If you need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon this weekend, the world of Brigadoon offers an enchanted alternative.

The magic begins when two American tourists, Tommy and Jeff, stumble across the Scottish town of Brigadoon. What they don't realize is that the town has a secret -- it is hidden in a magical pocket of time.

Once every hundred years, the mystical town reappears, only to disappear after 24 hours, not to be seen again for another century.

There's another catch -- no citizen may leave Brigadoon and an outsider can only join the town if he or she joins out of true love.

This is a problem for Tommy, who instantly falls in love with a villager, Fiona. He must decide if he should leave his normal existence to remain lost in Brigadoon forever with his true love or return to the outside and live in a world without love.

The Penn State School of Theatre will provide transportation to this Scottish village via their production of the musical Brigadoon this weekend.

Brigadoon was penned by Alan Jay Lerner with music by Frederick Loewe and established the pair as successors of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Their first production took place in 1947.

"It was written in the golden era of musical theater," Travis DeCastro, the musical's director, said.

"It's such a rich, sophisticated musical score."

DeCastro is an associate professor of theater and is also the general manager of The School of Theatre.

He said the beauty of the musical is that it is not so much that Brigadoon is a fantasy, but rather the themes are more universal.

"It's about two people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances, fall in love, decide that it can't work because they come from different worlds, and yet the attraction is so strong that it brings Brigadoon out of its normal every hundred year delivery to bring the two of them together," he said.

"It's just a great love story."

Gary Brintz (junior-theatre arts) and Lisa Schale (senior-theatre arts) play lovers Tommy and Fiona.

Schale said she hopes that the audience leaves with a new understanding of what true love entails.

"To achieve happiness you have to take risks. You have to make that leap ... for us to be together we both had to give up so much," she said.

Brinz said the magic of the love story is that it all happens in one single day and that could happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

"These are two totally people from two totally different worlds and yet they still have the glow about them that in that one day everything that's been missing in their lives has been completed," he said.

"Always be open to love happening at any moment of your life ... no matter what the circumstance may be, you can fall in love and not even know it's coming."

Performances will be at 8 tonight through Saturday and Monday through March 1 in the Playhouse Theatre, located in the Arts Building. There will also be a matinee performance at 2 p.m. on March 1.