Nostalgia can't save 'Back to the Future' musical, in any era
'Back to the Future: The Musical' runs through July 21 at Belk Theater
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on July 11, 2024. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. And check out this link for Toppman’s archive of reviews in the Ledger.
Review: The DeLorean dazzles, but bland tunes and updates to the 1985 storyline are far from timeless. Stay home and rewatch the movie instead.
The actors in “Back to the Future: The Musical” bring high energy (Don Stephenson as Doc Brown and Caden Brauch as Marty McFly, shown here), but their characters fail to grow or change during the course of the show. (Photo courtesy of Blumenthal Arts)
by Lawrence Toppman
Every review I saw for “Back to the Future: The Musical” reserved admiration for the special effects, the lighting, the sound design and especially the delightful DeLorean that carries Marty McFly back 30 years in time. That’s like hearing a friend praise your blind date for punctuality, a sense of fair play and glossy hair.
So I went with trepidation to the Broadway Lights touring version Wednesday, on the second night of a two-week run at Belk Theater. And I am happy to report that … this is one amazing DeLorean. It seems to soar, speed, turn on a dime and disappear into space when it reaches the magical 88 mph.
Unfortunately, as soon as it leaves, humans come back to sing Alan Silvestri’s and Glen Ballard’s interchangeably bland songs, speak Bob Gale’s simplified script — even more exaggerated than the screenplay he wrote with Bob Zemeckis for the 1985 film — and deliver performances that ape the originals from that picture, down to body postures and line readings.
This might enchant folks like the guy across the aisle, who told a pal “Back to the Future” was the second-best movie ever made. (The best? “Back to the Future 2.” I swear he said that.)
The rest of us may see this as a nakedly exploitative attempt to cash in on a beloved franchise that ran its course. Unlike “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which played here recently, it makes no attempt to freshen the story; it changes things only to take off harsh edges. Marty’s mother is no longer an alcoholic. His father doesn’t get hit by a car. Doc Brown doesn’t steal plutonium from terrorists who gun him down. Instead, he gets plutonium from some unidentified source (what?) and dies from radiation poisoning, because he doesn’t know enough to seal a hazmat suit.
There’s no denying the energy and timing of the performers, the strong touring debut of Caden Brauch as the irrepressible Marty, the manic energy of Don Stephenson as Doc Brown, or the fascinatingly deranged tics of Burke Swanson as George, Marty’s dad. If you felt Crispin Glover underplayed the part onscreen, here’s your chance to see it taken up two notches.
Perhaps director John Rando encouraged their mimicry because he knew these characters had been reduced from the comic tropes of the film to flat-out stereotypes, in order to squeeze in as much music as possible. Do we really need a number where the villainous Biff swaggers around, or diner worker Goldie dreams of the day he’ll become mayor of Hill Valley?
I counted 18 new songs, five reprises and the inclusion of sections of “Earth Angel,” “The Power of Love” and “Johnny B. Goode.” It’s never smart to put memorable hits in among generic time-fillers. “Johnny B. Goode,” which was sent into outer space on Voyager I so aliens might hear music from Earth’s cultures, reduces Silvestri’s tunes to insignificance. But it has to be included, or the big prom night scene would differ from the one in the movie.
No characters grow or change, except for miraculous last-minute alterations when Marty returns to the “new” 1985. Only George has an emotional arc; he enters manhood while retaining his happy nerdiness and finding a way to make it pay. Interestingly, his definition of success is to bully the adult Biff, exactly the way Biff bullied him in the earlier version of 1985. In America, the worm can’t merely turn; he has to bite the legs off a bird.
For me, the one moving scene came when Doc Brown kicked off Act 2 with “21st Century.” As a light show flared around him, including a T-Rex from “Jurassic Park” and a Tardis from “Dr. Who,” he sang of a time — our time, seven decades after 1955 — when humanity would know peace, disease would be eradicated, and we’d live in shared prosperity. Most of the crowd laughed to think how foolish he sounded and how far we are from his utopian goals. I found it terribly sad.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews about two times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
➡️ If You’re Going: “Back to the Future: The Musical” runs through July 21 at Belk Theater, 100 N. Tryon St. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday.
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