Musical 'Hair' will rock this weekend

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll will live on in the Houston Hall Auditorium tonight when the Arts House Theatre Company performs the musical Hair. Subtitled "The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," Hair portrays "a slice of life of a tribe of hippies," said producer Elie Landau, a College junior. The musical praises young adulthood and freedom and indicts authority. Although the action in Hair jumps from scene to scene and song to song, a "sort of" plot centers around a young hippie named Claude as he decides whether to fight in Vietnam or desert the draft. Engineering freshman Noah Sferra, the actor who plays Claude, said the musical deals with more than the light-hearted, fun aspects of hippie culture. "To rebel was a very hard thing," said Sferra. "As much as these people turned on, tuned in [and] dropped out, they really cared." Since it contains songs with titles such as "Sodomy" and "Hashish," Hair is likely to shock some viewers. "It is basically a period piece about the '60s," explained director John Hedges, a College sophomore, "and with that goes a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, a lot of farce [and] a lot of strange clothes." Hedges said many people have been curious to know if his production will include the nude scene present in the original, but he is refusing to say. "They'll just have to come and see for themselves," he said teasingly. Hair sets itself further apart from other musicals with a score of modern music, which Hedges described as "a what's what of '60s music." Music director and College junior Grace Esteban emphasized that the 50 songs in Hair are not solely rock and roll, but contain "a little bit of everything." Songs from the soundtrack the audience may know include "Aquarius," "Let the Sun Shine In" and the title track. Landau said that although it is a period piece -- the show was written in 1966 and first performed in Greenwich Village -- Hair still has relevance to the world today. "Themes of rebellion and anti-establishment are just as vehement today as they were in the Sixties," he said. "People just don't wear the same clothes." Hair will run today through Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Houston Hall Auditorium. Though Friday and Saturday's shows are sold out, there will be a waiting list at the door. Tickets are $5 at the door and on Locust Walk.