Residents of State College looking to "Hit the Road, Jack" on Tuesday night should consider one prime destination-- downtown's Memorial Field and Central Parklet.

The music of Ray Charles is coming to town as part of the 3rd annual Downtown State College Summer Concert Series. The performance, "Ray of Light: A Tribute to Music Genius Ray Charles," will try to continue the success of the show, which became a giant hit as part of this year's Super Bowl festivities in Florida.

Theresa Sparacino, Summer Concert Series executive director, said the free concert series, which also will include a performance by The Cast of Beatlemania on Aug. 2, is meant as a "thank you" to the general public for its support of the downtown area.

"If people saw the [Ray of Light] Super Bowl performance like I did, they know it was great," Sparacino said. "They won't be disappointed."

Sparacino said that each year the series has been scheduled, people have interacted with the look-alike performers, especially the Beatlemania performance, which drew close to 3,000 people last year.

This year, the audience will have the option of either sitting on the Memorial Field bleachers, on the field itself, or at Central Parklet, which overlooks the stadium.

"Ray of Light" Producer Stuart White said that while organizers did not originally intend to take the show on tour, it was so well received that he wanted to give others the chance to experience it.

"It was created especially for the Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.," White said. "There were two standing ovations [for Ray of Light] ... at that point we all said, 'We've got something here.' "

The cast of "Ray of Light" are performers from CopyCat Productions, a talent group including former Saturday Night Live conductor Danny Rosengard that has long been in the entertainment business.

Dave Wells, who scheduled performers for this year's concert series, said this show in particular seemed to fit in well with the rest of the series' performances.

"We wanted something that would complete the series ... The timing really seemed right to do a tribute to Ray Charles," Wells said. "Obviously the movie [Ray] was very popular."

White said the show is not only about Charles, although many of his songs are featured in the performance. It's also about the concept of overcoming adversity.

"[Ray of Light] is about every Gospel and R&B singer who's ever tried to make a name for themselves," White said. "Whoever comes and watches it is going to be very pleased."

White said one of the show's big draws is that nothing is faked. The man who plays Charles on stage actually plays piano, and is a "soul man" through and through, he said.

"He's actually a real band leader, and he's a preacher as well," White said.