GREAT SCOTT! // A THEATRE REVIEW OF “BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL”
BY MATEO MORENO
The 1985 classic time traveling movie Back to the Future was a smash success and is now widely considered one of the best films in history. It set the standard for time traveling films and made a film star out of Michael J. Fox and furthered the careers of Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson, pushing them into “infamy” with their beloved roles. And after first appearing in the West End and on Broadway, we have the National Tour of BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL arriving in Kansas City’s Music Hall April 1-6th. I must confess that I am a huge fan of the trilogy of Back to the Future films, as well as a huge fan of musicals. I also will admit that transferring a movie to a musical is a tricky business. Some have become instant hits, even improving on their own source material (The Producers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). Some even re-invent the story in ways that make it feel fresh (the recent Some Like It Hot comes to mind). However, many of them end up as creative and financial duds, either with horrible scores and dated, unneeded jokes (Tootsie) or simply over bloated and boring (did someone say King Kong?) So, I had both a lot of excitement and hesitation stepping into the Music Hall to finally see Back to the Future on stage and I must say, I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time.
To quickly recount for the five people out there who may not know the plot: 1985 teenager Marty McFly is tired of living under the shadow of his weakling of a father and sad seeing his alcoholic mother not meet her full potential. He wants a better life, a better future than what his family, including his two siblings, have crafted. He has a wonderful girlfriend named Jennifer and he’s ready to take the world by storm with his high school rock band. However, things quickly change when his eccentric friend Doc Brown reveals to him that he’s invented a Time Machine but is gunned down before he can use it with Marty. Marty jumps in the time machine (a silver DeLorean) to escape the Libyan terrorists and ends up back in 1955, lost in time. Only a younger version of Doc Brown can help him get back to the future and save him and his siblings from being erased from existence.
The first thing to note is that original co-creator Bob Gale wrote the book to this stage production and makes sure it sticks very close to the original film. There are some changes made, however. Gone are the Libyan terrorists that Doc steals the plutonium from (the element that makes the time machine run), which is universally seen as the only dour point in the original film. Instead, Doc’s radiation suit gets torn, and he gets radiation poisoning and faints, causing Marty to jump in the time machine and try to get to the hospital, accidentally taking himself to 1985. Small changes are also made to the finale, which in the film takes place largely in the McFly home. In the stage version, it moves it to a different location and adds some other fun elements. Poop getting dumped on Biff turns into school food and a couple smaller characters get a bit more stage time, like Jennifer, who gets to share a song with Marty and Goldie Wilson, who has the biggest upgrade, as well as a “bringing the house down” song. However, those changes are really pretty minor, and all the of the classic beats and settings are here on stage, including a very impressive DeLorean time machine, which flies around on stage and make you feel like a kid again. Overall, the visual effects are all fantastic. The time traveling sequences are truly thrilling and makes you very nostalgic for the films.
Lucas Hallauer plays Marty and encapsulates Michael J. Fox without doing a downright parody. He’s fun to watch, full of energy and his singing voice is great. Don Stephenson plays Doc Brown and incorporates elements of Christopher Lloyd but adds a manic energy that’s needed for a stage version. He’s very funny in the role and often breaks the fourth wall, adding a fun element to the show. Mike Bindeman is George McFly and he was definitely a crowd favorite. Crispin Glover is such a unique actor, and his performance is iconic in the films. Bindeman’s physicality is wonderful, and his performance is a hoot. He has a perfect George McFly laugh and his manic energy truly energizes every scene he’s in. The rest of the cast are all uniformly great and Kansas City native Fisher Lane Stewart, who plays Dave McFly among others, got some loud cheers as he danced his way across the stage on Tuesday night. The entire evening went without a hitch. Well, almost without a hitch. Near the end of the show, a small delay happened as part of the set had to be adjusted. However, the crowd roared as it was fixed in less than 5 minutes, far less than most holds I’ve experienced on Broadway with similar issues.
But what about the songs? This is a musical, after all? Written by Alan Silverstri (who composed the original film scores) and Glen Ballard (Jagged Little Pill) the songs are sometimes pretty good. Marty and George’s “Put your mind to it” is really fun and Lorraine’s “Pretty Baby” is effectively tuneful and creepy at the same time, knowing the fact that it’s a mother singing to her son. “For the Dreamers’ is a sweet ballad for Doc, but several others heavily use the word Future over and over or clumsily use actual dialogue as repeated lyrics (such as “Hello is Anybody Home” or “Got Not Future.”) and those aren’t nearly as successful. The completely out of place second act opener “21st Century” should have been cut all-together, which is an issue with a lot of clunky second act openers in adaptions (anybody remember the super weird nudist number that opens the second act of Frozen? No? That’s for the best). The music often incorporates the score and does wisely incorporate the most popular songs from the film (“The Power of Love,” “Back in Time,” "Johnny B. Goode” and “Earth Angel”). The other thing that does slightly drag down the evening is the running time. The second act suffers from typical second act issues and drags along until we get to the dance, from which point the show soars until the end. All that being said, this show does exactly what it intended to do: it’s exciting, funny and whimsical. Sure, the score isn’t as strong as some musicals, but it’s also not a clunker and sure the show is bloated but it still very often sweeps you off your feet. The choice is clear: jump in your own DeLoreon and get yourself to Hill Valley and see the Back to the Future tour, either now or sometime in the near future.
GRADE: B+
BASED ON THE FILM DIRECTED BY Robert Zemeckis BOOK BY Bob Gale MUSIC AND LYRICS BY Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard DIRECTED BY John Rando NOW PLAYING IN KANSAS CITY THROUGH APRIL 6th. FOR TICKETS FOR KC AND THE NATIONAL TOUR: https://www.backtothefuturemusical.com/