“Back to the Future: The Musical” is old school.
Not every show needs to reinvent and revolutionize Broadway.
Some musicals can just sit there, front row in the class, confident that they’ve done their homework, know what they are doing, and just might school everyone before that bell rings.
That’s the case with the national tour of this Great White Way take on the mega-hit film franchise that shot Michael J. Fox from small-screen to big-screen stardom starting back in 1985. How big was it? The movie had two sequels and spawned theme-park rides, video games and a TV cartoon series.
The Broadway national tour — playing at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, Feb. 15 — is a fun show with an engaging cast and enough sci-fi-ish special effects to wow “Back to the Future” movie fans. (What do we call them: BTTFers? Martyans? The Doc Flock?)
If the movie just didn’t strike lightning for you, and you think the whole theatrical project is exploitive, then know this: The second act has a lot more electricity than the first, and it just might shift your opinion a little. Hang in there. As for the exploitive thing: We. Can’t. Help. You.
The narrative for this stage version is close to the plot of the movie, perhaps too much so. In 1985, Marty McFly (played by Lucas Hallauer) is a skateboarding high schooler who is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time machine — ensconced in a DeLorean sports car — by nutty off-the-books scientist Doc Brown (David Josefsberg).
Stuck in his hometown, but 30 years in the past, Marty must find a way to return to … um … his future. And if that weren’t enough, he also has to make sure his teenage parents fall in love before his very existence evaporates, all in the same high school he was in before he got plucked to the past.
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Lucas Hallauer (Marty McFly) and the Broadway touring company of “Back to the Future: The Musical.” (McLeod9 Creative/Courtesy)
The show has an original musical score sharing the spotlight with songs from the movie, including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Earth Angel.” Very few of the original tunes penetrate beyond the orchestra pit, but there is a patter to them — something akin to standouts in “The Music Man” or “The Pirates of Penzance” — that makes the music serviceable, even likable … at times.
Exposition in 4/4 time is fine if deftly deployed, but “Back to the Future: The Musical” needs a tune-up tightening. There are some (not all, mind you) secondary characters who have their own songs, and who just don’t add much to the here and now, much less to the past or the future. (Side-eye to you, Biff the bully and Goldie the diner staffer.) And there are some oh-what-the-heck-let’s-break-the-fourth-wall jokes that fall flat. All of that time might have been better used to give the story new twists unique to this project.
Now, having said all that, it’s imperative to also make clear: The cast is superb, possibly making the material better than it actually is. They toss off the comedy bits — think Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Milton Berle — like it’s nothing. Loyal fans (Time Warpies? Back-ers? Outta-timers?) will be pleased that the comedy evokes the humor of the time periods.
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David Josefsberg (Doc Brown) in the Broadway tour of “Back to the Future: The Musical.” (Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade/Courtesy)
So what if the show doesn’t have an element it can call its own? This musical is doing something else, something more basic, something simpler that just might resonate with us right here, right now.
Who hasn’t dreamed of a do-over? Who hasn’t yearned to revisit a cherished time? Who hasn’t prayed for a fresh start?
Right up to the end, after roughly 2 1/2 hours plus a 15-minute intermission (and a don’t-you-dare-miss encore), “Back to the Future” earns a standing ovation the old-fashioned way: By making us laugh and tap our feet.
The class clown, the cool kid — there’s always time for that.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Back to the Future: The Musical”
WHEN: Through Sunday, Feb. 15
WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Au-Rene Theater, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
COST: $60.48-$196.18
INFORMATION: 954-462-0222; browardcenter.org
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“Back to the Future: The Musical,” of course, has the infamous DeLorean time machine. (McLeod9 Creative/Courtesy)
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Lucas Hallauer as Marty McFly in “Back to the Future: The Musical.” (McLeod9 Creative/Courtesy)