A James Brown look-alike, dressed in a...

A James Brown look-alike, dressed in a flowing wig, is wildly gyrating his hips on the stage of Torrance’s West High School Auditorium.

Suddenly, he leaps from the stage and begins serenading a shy young girl who obviously doesn’t want the attention. What does he coo into her ear?

REDUCE! REUSE! RECYCLE!

Unfolding on stage is “Recycle This!,” a traveling environmental theater production that mixes blaring music videos of pop stars like Paula Abdul and M. C. Hammer with environmental facts and clips from Cable News Network on the solid waste crisis. One second, singer Roxette is lying in bed on the video screen telling the audience, “It must have been love--but it’s over now.” The next, a bulldozer is spreading out garbage in a landfill towering into the sky.

A Billy Joel imitator sings “We Didn’t Start the Landfill.” The New Kids on the Block and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appear briefly on screen, prompting a chorus of boos from the audience.

Midway through the music and dance, there’s a game of “Environmental Jeopardy.” The host questions two West High students and the wrestling coach on environmental facts such as the percentage of landfill waste that is biodegradable. Every time the contestants miss an answer, they get trash dumped over their heads. (The right answer to that question, by the way, is 70%.)

“Kids aren’t into serious documentaries,” said actor Leland Simmons, 22, who had since doffed his James Brown wig.

“You have to give them something they can relate to,” he said. “We have to keep their attention through song and dance.”

If that’s not enough, there are the strategically placed spotlights that glare into the eyes of the audience.

Does it work, this high-decibel environmental extravaganza?

The show’s final number leaves the students dancing in the aisles, but English teacher Inez McGee said she fears the show may be “so exciting visually that some might have missed the message.”

She said “Recycle This!”--which is sponsored by Dow Chemical Co. and is touring high schools around the country--ought to be combined with more traditional teaching methods to change students’ behavior.

Woo Song, 17, thought the show was “very well produced” and might cause him to experience a twinge of guilt the next time he throws away a soda can.

Another student, holding aloft the “Recycle This!” cassette handed out to every student on the way out the door, was in danger of creating a different form of pollution.

“I’m going to drive down the street,” he yelled to his friends, “blasting my stereo with ‘Recycle This!’ ”