When the "Beatles" took the stage at Heinz Hall on Thursday night, it turned a lot of '60-somethings into teenagers in an instant.

Well, maybe not the intense screaming that used to greet them wherever they went back in the day. But this Fab Four looked enough like the Beatles and they sounded enough like the Beatles to trigger a flood of memories in the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops crowd.

Besides, this was the only solution for fans who always fancied a Beatles reunion. This was as close as they would ever get.

In real life, these Beatles were performers Jim Owen (John Lennon), Tony Kishman (Paul McCartney), John Brosnan (George Harrison) and Chris Camilleri (Ringo Starr). They entered in those black suits with skinny black ties that defined the British heartthrobs back in the early days.

Maybe they looked a little older, but it turned out that this pretty fab four had done their homework. Only one, Brosnan was bona fide British, but the others took a good stab at the accent, smartly keeping their remarks to a minimum.

They also had the physical quirks down -- McCartney's chubby-cheeked charisma (less so at first, but full-out in the second half), Lennon's inner intellect and inherent spirituality, Harrison's stoicism, and Ringo's, well, Ringo-ness. Only Kishman didn't play a left-handed guitar ala McCartney, but that may have been too much to ask.

It was called the Classical Mystery Tour and these modern-day moptops brought a 23-song playbook with them, with enough left over for an opening medley from the orchestra, including "Hard Day's Night," "Michelle" and "Let It Be." Conductor Lawrence Loh showed that he had the requisite coolness and rhythmic acuity to conduct this kind of program, and the brass immediately established their dominance from the start and brilliantly condensed in the signature piccolo trumpet solo in "Penny Lane."

The arrangements left little room for the strings, aside from golden standards like "Yesterday" and "Eleanor Rigby" with the required truncated string accompaniments. Even the woodwinds could barely be heard from my seat near the front due to a lopsided sound system that periodically provided its own feedback.

The thing that impressed the most was the lexicon of songs, virtually all of which were composed during a seven-year stretch. The band had the musical chops to cover everything, including the Beatles' rhythmic challenges in songs like "A Day in the Life" and the costumes to move from those identical suits to the Sgt. Pepper uniforms to the more individual styles of the later period. The audience had the lyrical chops, hanging on every word.

The music didn't follow that chronological theme, opening with "Got to Get You Into My Life" (1966), followed by "She Loves You" (1963). But it began with more straightforward tunes to establish a connection. Ironically, these neo-Beatles didn't put out the same energy level that the originals projected in their early career. They seemed content to warm up with the program. So the "Sgt. Pepper " section, with "Here Comes the Sun" and "With a Little Help from My Friends," was more substantial.

But they emerged in the second half with a new attitude and plenty more to offer in songs like "Yellow Submarine" and "Come Together." Like the Beatles, the four musicians seemed a little older, a little wiser and a little world-weary (except for the Harrisons, who both never seemed to change), but at the peak of their musical powers.

The program even had room for a couple of post-Beatle tunes, McCartney's "Live and Let Die" and Lennon's "Imagine" (with the talented Owen in long hair and off-white suit). In this alternate Beatles' universe, there was no rancor or jealousy.

By the time they got to "Hey Jude," Kishman had reached his own peak, urging the audience to wave their arms. They responded enthusiastically, some with their cell phones replacing the Bics, then stood to move and groove to "Twist and Shout."

Oh, for the good old days...

The Classical Mystery Tour will be repeated tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Call 412-392-4900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.