The Power of Love

Back to the Future: The Musical

Looking through his dad’s old high school yearbook, an idea began to germinate in the minds of screenwriter Bob Gale and his longtime writing partner, film director Robert Zemeckis. Bob wondered if he and his father would’ve been friends if they had attended school together. And thus sparked the idea of a time-travel comedy that would become both a classic and a critical and commercial success. “Back to the Future” was eventually declared the highest-grossing movie of 1985. Now the film’s millions of devoted fans can relive the heart-pounding thrill of that high-tech tale live and on stage. Audiences seeing this fun-filled musical treatment of the movie will once again lose themselves in The Power of Love. It’s a stage version that’s fully faithful to the orginal sci-fi cinema.

For the handful of folks unfamiliar with this crowd-pleasing hit film franchise, the story both tickles the funny bone and ignites the imagination. Marty McFly is a smart, likable teenager with musical talent and an inquisitive scientific mind. He lives in Hill Valley, a typical suburban California town. One evening Marty receives a recorded message from his friend, Doc Brown, the town’s local eccentric scientist. Asked to meet him in the mall parking lot, Doc Brown unveils his time machine that he’s created from a DeLorean. It’s powered by radio-active plutonium, which has had adverse effects on the scientist. By accident, in trying to save his friend’s life, Marty ends up traveling back in time 30 years from, 1985 to 1955. Unintentionally he not only meets both of his parents as high school students, but in order to guarantee everyone’s future, Marty’s tasked with getting the two unlikely teenagers together romantically. It doesn’t sound difficult but proves harder than Marty realizes. And if he can’t accomplish this, Marty may not ever make it Back to the Future.

This exciting and entertaining musical, written by Bob Gale, with a likable original score by Alan Silvestri & Glen Ballard, opened in London’s West End in 2021. After winning the Lawrence Olivier Award for 2022’s Best New Musical, the show is still playing to sellout crowds today. The musical transferred to Broadway two years later, where it’s also still filling the theater every night. Currently this National Tour, which opened at the Cleveland Playhouse earlier this Summer, has landed in Chicago for a three-week run.

Directing this show must’ve been like getting a manned rocket launched at NASA! In addition to casting and staging this talented cast of 24 triple-threats, John Rando (Tony Award-winning director of URINETOWN) had to coordinate his production with the skills of many other theatre artists. Matt Doebler, who conducts the small pit orchestra ,while manning keyboard 1, also serves as the show’s Musical Director. The original score, which features four songs from the film (including the show’s signature Huey Lewis hit, “The Power of Love”), is a blend of pleasant, if not memorable, pop, rock and ballads. The heavy, pulsating beats offer a myriad of movement opportunities for Choreographer Chris Bailey to challenge his gifted ensemble.

But the real star of this show is the tricked-out DeLorean, along with all the thrilling, highly technical hoopla and gimmicks created by Illusion Designer Chris Fisher, Video Designer Finn Ross, Lighting Designers Tim Lutkin & Hugh Vanstone, and Sound Designer Gareth Owen. Without these electronic wizards, this eye-popping production just wouldn’t be the same. 

Of course this Equity cast is terrific. The show’s led by boyishly handsome Caden Brauch, as Marty McFly. For this iconic role, originally created in the film by Michael J. Fox, Mr. Brauch truly makes it all his own. The stellar young actor, who’s launching his national tour debut, makes this production come alive. He’s paired with hilarious Don Stephenson, as Doc Brown. This Broadway veteran has been enjoyed in so many hit musicals, including THE PRODUCERS, TITANIC, PARADE and ROCK OF AGES. While channeling Christopher Lloyd, Mr. Stephenson enchants the audience and ably sells his own take on the screwball scientist. One of his funniest lines is how every time he sings, a bevy of gorgeous dancing girls mysteriously seem to appear to back him up.

The production is fortunate to not only have a brilliantly talented ensemble, who sing, dance and portray multiple minor characters, but a great supporting cast. Brooklyn-born Broadway actor, Burke Swanson, in the role of Marty’s dorky dad, George McFly, is sensational. The man appears to be made out of rubber at times and he brings laughter into every one of his onstage moments. He’s paired with lovely Zan Berube as Lorraine Baines, who would later become Marty’s mother. She positively sparkles in this role as a singer, dancer and a skilled comic actress. Ethan Rogers is appropriately loud, vulgar and funny as school bully, Biff Tannen. And as the progressively passionate and optimistic African-American, Goldie Wilson, a man with a future in politics, Cartreze Tucker bursts with energy and musical pizzazz. All of these actors have the added challenge of playing their characters, both as adults and as younger versions of themselves during the 1950’s.

While BACK TO THE FUTURE may not have the emotional gravity of LES MISERABLES, or the comic capacity of THE PRODUCERS or the distinctive dancing greatness of A CHORUS LINE, it’s a delightfully entertaining show that’s well worth seeing. It’s a captivating, fun fair festival for the whole family that stays true to its source, while adding its own inimitable technical and musical shine. The production showcases a large cast of talented, triple-threats, backed by an astounding array of work by a team of technically skilled theatre artists. Don’t miss a mesmerizing show that demonstrates how the timeless Power of Love can save the day.                      

Recommended

Reviewed  by Colin Douglas

Presented August 13-September 1 by Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, Chicago.

Tickets are available at all BIC box offices, at all Ticketmaster retail locations, by calling the Broadway in Chicago Ticket Line at 800-775-2000 or by going to www.BroadwayInChicago.com

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found at www.theatreinchicago.com.