Romance can split hearts, couples, and occasionally, stages between '70s-era rock bands and teenagers.

Two dozen choir singers from Prior Lake High School will sing backup for Foreigner's sold-out show on Saturday at Mystic Lake Casino. The number is a classic: "I Want to Know What Love Is," the timeless oldie from 1984 that still gets radio airplay.

The British-American band requested the students' assistance for performances in Prior Lake and another show in Fargo, N.D., on Sunday.

When choir director Randi Erlandson received a call about the gig ("Hey, we need a backup choir"), her response was a no-brainer.

"Yeah, we would get on stage with Foreigner," she told the caller. "Absolutely."

The 24 selected students, of 65 who auditioned, practiced for nine weeks. The singers' parents — likely the more devoted fans of the band — sprang to order tickets, which are now sold out or going for steeper black-market prices.

Some students resorted to Google to find out about the chart-topping single.

"They weren't even close to being alive," Erlandson said. "That song came out 15 years before they were even born."

The multigenerational performance will have audiences swooning with the sentimentality of a wedding reception.

"It's been fun to introduce them to classic rock hits … those hits that everybody knows," Erlandson said. "The music they listen to now is nothing like this — this opens them up to a genre of music that perhaps they hadn't been familiar with before."

Erlandson will attend the concert with co-director Rob Hahn. She's hoping they can record it, probably by iPhone.

Natalie Daher • 952-746-3285