Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night.

At 8 tonight Eisenhower Auditorium will explode with star-crossed lovers, gangs, violence, ethnic barriers and energy, when the Penn State Center for the Performing Arts presents the sold-out musical West Side Story.

A modern version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story is centered on the lives of Maria, a Hispanic American, and her boyfriend Tony, a white American. Peer disapproval of their relationship leads to a fate their friends never anticipated.

"You realize that these people really belong together, and you become angry at the system which keeps them apart," said Ken Foster, Center for the Performing Arts director.

With Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's songs "America," "Tonight," "I Feel Pretty," and "Maria;" choreography by Jerome Robbins and a book by Arthur Laurents, it is no surprise that West Side Story's 1957 Broadway opening was a success. Its immense popularity led to a 1961 film adaptation that received 11 Academy Awards. In 1980, the theater version was revived, starring Debbie Allen.

Kristin Williams, a Syracuse University junior, will play the role of Anita, Maria's best friend, in tonight's performance.

"Anita is fiery, sexy, knowledgeable and brassy," Williams said. "She does a lot of dancing, explosive numbers."

For her first professional production, Williams is taking this semester off from college. She will receive no class credit for the tour because the company's extensive schedule prohibits her from being a full time student, she said. The company will travel throughout the East Coast and Canada.

Williams is realistic about the theater market.

"After graduation I would like to live in New York City to become a struggling actress," Williams said. "It's not that I want to struggle, but it is probably inevitable."

Tracy Shunk, CPA assistant box office manager, said the University's presentation of West Side Story sold out at the end of September. CPA tried to schedule a second performance, but Music Theater Associates, the tour producer, said they were booked.

Foster attributes the outpour of interest to the show's romance, music, relevance to today's society, and infrequent staging.

Difficult musical numbers and dance sequences keep many high schools and theater companies from producing this show, Foster said. Struggles among races, ethnic families, sexes, and numerous other groups have not dissipated since Shakespeare's time, he said.

"Most people just do not have enough skill or talent," Foster said.