WANT TO GO?

"Hair"

Presented by Charleston Light Opera Guild

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Aug. 6 and 7, 3 p.m. Sunday and Aug. 8.

WHERE: Civic Center Little Theater

COST: $20

INFO: 304-343-2287

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- For the record, the Charleston Light Opera Guild won't be doing the infamous nude scene in its production of "Hair," opening this weekend at the Civic Center Little Theater.

"The cast and the directors came to a mutual agreement that that was very in-the-moment for that particular cast," said 18-year-old Eli Chambers, who plays Claude. "Given the audience we're going to have, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable being nude on stage. The more I think about it, the less I want to do it, and I'm grateful that we're not."

The actors aren't the only ones who are relieved.

"That was the first question my mom asked," said 27-year-old Michelle Melton, who plays Sheila. "I said, 'Mom, I got the role I wanted for 'Hair'! She went along with me being excited for a little while, and then it got quiet and she said, 'Michelle, you're not going to be nude, are you?'"

Chambers, Melton and a cast of 33 others, including Jeff Hanson as Berger, stage the rock musical at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Aug. 6 and 7, as well as at 3 p.m. Sunday and Aug. 8.

Chambers warns that the play is not the same as the 1979 Milos Forman movie that many are familiar with.

"A lot of people who have maybe seen the movie and are looking for a plot-based show will be thrown off," he said. "It revolves around the songs and music itself more than the characters."

Melton, who participated in the Contemporary Youth Arts Company's 1999 staging of the show, said of the story, "It's basically about a guy who is at a turning point in his life. He's been living the hippie life, following a lot of people into demonstrating against the war. He's getting pressure from his parents to be more of a stand-up citizen -- get a job, cut his hair, things like that -- but he's also getting pressure from his friends -- the tribe -- to stay a free, liberal person who keeps his long hair and doesn't necessarily have a job."

Also at issue for that guy, Claude, is whether to burn his draft card or go fight in the Vietnam War.

"Claude is very indecisive," said Chambers, a 2010 Capital High School graduate who will major in music composition at Ohio University in the fall.

"He likes being a part of the movement that he is, but he's still very patriotic. He has conflicting ideals about whether he should stay where he is and be doing what the war was defending or whether he should go over there and fight for what his friends in America were doing."

Of course, there's no longer a draft, but when asked what choice he would make if there were, Chambers paused.

"I have a hard time thinking what I would do if it were me," he said. "I can relate to my character in this way. He doesn't decide until the last minute that he's not going to burn his draft card.

"I would probably do what he did; I would serve my country. While there are many things going on with the American government with which Claude and I don't agree, I would still be willing to support and defend my country if it came to that.

"I'm in the same mentality as Claude, in that I do support our troops wherever they may be, although I do not necessarily support some of the things we are doing."

Melton, an employee of Pullin, Fowler, Flanagan, Brown & Poe and a pre-med student at West Virginia State University, pointed out that, while there is no draft, there's another situation that could be seen as similar.

"There's not a draft anymore, but a lot of people find the military as a way to pay for college, and they don't go into it completely weighing the likelihood of becoming engaged in combat or a combat setting where there's constant danger, constant fear."

Melton, who entered college in the fall of 2001, considered taking that path, and her father encouraged her to do so. Ultimately, she didn't. "It's one of the few times he's glad I didn't take his advice," she said.

Neither actor was alive during Vietnam, but both have grown up during the Iraq war. They agree that that conflict, and the one in Afghanistan, gives the play renewed relevance.

"[The war] has brought the generations together in a common bond on what used to be more a point of contention," Melton said. "That makes this play a beautifully relevant piece to be enjoyed by people of all ages."

"With everything going on in the Middle East, there are a lot of youth today with the same agenda that youth in the '60s had," added Chambers, who is one of the show's youngest cast members. "That translates well on stage. We're not talking about the same war, but we're talking about the same concepts."

Melton says that, because of its enduring message, "Hair" will always have cultural relevance.

"Conflict will exist as long as the human race exists, because it is in our nature to challenge things and always seek a better way of living," she said, "and there will always be a handful of people, if not more, who want to seek out good in the world and their fellow man."

Reach Amy Robinson at flips...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4881.