Stage review: Ride the '80s nostalgia at 'Back to the Future: The Musical'
May 27-When I learned a few hours before showtime that I'd be reviewing "Back to the Future: The Musical," my first thoughts were: How will the DeLorean reach 88 mph on stage? How will they do the scene with the lightning?
Turns out, where they're going, they don't need roads. The magic of stagecraft takes care of it all.
As for transferring the rest of the iconic '80s movie to the stage, the creators struck the perfect campy chord.
For anyone living under a rock since 1985, the movie and the musical have the same basic storyline: Marty McFly, who's not quite a loser himself but the third child in a family of losers, accidentally drives his friend Doc's DeLorean time machine back to 1955. There, he meets his parents as teenagers and interrupts the events that lead to their first kiss, putting his own existence in jeopardy. Shenanigans ensue, with Marty trying not to completely destroy the space-time continuum and ensure that his parents do fall in love (and he and his siblings are born).
The musical leans heavily on the theme, "you make your own future" - more heavily than I remember the movie doing, but that might just be time dulling my memory.
If I'd had more advance notice, I might have rewatched the movie. (The last time I watched it was when my husband and I had our kids watch the movies in 2015, at the date they visit in the second movie - as any good Gen X parent did.) But rewatching might have been a mistake, as I might've spent too much time comparing instead of just riding the nostalgia.
Many of the cast members had more than a passing resemblance to their movie counterparts - at least from where I was sitting. And throwing more songs into a storyline that already had major plot points based on performing songs, didn't seem like too much of a stretch.
But the musical doesn't take those song-and-dance scenes too seriously. At one point Marty asks Doc, "Who are the girls?" Doc replies, "I don't know. They just show up when I start singing."
The show breaks the fourth wall regularly, letting you know it's in on the joke. It knows the sequin-clad dancers are ridiculous - but ridiculously fun.
The costuming for those dance numbers ranges all over the timeline. The first musical number, "It's Only a Matter of Time," brought the '80s out in vivid color, with an argyle sweater vest, a bright track suit and "Flashdance"/Jane Fonda-inspired workout gear. Others are in futuristic outfits wearing something on their head that looks like time machine parts (maybe the flux capacitor?). The '50s-inspired costumes didn't seem as over-the-top to me, but maybe they would have if I'd lived through the era.
My favorite number was the Act 1 finale - "Something About That Boy." It takes the cast all over Hill Valley High School and even throws in a "Star Wars" allusion. Plus, it features my favorite vocalist of the night, Kathryn Adeline as Lorraine (Marty's mom).
You can't take a show about a DeLorean-turned-time-machine too seriously. But with its fun musical numbers, "Back to the Future: The Musical" doesn't ask you to. Instead, just strap in, hit 88 mph, and enjoy where it takes you.
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