An alluring female android approaches me wearing nothing but a shiny metallic suit. It brushes its aluminum locks away from its face, revealing a coy smile. It looks at me, and says "Hi."

"This is the first time we've gotten our costumes," Hasty Pudding Theatricals President Andrew A. Burlinson '97 says from inside his strange garb.

Burlinson walks up on stage and begins practicing dance moves.

I am sitting in the Hasty Pudding theater, watching the first dress rehearsal for the theatricals' production of "Me and My Galaxy." I am a little frightened at the scene.

A strange assortment of characters mill into the theater and onto the stage. A few men in short, tight skirts and high heels casually talk with a rastafarian and two star-trek lookalikes, while on the other side of the stage a giant egg rehearses footwork.

These are the final stages in the production of Pudding Show 149.

The Pudding is the third oldest running theater organization in the world, and the most storied artistic tradition at Harvard, with alums including Jack Lemmon '47 and Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld '66.

But watching the ridiculous scene before me in the theater, I can't help but wonder what leads countless Harvard students to engage in what often resembles a Burlesque show. What motivates a male actor to sing and dance in an egg suit or a skimpy little outfit before hundreds of people every evening for two months?

Ladies Night

"The best part of the show is definitely the breasts," Aaron D. Rosenberg '99 says immediately after I ask him to describe the highlights of being a cast member.

Rosenberg, who portrays the aptly named Duchess Tisimmense, admits that he is pretty happy with his role, which requires a voluptuously shaped costume and flashing lights in all the right places.

For Rosenberg and a number of the cast members, dressing in drag and dancing in high heels are rewards in themselves.

"I've played a woman all four years," Burlinson says with pride. "It's an honor."

Paul D. Siemens '98 admits that he regrets not being cast as a woman in this year's production, but he's gunning for a female role next year.

"There's a very sick and strange honor to being a woman," Siemens says with a hint of jealousy, watching the dancers on stage. "One day I'll be able to don the high heels."

Pete T. Wilson '99, perhaps the most scantily clad performer in the show, proudly displays the nuances of his costume.