Forget the plain wooden floor of the Bryce Jordan Center. This weekend, it takes on a new surface: ice.

Willy Bietak's Broadway on Ice, starring Olympic gold-medalist Dorothy Hamill and Davis Gaines of Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, will come to the Bryce Jordan Center tomorrow night.

Despite the reference to Broadway in the title of the show, the performance is more than just tunes from the famous shows and skating.

"[The show] is so much more," Bernie Punt, the director of public relations for the Bryce Jordan Center, said.

The show will include a cast of 20 ice skaters in costume who will perform 40 choreographed numbers on full sets.

Punt said the inside of the BJC will look drastically different.

"We're changing the entire arena, making it an intimate theater and an ice arena," Punt said.

Bietak, who was an Olympic figure skater, is the producer of Broadway on Ice and has been called the "P.T. Barnum" of the ice world.

"Willy Bietak has been involved
in ice shows since the Ice Capades with Peggy Fleming in the '70s," Punt said.

This is a very important week for Hamill, Punt said.

"It was 30 years ago this week she won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics," Punt said. "She is still in Torino and is coming from the Winter Olympics. She will be returning at the end of the week. She was invited to fly over with the president and the first lady, and the three of them were going to visit the pope. And then [Hamill is] going to hop on a plane and come here to State College."

Michael Casey, who takes care of publicity for the show, said promoting the show without Hamill being in the United States is tough.

"[Hamill] is with the president," Casey said. "They get first dibs on her."

The performance will also showcase vocal talent as well as skating.

"Davis Gaines was the Phantom in more than 2,000 [Phantom of the Opera] shows," Punt said. "He has an amazing voice. He will be doing some of the singing."

The tour has been on the road for over a year and is almost at its end.

"We started a year and a half ago," Casey said. "We started on Aug. 19 of last year and have been going several times, at least one time a week. We will wind it up on Feb. 4, and the last official show date is Feb. 22 in Rapid City, South Dakota."

Casey said Bietak is the creator of the show and is responsible for turning theaters into ice arenas.

"Willy Bietak is a figure-skating champion," Casey said. "He has our show for a number of years and six ice shows concurrently running on six Caribbean Cruise ships. He and this crew go into cities and overnight make these areas into ice arenas."

Bietak explained the process of transforming the BJC into an icy wonderland.

"We bring equipment with us, of course," he said. "We cover the stage in plastic, and we have aluminum panels that have piping in them that go on top. The piping is hooked up to a refrigerating machine for 24 hours, and once the floor is chilled, we layer with water until it is 1Ã} inches thick."

Bietak said the whole process to create the ice stage takes about 20 hours, and while that is being constructed on, the lighting and the soundboards are prepared for the show.

The idea of bringing Broadway to ice was inspired by Bietak's own experiences as a figure skater and his love of the music.

"I used to be a skater," he said. "I always love skating to Broadway. I have always loved the music. I thought it would be great to see people skate to it. We consider skating an extension of dance if you add some speed to it. It's so pleasing to watch people skate to such graceful music."

Bietak said this will be an exceptionally special event that everyone should see.

"It's a well-rounded show," Bietak said. "Something for everyone. Dale Gonyea, the comedian, appeals to everyone. He has an amazing sense of timing and plays piano at the same time. And there's the live music aspect of the show for Dorothy to skate, too. That's really the magic of the show -- to hear music and skating working as one. It's supposed to be one. There's some really special moments."