The Wiggles make their Roanoke appearance Friday.

Thomas, 3, was interested to read our request for questions for Sam Wiggle.

The show

The Wiggles -- Live!

• $19.50 to $37
• 6:30 p.m., Friday, Roanoke Civic Center
• (540) 853-5483 roanokeciviccenter.com

For the preschool crowd, a live concert by the Wiggles would be like Madonna, Bono and Prince all together on one stage.

Just look at the stats: 16 years of constant touring on four continents; more than 22.5 million videos sold worldwide; multiple sold-out tours in the United States, including 12 sold-out Madison Square Garden shows in 2003; and a top-rated TV show aired every day on the Disney Channel.

This Australian group even has its own theme park back home called Wiggles World , plus smaller Wiggles Worlds at three Six Flags locations in the U.S and a play center in Dallas, Texas.

In news releases, Blue Wiggle Anthony Field said that the group’s success comes from its knowledge of childhood development (three Wiggles met while studying early childhood education at Sydney’s Macquarie University ).

“A lot of what we do comes from a child’s perspective,” Anthony said. “It’s got a lot to do with what songs are about and the language we use, and I like to think we know how to write pretty catchy tunes.”

So we set up a phone interview with one of these pre school rock stars — Sam Moran, better known as the Yellow Wiggle — before he sings and dances at the Roanoke Civic Center.

And who would have better questions than the fans themselves? When we asked parents and kids to send in their questions, the most frequent query was: What happened to Greg?

If you didn’t know already, Greg Page , the original Yellow Wiggle, had to leave the group after being diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance, a non-life-threatening condition, in December.

Sam took over the yellow skivvy (which means turtleneck in Australia), after touring with the Wiggles for almost 10 years as Greg’s understudy, among other Wiggly roles.

Now Sam’s in the middle of a tour that will visit 26 cities in 31 days — usually two shows per day (phew!). He called us one morning from Syracuse, N.Y., to answer your questions:

How is Greg Wiggle doing?

— Anna Dandridge, 5, Roanoke

Sam: Greg is doing OK. He’s a little bit better now that he’s not being a Wiggle, [which was] making him more sick. He’s doing the best that he can.

Will you do the same things that Greg did?

— Brayden Taylor, 3, Salem

Sam: No, Greg was into magic … I’m the singer of the group. I sing all of the songs, and I love to sing.

My son, Garrett, has a question for the Wiggles: Why do they wear the colors they wear? He means, why does Jeff wear purple, Murray, red, etc., and not just to tell them apart but why those particular colors? We’ll be in the second row in the concert and are very excited to see them.

— Geoffrey Knobl, Blacksburg

Sam: Murray’s favorite color is red, Anthony’s is blue, and I think Jeff’s is purple. Greg and Anthony had a fight over the blue — well, not a fight, but they had a race to see who could get to the blue first, and Anthony won.

I would like to start by saying congratulations to Sam on being named the newest Wiggle! We saw Sam in Greensboro in August 2006. He did a fantastic job, and we are looking forward to the performance in Roanoke. My question is, why was it decided to give Sam Greg’s yellow shirt? Why was he not given his own identity with an orange or green shirt?

— Kathy Smith, Christiansburg

Sam: We did consider that, but we realized that with children especially, they identify with the colors more than who is in the colors.

As you can see from the photo (left), Thomas (age 3), was quite interested to read of your request for questions for Sam Wiggle. Thomas says he has many questions for Sam but seems to be most interested to know what Sam’s favorite song is. This is followed by wondering what his favorite food is and if he’s a good driver now.

— Sheila Fisher, Roanoke

Sam:

Favorite song: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” I sing it everyday in the show. My favorite Wiggle song is “Hot Potato.”

Favorite food: Hot potatoes [baked potatoes].

Good driver now? [Laughs.] Yes, I had to take the driving test to drive the Big Red Car. Now I’m a good driver … you need a special license.

I like the Wiggles, I listen to them every morning. I like to sing along. We are going to see the Wiggles when they come to town next month.

1. What kind of treats does Wags like?
2. What is your favorite fruit? I like cantaloupe, it’s my favorite.
3. What is your favorite game? I like to hit the ball with my new bat.

— Chas Dibbern, 3, Salem

Sam:

1. Wags loves bones. He loves to chew on the bones, as most pet dogs do.
2. It changes all of the time, but at the moment it has to be oranges.
3. That’s a tricky one. Maybe "I Spy."

I am Olivia. I am 6 years old. I had a Wiggles birthday party when I was 4. Please ask Sam: Do the Wiggles live in Sydney? Have the Wiggles been to the Sydney Opera House?

— Olivia Bloch, 6, Roanoke

Sam: Yes, the Wiggle house is in Sydney. [And] we have performed at the opera house.

First of all, my almost 2-year-old daughter is a HUGE Wiggles fan. That is the ONLY show she watches on TV. She wakes up asking, “Wiggles, please?” So, my question is: Are any of the Wiggles married, and do they have any children of their own?

— Kristan Brown, Roanoke

Sam: Three of us are married: Murray [who has two children, ages 10 and 13], Anthony [two young daughters], and I got married 12 months ago [she’s a Wiggly dancer in the show].

I found you in my Wiggles book at Target. Are you going to be in any of my Wiggles movies soon?

— Jonathan Blake, 3, Spotsylvania (through aunt Wendy Blake of Salem)

Sam: Yes, a new Wiggles DVD called “Getting Strong!” — it’s all about getting active, healthy minds and healthy bodies. But there will be more coming.