Time travel? Yes, please. At least if it’s Back to the Future: The Musical.
This Broadway take on time travel whooshed into the State Theatre at Playhouse Square last week. Starting its national tour in Cleveland, the show is a fun blast from the past.
Yes, it’s a remake of the hit 1985 film by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis.
This musical adventure story begins when teen Marty McFly accidentally messes up the present (1985) by speeding in a time travel machine (AKA a plutonium-fueled DeLorean) built by eccentric scientist Doc Brown (Don Stephenson). As it turns out, Marty must go back to the 1950s to be sure his parents share a first kiss at the high school dance. If he fails, he won’t exist. How’s that for a mission?
Caden Brauch, our teen hero Marty McFly, shares the appealing personality that Michael J. Fox showed in the same role in the original film. Brauch’s expressive face and moves convey panic, embarrassment, exuberance and triumph as he drives into the past and meets his parents, teenagers just like himself. (It’s weird to realize that your parents were once young, and Brauch helps us see that and more.)
As erratic experimenter Doc Brown, Don Stephenson also excels. The pair play off each other and move the story back to the future and back to the past and — just back and forth. It’s fun to cheer Brauch and Stephenson along as they make the sci-fi premise seem reasonable.
Other cast members adding to the S/F frolic include Burke Swanson (as Marty’s dad, George McFly) and Zan Berube (as Lorraine Baines, Marty’s mother); Cartreze Tucker (as Goldie Wilson, who shows how hope can transform a career); and Ethan Rogers (as teen bully Biff Tannen, the one who, inadvertently helps Marty’s dad impress Lorraine). The rest of the ensemble dance and sing together with ease as they take us back in time.
Director John Rando respects the film’s quirky plot. It’s as if he’s telling an outrageous joke with a straight face. Of course, some adaptations were made in shifting from film to stage, but projections combined with a lot of noise and one big prop successfully hint at the magically equipped car’s time travel power.
Music director Matt Doebler led the small band as they made a mighty sound. Production credits go to Tim Hatley (set and costume design), Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone (lighting), Gareth Owen (sound) and Finn Ross (video), with choreography by Chris Bailey. Musical supervision and arrangements by Nick Finlow, illusions by Chris Fisher, and orchestrations by Ethan Popp also added to the show.
But it’s the music that really brings back time past. What are now “classic” 1950s songs (such as “Johnny B. Goode” and “Earth Angel”) bouncily combine with new compositions by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard. The Silvestri and Ballard songs are easy to listen to but can’t top the evocative power of the “real” thing (for those of “a certain age” anyway).
Bottom Line: Enhanced by special effects, plus spot-on perfect casting, Back to the Future: The Musical is one of summer’s “must see” musicals. (And stick around at the end for what might turn into a group sing-along.)
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
Cleveland, OH 44115
One Response to “THEATER REVIEW: “Back to the Future” @ Playhouse Square by Laura Kennelly”
EDWARD MYCUE
S/F frolic, time travel back to the future and back to the past and — just back and forth, writes Dr. Laura Kennelly, adding
” it’s the music that really brings back time past ….the ensemble dance and sing together with ease as they take us back in time….the small band as they made a mighty sound” led by Music director Matt Doebler…”This Broadway take on time travel whooshed into the State Theatre at Playhouse Square last week. Starting its national tour in Cleveland, the show is a fun blast from the past.”
Her introduction of Back to the Future: The Musical is magic evoking just itself. Maybe the show will make it to San Francisco where we like fun. Reviewer Kennelly pens “Yes, it’s a remake of the hit 1985 film by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis.whooshed into the State Theatre at Playhouse Square last week….Starting its national tour in Cleveland, the show is a fun blast from the past.”