Audience Pleasing  “Back to the Future” – The Musical on Stage at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre

On Stage With…

Lady Beverly Cohn

My headline begins with “Audience Pleasing,” and I wrote that for a very specific reason as the 2,691 seats of the Pantages were filled to capacity night with patrons who yelled, cheered, hollered, and clapped their hands in reaction to what was unfolding on stage. The curtain call was met with thunderous applause, and people of all ages left the theatre with big smiles on their faces.  The question is, was the production worthy of such accolades?

By way of background, the theatrical version of Back to the Future, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, was based on their original film released in 1985 starring Michael J. Fox as “Marty McFly” and Christopher Lloyd as “Doc Brown.”  The Broadway musical adaptation received the 2022 Oliver Award for  Best New Musical, which brings us to director John Rando’s Touring Company’s visually stunning production lighting up the Pantages stage.  

L-R): Zan Berube (Lorraine Baines), Burke Swanson (George McFly), (C) Caden Brauch (Marty McFly) and the Company of Back to the Future: The Musical -Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

The story basically revolves around the delightful principal characters of young Marty McFly, a rock ‘n’ roll teenager who despairs that he has no future. That role is energetically portrayed by Caden Brauch, who does a superb job with Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard’s music and lyrics, including the soulful “Got No Future,” which he sings following the mean principal (Anthony Neville) telling Marty that he’s pretty much worthless.  Don Stephenson, as the nutty Doc Brown, is appropriately whacky as the scientist and inventor of the DeLorean, his plutonium-powered car with its fog, spinning lights, and a cacophony of sounds that he's building for time travel.  Rounding out the cast is Burke Swanson as the mealy-mouth dad George McFly. His physical gymnastics are way over the top and not blended with the rest of the choreography, which I’ll comment on later, but they are jarring. That said, he does capture the pain of being intimidated first in high school by Biff Tannen, the school bully well played by Ethan Rogers. 

Don Stephenson (Doc Brown) and Caden Brauch (Marty McFly) in “Back to the Future” on stage at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.

The final principal character is George’s wife, Lorraine Baines (Marty’s mom), nicely portrayed by Zan Berube, who transitions gracefully from current mom to young teenager.  She falls in love with her future son Marty, who accidentally finds himself in 1955.  His clothes are filthy from the trip, and her mom, Marty’s future grandmother, instructs him to remove his clothing so she can wash everything.  He’s wearing Calvin Klein underwear, and Lorraine, his future mom, thinks that’s his name and henceforth calls him Calvin. Now, before he tries to travel back to 1985 in young Doc Brown’s time-travel DeLorean, he must orchestrate his high school parents falling in love so that he is not wiped out of any future existence.  The character of Goldie Wilson, nicely portrayed by Cartreze Tucker, transitions from sweeping up in a restaurant to eventually becoming mayor, as sung in his “Gotta Start Somewhere.” 

Don Stephenson (Doc Brown) and Caden Brauch (Marty McFly) in “Back to the Future” on stage at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.

There are seventeen new songs performed by both the principal characters and the ensemble of spirited young dancers and singers, including Marty, who shocked the kids at the high school dance with his rendition of  Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”  Other songs include “It’s Only a Matter of Time” (Marty, Goldie, & Ensemble,) “It Works (Doc & Ensemble,) “Myopia” (George,) “Hill Valley School Fight Song” (Lorraine & Ensemble,) “Something About That Boy,” (Lorraine, Biff & Ensemble,)  and “Back in Time” (Marty, Doc & Company).  There’s an interesting moment when Lorraine, who is unabashedly smitten with “Calvin,”  kisses her future son and recoils, saying, “Something is not right.”  Indeed. 

L-R): Don Stephenson (Doc Brown) and Caden Brauch (Marty McFly) & the time-traveling.DeLorean.  

Under director Rando’s tight direction, this production is visually stunning as created by an awesome production team responsible for eye-popping sets and special effects. The designers include David Chase’s dance arrangements, Tim Hatley’s set and costumes, Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone’s lighting, Chris Fisher’s fascinating illusion design, Matt Doebler’s music direction,  Chris Bailey’s choreography, Nick Finlow’s vocal and music arrangements, and Gareth Owen’s sound design.  Combine those elements with the fascinating, eye-popping DeLorean’s time-travel projections by video designer Finn Ross; you get eye candy on steroids, making this version of Back to the Future a fun but predictable experience.

Center) At the school dance, Marty McFly (Caden Brauch) does Chuck Berry’s duck walk, shocking the attendees.

Despite some of the flatness of the production and derivative dance numbers with some movements shamefully reminiscent of Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, or Michael Kidd, including excessive high kicking and a few goose steps thrown in, this production is a crowd-pleasing theatrical presentation that got people into the theatre, especially those who may not be regular theatre-goers and could serve as a prelude for future theatre patrons to seek other more profound theatrical experiences.

BACK TO THE FUTURE  - THE MUSICAL

Hollywood Pantages Theatre

6233 Hollywood Blvd,

Los Angeles, CA 90028

Written by: Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale 

Directed by: John Rando

Run:

Tuesday – Thursday: 7:30 pm

Fridays: 8:00 pm

Saturdays: 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm

Sundays: 1:00 pm & 6:30 pm

Matinees: 2:00 pm on Wed. 11/27 & Fri. 11/29

No evening performances on Thurs. 11/28 & Sunday 12/1

Running time 2 hours & 40 Minutes - One intermission.

Closing:  Sunday, December 1, 2024

Tickets from $65 -$125

Tickets:  BroadwayInHollywood.com or

Ticketmaster.com or at the Box Office