Bubble skirts, blue eye shadow and tube socks set the scenes in Hilldale’s all-school musical, “Back to the 80s,” with public performances at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Hilldale Event Center, 300 E. Smith Ferry Road.

The tale begins with Corey Palmer, played by Colten Fitzgerald, a 30-something that recalls his memories of William Ocean High School — and not fondly.

Director Kirsten Harrison said the musical includes characters from all social circles during the 1980s.

“It is interesting because the audience will find themselves on that stage,” Harrison said.

Lynn Garrett, 47, said she remembers the 1980s because it was an era she began in college.

“I went to Northeastern and it was a lot of fun,” Garrett said. “I thought this would be fun to watch.”

Harrison said the musical comedy, written by Neil Gooding, has been a lot of fun to put together.

“You have funny hair and funny makeup,” she said. “The cast members have been singing all the songs during school. You can hear them in the hallway.”

The musical is a glimpse into an awkward teenage experience, not uncommon in any decade. Remembering through the eyes of a teenager, Palmer remembers his candidacy for senior class president. An instance when the more popular Michael Feldman, played by David Keck, steals his proposal and wins the vote of the class.

Not only does he steal the vote, Palmer’s dream girl, Tiffany Houston, played by Sarah Aukerman, is too busy dreaming over Feldman to even notice Palmer.

Harrison said the choreography was one of the more difficult challenges.

“It was tough because there are so many songs to choreograph,” Harrison said. “Another challenge was finding certain props, like the old huge bag cell phones and a bicycle from that time.

“The Rubik’s Cube is coming back, so we just picked some up from Wal-Mart.”

Following Palmer and the rest of the class at William Ocean High School, the audience will be brought to a time where hyper-color T-shirts and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were cool, and the Atari was on the cutting edge of technology. It was a time when no one believed their favorite Milli Vanilli tapes could ever be bought on compact disk or that their would ever be a time when we could fit portable telephones in the palm of our hands.

The dance routines can be recognized by anyone who has seen “Dirty Dancing,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and “Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion.”