The increasing popularity of rock ’n’ roll in the mid 1950s signaled doom for many adults but freedom for most teenagers.

This is the very premise of “All Shook Up,” premiering next week at the high school.

This musical comedy is constructed around songs immortalized by Elvis Presley, though it is not structured as a biography in the same way as the recent films about Freddie Mercury or Elton John.

Among the most famous songs featured in the play are classics like “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “All Shook Up.”

The story takes place in small town America in 1955.

Savannah Madeira plays Natalie Haller, a mechanic in love with the idea of adventure.

“She’s sort of a tomboy, but she really wants to meet a cool guy with a motorbike,” Madeira said. “She wants to get out of her hick town and see and do everything.”

Enter Chad played by Porter Lilley, whom he describes as a “roustabout,” a kind of cocky drifter that literally shakes up Natalie’s small ordinary town.

“Chad just got out of jail. He thinks of himself as a ladies’ man,” Lilley explained.

“He leaves town but he does return. In the play he comes back and he has to win back Natalie.”

“Natalie ends up with Chad, but I think the play is more about her finding herself than being with Chad,” Madeira explained.

“I’m inconsequential to Chad, but I fall instantly and madly in love with him,” she continued. “I just want a man who’s different, so different from everything she knows.”

Chad is quite a catalyst and because of that, he has an effect on all the characters in the play including Natalie’s widowed father Jim Haller, played by Matthew Lucarelli.

“Jim is sad because he’s a widower,” Lucarelli explained.

As a single parent, he is naturally close to his daughter and wants her to be in the family business.

“I trained her to be a mechanic. It was our way of bonding,” Lucarelli said.

Lucarelli said that Jim, who is a mechanic himself, has mixed feelings about Chad.

“I just don’t like him, but I use Chad to become a cooler person.”

He isn’t the only guy to be affected by Chad’s “coolness.”

Aaron Palma plays Dennis.

“Dennis becomes Chad’s sidekick after getting rejected by the girl he likes,” Palma said.

By his own description, Dennis is a “nerdy [guy], madly in love with Natalie [at first], but who ends up with Miss Sandra.”

Miss Sandra, the museum director, is played by Bailey DeJesus.

“Miss Sandra is a very confident, outspoken, smart girl that knows what she wants,” DeJesus said. “She owns who she is, with her platinum blonde hair and closefitting clothes, [very much like] Marilyn Monroe.”

Chad has his fans, but he also has his detractors.

One of them is Mayor Matilda Hyde of the “average small town in America,” played by Lauren Terrell.

“I’ve put into place that there’s to be no rock ’n’ roll [in my town], and no singing or dancing,” she said. “I don’t want the kids getting out of control.”

“Chad is my worst nightmare,” she continued. “He turns my nice orderly town into [a mess]. My son, who used to be a good boy, is turning against me and falling in love with someone who’s not in his social class.”

“I’m a very uptight person,” Terrell continued, “but at the end of the show, the sheriff professes his undying love for me, and I have a change of heart.”

Many of the actors are thrilled at the roles they earned.

“I never had such a big lead,” Lilley said. “But I always liked singing. There’s plenty of dancing too, but after a while, we got it.”

DeJesus is undaunted by the dancing in the play.

“I started dancing in fifth grade and mostly did ballet, jazz and modern. That helps me pick up [the dance steps],” she said. “I know rhythm and that helps me with the music and singing.”

“It was really nice to get a main role,” DeJesus said, who will graduate this spring.

An acting role is quite a departure for Palma.

“This is my first play as an actor,” Palma said. “I’ve been doing tech crew in my real life, but I just said, ‘Why not?’ when auditions were announced.”

“I’ll just have to get over the initial hump of seeing the audience, but after that, I’ll be fine,” he said.

Music is at the heart and soul of “All Shook Up.”

“At the time period this came out, rock ’n’ roll was considered a bad influence,” Lilley said.

The music was not entirely unfamiliar to Lilley.

Lilley learned about the Beach Boys, Dion, Ricky Nelson and Elvis from his grandfathers.

“My grandfather had an old iPod and when I was little, he would play [their music] on speakers,” he said. “When I shared the set list, with him, he was like, ‘Oh, I remember.’

“Teddy Bear” and “Hound Dog” are two of my favorites.”

Lucarelli had a similar experience.

“My grandmother loved Elvis,” he said. “He was one of her favorites.”

Elvis remains a musical icon.

According to Lucarelli, “People still like Elvis because he was the king of rock. I think that he stands out today.”

“Blue Suede Shoes” and “Heartbreak Hotel” are two of his favorite songs in the play.

“When I was growing up, I went on an Elvis kind of kick, when I was about five,” recalled DeJesus. “I like “Hound Dog,” “Let Yourself Go” and a bunch of others.”

The music in “All Shook Up” will likely appeal to a broad audience.

“I think it’s going to be very good,” Palma said. “I’m very nervous as this is my first play, but I’m pumped to be working with drama veterans.”

“All Shook Up” is a madcap mashup of young love, rock ’n’ roll and rebellion but some may see plot twists inspired by none other than William Shakespeare and some of his plays including “Twelfth Night,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “As You Like It.”

“This play is a really good time,” Madeira said. “The music is really familiar and it’s a genuinely funny play.”

The musical will be presented 7 p.m. Feb. 27, 28 and 29; and 2 p.m. March 1.

Tickets may be purchased on the Northwestern website or at the door for $9 (adults) and $6 (students).