Big hair, rock’n guitars and Hollywood’s Sunset Strip set the scene for the Akins journey theater’s latest musical production set to hit the stage this December.

It’s a recipe that first year theater director Brad Distelhorst hopes will attract an audience who were alive during the 1980s and students who have only heard the rock anthems of the era on the radio.

The musical, which is modified from the original script for high school audiences, will feature well known 80s rock songs like “Pour some sugar on me”, “Hit me with your best shot” and “Don’t stop believing”. The music will be performed by a live rock band and sung by cast members.

The play centers around a group of wannabe rock and rollers striving for fame and love.

Senior Maddy Simpson plays Sherrie Christian, a young girl who meets a young rocker named Drew Boley, played by Ethan Cannon. e pair dream of making it big in Hollywood’s hard rock scene.

The story is narrated by Lonny (Jonathan Macedo), the owner of the Bourbon room, where most of the story is set. “I’m the one that narrates the show and basically guides everyone throughout the whole musical,” Macedo said.

“There’s a love story between Sherrie and Drew, and there are people who are trying to go against rock and roll,” Simpson said. Sherrie and Drew will give everything they have and stop at nothing to keep their music alive as they sing and dance all through Hollywood with a burning passion, in hopes to make things right.

“I feel like my character is very outgoing, like he doesn’t have a limit, he’s basically like a Jack Black in the show,” Cannon said.

Cannon also said “playing the character of Drew has been a challenge” because he is an archetypal character with two love interests. “It’s very different for me because I usually play a younger kid or a villain of some sort, and so it’s very different to be playing one of the main characters,”