Cider Mill's '8-Track' embraces the varied music of the 1970s

By Chris Kocher
ckocher@gannett.com

Popular music from the 1970s generally gets boiled down to one memory - disco. We can thank John Travolta and "Saturday Night Fever" for that.

But plenty of other styles also flourished before the decade did "The Hustle" into the '80s, and the jukebox musical "8-Track: Sounds of the '70s" - opening this weekend at Cider Mill Playhouse - strives to embrace them all in 90 high-energy minutes.

Conceived in 2001 by Rick Seeber for a Milwaukee theater company, "8-Track" has been performed nationwide for audiences nostalgic about the sounds and fashions of that generation. Fifty or so songs are included (in whole or in snippets) as a musical tour of the decade that saw Watergate, women's lib, Vietnam War protests and bell-bottom pants.

It's worth noting that no one in the Cider Mill's four-person cast for "8-Track" was alive during the '70s, but most of the tunes have become part of the public consciousness - through "American Idol" or movie soundtracks, if nowhere else.

"So many of these songs have been used in different films," baritone Jared Eberlein said during a pre-rehearsal interview last week. "We do the song 'Afternoon Delight' (in the show) - in hindsight, I think I had heard the song growing up, but then it was used in 'Anchorman.' So many of these songs have new meaning because they've been used elsewhere."

Allison Marin, who sings alto, admitted that she didn't recognize a lot of the "8-Track" song list at first, until her roommate started singing them for her and she realized she knew nearly all of them.

"I feel like if I know all these songs, anyone a little older than me is going to know them, too, and really be excited about it," Marin said.

One man who does remember the '70s is 42-year-old director Michael Susko, a Binghamton native whose family had a car and a boat equipped with 8-track players. He recently saw a production of "8-Track" in Pittsburgh, and he was impressed by the response.

"When they got to the Village People - 'Y.M.C.A.' - the entire audience stood up and started doing the dance with the cast," Susko said. "I think this whole show is infectious joy, so by the time you get to the end they've waited the whole show to get to the disco, and once that starts, everyone is just so excited about it. The smiles on people's faces were just awesome."

While there are no strict plot or characters in "8-Track," cast members take on various personas for medleys grouped under themes such as "War & Peace," "The Party," "Road Trip" and so on. Each of them gets a solo moment during which the others sing backup - an arrangement that tenor Garrett Bruce appreciates.

"How often do you get to play a rock star?" he said. "We all get to do that at some point in the show."

The "8-Track" cast also includes Union-Endicott High School graduate Rachael Cornick (soprano), while behind the scenes are U-E music teachers James Gleason (musical director) and Kassandra Rozek (vocal director).

For some people, 1970s music seems to be a love-it-or-loathe-it proposition - but Susko said even those wary of the era will find a new admiration for its soundtrack.

"Nobody could come in here and not take something away - to say, 'Oh my God, I love that moment!'" he said. "There's a moment for everybody, no matter who you are."