Starting today, audience members can take a trip back to 1960s Motown with a musical production filled with love, conflict and fame.

Singing Onstage Productions will perform the musical Dreamgirls tonight through Saturday at State College Area High School.

The musical is set in the 1960s. In the play, the singing group The Dreams is gaining popularity under the management of Curtis Taylor Jr. (played by Sean Lynch) and is offered the chance to sing backup vocals for another popular singer, James "Thunder" Early (played by Paris Nesbitt). Eventually, Taylor believes if the Dreams want to reach a wider audience, they must change their image, against the wishes of the diva of the group, Effie White (played by Annie Holmes).

Lynch (senior-integrative art) said he is glad to be playing the role of the swindling antagonist Taylor.

"I love the part. It's different than what I've played before," he said, adding that there's a close connection to the show from his childhood. "This is the first show I remember when I was little. My parents had a record [of the soundtrack] and I broke it because I listened to it so much."

The musical ran on Broadway from 1981 to 1984 and won six Tony Awards during that time, also producing a hit song with "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."

Holmes, who is also the assistant director for Upward Bound Math and Science at Penn State, said the style of the music has challenged her.

"She [the character] has a lot of dynamic songs and the part is very emotional. It allows me to do things that I've never done before with my voice," Holmes said. "Every time we rehearse I get more and more excited. I love the music, and we bring our own flavor to it."

The performance comes two months before the release of the movie version of Dreamgirls, with Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé. Richard Biever, the owner of Singing Onstage and director of Dreamgirls, first found out about the opportunity for the show through the movie's Web site.

DreamWorks Pictures offered to pay for the licensing fees for any amateur production in the calendar year of 2006 performing the show to promote the movie, Biever said.

Auditions took place in April at the end of the spring semester. Forty students and community members tried out for 25 spots in the cast.

Cast members said they are eager to put on the show that is loosely based on the story of Diana Ross and the Supremes' rise to stardom.