weeks.

Baez said the live show follows the format of the “Phineas and Ferb” Disney Channel series and, in fact, starts out on a 2-D screen. But once Phineas and Ferb notice the live audience, they burst on stage.

The premise of the show is to think of the best audience-pleasing creation ever. To do that, Phineas and Ferb need all the ideas they can get, especially from the audience.

They gather all these ideas into an idea-masher machine. Some of these ideas involve driving monster trucks and launching marshmallows.

“It’s wild,” Baez said.

The music plays an important backdrop to this craziness and includes familiar tunes from the show, a Bollywood number and a hilarious segment in which Candace has an issue with squirrels in her pants; if you are a fan of the television show this news has just made your day.

Meanwhile, just like in the series, another plot involves Dr. Doofenshmirtz, who, in this case, wants to be the most talented musical theater star in the Tri-State area.

To be successful, he needs an “audience controllinator.”

Like always, Perry the Platypus, Agent P, swoops in to stop the evil doctor, but not before Doofen-shmirtz performs a Broadway medley that combines such musical theater hits as “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha; “I Feel Pretty” from “West Side Story” and “One” from “Chorus Line.”

The action between Perry and Doofenshmirtz mixes Matrixlike moments with attacking bees and Ninjas, Baez said.

In the end, some audience members will get to go on stage, there’s a flashing disco ball and falling balloons and the possibility that summer vacation could go on and on.

Baez, 27, said this show brings out in the best in him because Phineas is such an upbeat kid who treats each day “like an enormous adventure, one more extraordinary than the previous day.”

Phineas and stepbrother Ferb are 8 to 10 years old in the television show; Candace is 15.

“As a kid, for me, I had a big imagination and I wanted to build a utopia in the back yard with water and islands,” Baez said. “Of course, in reality, that’s not so possible, but it is possible for a kid like Phineas.

“It’s the kind of show where you want to rock out and jump and scream and dance.

“We encourage the kids to enjoy the experience and leave with a song stuck in their head and hope they went there and had the best time of their lives.”

“Disney’s Phineas and Ferb: The Best LIVE Tour Ever!” will be presented at 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday at Comcast Arena at Everett, 2000 Hewitt Ave.

Tickets are $19 to $49. Call 866-332-8499 or go to www.comcastarenaeverett.com.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.