RIDGEFIELD — Jason Scheff, the masterful singing bassist who replaced departing co-founder Peter Cetera in the band Chicago for more than two decades, is getting a chance to let his inner Paul McCartney shine among a treasure trove of artists making up the super group rolling into The Ridgefield Playhouse March 3 to celebrate The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Revolver albums along with some of the hits its players made famous themselves.

On its second outing following a highly successful tour celebrating The Beatles’ White Album, the upcoming ensemble has retained five core musicians under the “It Was 50 Years Ago Today” branding. That 2019 tour saw Scheff, Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Joey Molland of Badfinger, and Denny Laine of Wings and The Moody Blues, joined by The Monkee’s Mickey Dolenz.

While Dolenz is not on the upcoming tour, Scheff told The Newtown Bee in a recent interview that Beatles devotees, along with fans of Rundgren, Chicago, Cross, Badfinger, Wings, and the Moody Blues will all be ultimately satisfied as the group vows to bring the spirit of each recreated song on their voluminous set list to life in as close to a true reproduction as possible given the absence of the Fab Four themselves.

“On the White Album tour a few years ago, we had a music director who was part of the original Broadway production of [The Beatles retrospective] Rain, and those guys created everything letter perfect. So when he came in, that was what he was used to,” Scheff recalled. “But we found a happy medium.

“One of the things I was aiming at when I was in Chicago, and with Todd and the gang on the last tour, was to not learn things note for note, but to capture the essence of it,” Scheff said. “There are certain feelings and inflections that are characteristics of this music. So that’s what I try and bring to the table. It’s hardly note for note, but the feelings and inflections we put into the Beatles material captures the essence of what they recorded. We just put our own personalities into it.”

Folks heading to the March 3 show in Ridgefield will hear classics like “I Saw the Light,” “Hello It’s Me,” “Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind,” “No Matter What,” “Go Now,” and more, along with a boatload of Beatles classics.

“This time we thought: Wouldn’t it be great if we played the best songs The Beatles ever recorded for a change? Rubber Soul and Revolver are the boys peaking in front of our eyes and redefining what pop music would be for the foreseeable future,” Rundgren said in advance from the tour. “This is going to be fun.”

“It’s always a pleasure playing these classic songs with great artists and friends. Please come join us,” Cross added.

“The Moody Blues met the Beatles in the early 60s and were invited to join them on their second British tour,” Laine recalled. “The thought of performing some of their classic songs with such a revered cast on this tour will bring back not only those moments in time but also fond memories as a member of Wings. I trust that we will pay due credit to their timeless legacy by bringing back that music to everyone who joins us for this special ride.”

Scheff said during his call with The Bee that he had just received a package of song titles to review for possible inclusion into the show, and that he prefers to see Rundgren and Cross get their picks in before he weighs in with options.

“I’d rather lay back and see what Chris and Todd want to sing,” Scheff said. “On the last tour I was so happy to do that because I ended up with a lot of the John Lennon stuff. That was cool because I think people who came to the show were not expecting that from me. But I loved it. So I wouldn’t mind if they threw more Lennon stuff at me for this tour.”

With his strong tenor voice and bass skills, fans might expect to see Scheff playing a lot of Paul McCartney material. But he acknowledged that his exposure to “Sir Paul” came not as a result of watching The Beatles, but McCartney’s next project, Wings, which featured his “50 Years Ago” bandmate Laine.

And even then, he wouldn’t exactly call McCartney an early influence.

“If you were to ask me if Paul influenced me as a musician before I studied his material for the White Album tour, I would probably say ‘not really.’ I loved him and everything he did with The Beatles, but my big influence was Band On The Run, along with Elton John’s bassist Dee Murray. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was my Sgt Pepper. I was too young to remember The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. So while I may have been influenced by McCartney, I didn’t realize it,” Scheff confided. “Digging into Revolver and Rubber Soul, which we’re going to be highlighting on this Beatles tour, I’ve been really digging not only the melodic bass lines Paul is playing, but how it all feels.”

Along with the incredible selection of songs Scheff grew up listening to from McCartney’s early Wings period, was another artist he has grown to know, love, and respect: Todd Rundgren.

“When I was growing up, I remember listening to ‘Hello It’s Me,’ and while I appreciated him, early on I was not a freak Todd Rundgren fan,” Scheff said. “But when I found out I was going to be working with him, a great friend of mine who was a freak fan told me, ‘the word is if you’re bringing it 100% musically, he’s gonna love you.’ So we got into rehearsals, and Todd’s not a real warm, fuzzy guy. But we jumped into the trenches together and jammed, and once we got on the road, I stood beside him every show and learned that he’s really there 100%, all the time.

“The thing I didn’t realize, and that I have come to respect greatly is his leadership. When things became challenging, I saw Rundgren just being a leader, inspiring people — and I was really impressed by that,” Scheff said. “So, I hope I get to stand next to him again this time around.”

While they last, VIP meet and greet packages are available in limited quantity. The media sponsor for this event is 99.1-WPLR.

For more information or to purchase touchless print at home tickets ($125-$150) go to ridgefieldplayhouse.org or call the box office 203-438-5795.

Jason Scheff nails "Glass Onion" during his last Beatles tribute show at The Ridgefield Playhouse back in 2019.

Check out Jason Scheff performing "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" on his 2019 White Album tour with Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, and the 'It Was 50 Years Ago Today' band.