In a time when adaptations and covers appear to be all the rage, another cult classic is coming to State College.

Based on the 1966 French film of the same name, the stage adaptation of King of Hearts runs Sept. 30 to Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. in the Pavilion Theatre.

This Penn State School of Theatre production is directed by Spence Ford, who has some previous experience with the show: she was in the first staged version of the musical in Westport, Conn. in 1977. Ford also made her Broadway debut as a swing in King of Hearts the next year.

"I've always loved the show, and somehow walked off with a script [from a production in the 1970s]," Ford said.

After Ford promoted King of Hearts for years, the Board of Trustees of the School of Theatre decided to produce it this year. The play follows Johnny, a World War I American soldier, as he goes to a small, "abandoned" French town to defuse a bomb.

Lo and behold, Johnny finds himself being taken in as the king of the town, inhabited by the inmates of St. Anne's, a left-behind insane asylum. He falls in love with orphan-turned-asylum-inmate Jeunefille, played by Lisa Kalb (junior-musical theatre).

"Johnny's trying to do something good and right in the world, but just can't seem to do it," said J.D. Daw (junior-musical theatre), who plays the soldier. "Everywhere he goes he seems to screw everything up."

While Johnny struggles with his life-defining choices, Madeleine and Genevieve, asylum inmates, have their own issues to deal with. Madeleine, played by Carly Hughes (senior-musical theatre), is "ze madame of a little brothel." Madeleine's overt sexuality got her sent to St. Anne's.

"'Six or more is orgiastic' is a line in one of her songs," Hughes said. "But she's using sex as her way to care for others -- that's her way of giving."

Genevieve, who suffers from delirium, spends his time resisting Madeleine's advances while grieving for his deceased wife. But Genevieve, played by Gary Brintz (senior-musical theatre), has a change of heart as he watches his daughter, Jeunefille, interact with Johnny.

"When she falls in love with Johnny, he starts to realize the passion missing from his life," Brintz said.

King of Hearts' actors spent their summers learning their lines and music and working on their French dialect. Since returning to Penn State for the semester, they have rehearsed practically every day, and these practices have affected everyone involved, Ford said.

"The main ensemble are 'insane' and their spirited approach to life is refreshing to those of us who live in a rut of time," she said. "It's infected us."