Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL at Opera House/Kennedy Center

The DeLorean in the photo looks cute, but the car star of Back to the Future: The Musical (BTTF), at the Kennedy Center through August 11, goes extremely way past cute when Marty McFly and Doc start driving. The car performs the biggest, best, most imaginative onstage special effects seen in live theatre since that first cat went up up up up to the Heavyside Layer. It absolutely convinces that it can easily reach the required 88 miles per hour. The list of talented designers responsible for the dazzling mise en scène consists of Tim Hatley (Scenic Design), Finn Ross (Video Design), Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone (Lighting Design), and Chris Fisher (Illusion Design--love that title).

Caden Brauch makes a sturdy Marty. He's a fine comic actor and triple threat who should just keep fine-tuning his duckwalk in order to make it really goode, if you know what I'm sayin'. Don Stephenson's Doc is sensational. He underplays like an old vaudevillian, and he has mastered the very hard art of throwing lines and bits away. (Best one: When Marty asks him who the girls are who suddenly arrive to sing and dance behind their number, Doc shrugs, "They just show up when I start singing.") He's got the three best songs in the show (Music and Lyrics by Alan Silvestri, who wrote the scores for all three BTTF films, and Glen Ballard): "It Works," (the DeLorean, of course), "21st Century," in which Doc dreams what he might see in the future--The Doctor would like that Doc dreams of The Tardis, and a lovely ballad "For the Dreamers," sung with mostly solo piano which provides some Act II auditory respite from the onslaught of the overly loud rest of the show. And Stephenson never never never pretends that he's Christopher Lloyd; Doc belongs to him, and a good time is had by all.

Alas, the opposite must be said of Burke Swanson's mugging-heavy imitation of Crispin Glover as George McFly; it's an embarrassing send up of Glover's sweetly goofball performance as Marty's father. Ethan Rogers as Biff (the bully) ought to please stop "Acting." But Kiara Lee charms as Jennifer, Marty's girlfriend, and she sings wonderfully. Zan Berube, as Marty's mother, has a great number ("Pretty Baby") which also is joined by a suddenly manifesting back-up group, in this case, à la The Ronettes/The Shirelles; throughout BTTF: The Musical, the musical theatre convention of "the chorus" keeps getting referenced, lightly laughed at, and really enjoyed. The hard-working ensemble, choreographed by Chris Bailey and colorfully costumed by Tim Hatley, are at their best in these Broadway-esque production numbers, though they cut a pretty good jitterbug rug too. Book (and screen-) writer Bob Gale really knows his 1950s, though I did miss Doc's Packard--but this show is only big enough for One Car. Cartreze Tucker's Goldie Wilson is fun, and his Marvin Berry rocks (as well as rolls). Director John Rando has briskly paced this large and complicated, two hour, forty minute tribute musical (time, um, and the car, flies while you're having fun). The original 1985 film streams on Netflix, and it really is cool to see them both in the same week.

(Photo of Don Stephenson & Caden Brauch by Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman)

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