PARKS: Big 'A-Team' romp at Universal

Destruction is good, clean fun for the wizard of the Universal Tours

Peter Alexander is in the controlled destruction business. In his world, cars crash, gas pumps explode and terrorists bite the dust. But nobody gets hurt. It is a world in which good and evil are clearly defined -good triumphs and evil doesn't. Just like on television.

Alexander produces five shows for the Universal Studios Tour, but his latest creation -the $1.5 million "A.Team Live Action Show" - borrows heavily from television. In fact, it is a recreation of actual scenes from the TV show.

It is no accident that the live show, which debuts Saturday in a new two acre, 3,000 seat arena built next to the Universal Amphitheatre, is true to the spirit of the television show. Television producer Stephen J. Cannell the did "The Rockford Files" as well as "The A-Team") wouldn't approve Alexander's plans with out certain assurances.

"Essentially, we went to Canneil, showed him our script and said: 'Can we do this?'" Alexander said, "and Cannell said: 'Just don't screw up my characters.' "

The 37 year old Alexander, who graduated from Magnolia High School in Anaheim just before his family moved to Los Angeles, said Cannell maintained that the television show is intended as "good, clean fun."

"He said there mustn't be any blood (in the live show) because nobody actually gets hurt on 'The A-Team' and insisted that we remain true to his characters," Alexnnder said. "For instance, Cannell said that B.A. Baracus (the tough-but-gentle character that catapaulted Mr. T to superstar status) is not on the show just for his muscles but rather because he's a genius mechanic. I didn't know that. So we now have the B.A. Baracus character working on the van in the show."

There are three alternating casts. The l8 minute show is performed six times a day and the stunts are too grueling, Alexander said, to be handled by only one cast.

The show opens in the fictional Mexican border town Of Rio del Blanco where the A-Team breaks through some barricades, faces off against a motorcycle gang (portrayed by professional motocross riders) and, after a spectacular motorcycle jump and crash, intro
introduces B.A. Baracus. He grits his teeth at the bad guys and snarls:

"I pity the fool who messes with me."

In Act II, a youngster is selected from the audience and given a ride in the A-Team van. The young fan is "catapulted" from the van - but not to worry, it's just show biz.

Act III finds the unmasked crusaders grappling with Latin American guerrillas.

Despite the elaborate outdoor set, three major explosions and a never-ending string of vehicular stunts, Alexander said putting this show together was easy compared to the last one he created for the tour - The Adventures of Conan.

"Conan had so many lasers, fires and dragons," he explained. "This one has been almost completely computerized. Now that it's been set up, it takes only
one guy to run the whole show.