This Saturday afternoon, a classic tale with a modern twist comes to the Playhouse Theatre in the Arts Building. All the better to entertain you with, my dear.

The Penn State Opera Theatre is performing Seymour Barab's Little Red Riding Hood at the Playhouse Theatre in the Arts Building at 1 and 4 p.m.

Susan Boardman, associate professor of voice, is the opera's director. The Penn State Opera Theatre consists of a controlled one-credit course; Boardman casts during the second week of the semester, and the students then rehearse for several hours a week until the performance.

Boardman selected two full casts of performers for this production of Little Red Riding Hood, each of whom will perform in one of the two Saturday performances.

Saturday marks the third and fourth performances of Little Red Riding Hood this week. The first two performances were for elementary school students, some of whom were bussed in to see the performance Tuesday, while the rest are coming to the Arts Building to see the performance today.

James Chamberlain (senior-music), a Penn State Opera veteran, plays the Wolf.

"Kids will like the action and the majority of the jokes," Chamberlain said. "And they also appreciate the singing. You'll hear them humming the tunes as they walk out of the theater."

Chamberlain said the most challenging part of playing the infamous predatory antagonist was finding the proper balance of scariness.

He said that a past villainous performance of his -- the mischievous fox in the Penn State Opera Theatre's 2001 performance of Chanticleer -- caused several children to cry.

"You want [children] to be afraid, but only up to a point," he said.

Pat McLaughlin (junior-vocal performance), who plays the Woodsman, said performing for children is all about scale.

"You have to be more of a caricature," McLaughlin said. "Kids won't get subtleties in a performance. You have to exaggerate it, which makes it fun for them, hopefully."

McLaughlin said the music itself also makes the production more fun for students.

"Adding music to anything makes it more dynamic ... more exciting, more interesting, more challenging to perform," he said.

Although Little Red Riding Hood is traditionally accompanied by a full orchestra, the budgetary restrictions on Penn State's production delegated all of the musical responsibilities to a single pianist: part-time faculty member Cynthia Mills.

"The show's music sounds a lot like the old cartoons from when I was a child," Mills said. "It's humorous-sounding and really clever. It often reflects the characters onstage."

Melissa Chavez (graduate-vocal performance) is one of the performers who plays the titular curious heroine. She said that, although the operetta is clearly targeted toward children, college students will also appreciate it.

"Opera isn't just people singing in a language you can't understand," she said. "Opera speaks to your deepest emotions, whether it's really funny or really sad; it speaks to the whole of you. [Little Red Riding Hood] is hysterical."

The 50-minute performance costs $4, and tickets can be bought at the door. On Sunday, the Penn State Opera Theatre will be performing the second part of what is being billed as the 1st Annual Children's Opera Festival when the company performs scenes from Hansel and Gretel at the Centre County Library in Bellefonte, which will air on Channel 7.

"There's nothing better than getting to stop studying and be a kid for 50 minutes," Chavez said. "There's nothing more delightful than that."