A ‘Back to the Future' that reminds you of the past
Advertisement
'Back to the Future' is a throwback in more than one sense. It can no longer be assumed that a stage musical drawn from a nonmusical hit movie will be dreck.
The 2017 Broadway musical adaptation of 'Groundhog Day' was pretty good. The 2019 Broadway musical adaptation of
very
good. The musical adaptation of '
But 'Back to the Future: The Musical' reminds you why journeys from screen to stage are often a bad idea, destined to land with a splat: Because they are driven, so to speak, by the imperatives of the box office rather than any kind of artistic inspiration or aspiration.
Advertisement
The best adaptations have something to say. 'Back to the Future' doesn't have much more to say than: Give us your money.
While there are some changes from the movie, a chief problem with this touring production is that
That narrows the interpretive range any of the performers can traverse. While the cast is certainly game, their struggles to make something fresh out of something so pre-fabricated, such an industrial product, are evident.
Lucas Hallauer, who physically resembles the younger Fox, plays restless teenager Marty McFly. Marty is rightly embarrassed by his parents, the ultra-wimpy George (Mike Bindeman, seemingly trying to out-geek Crispin Glover) and slovenly Lorraine (Zan Berube). It's 1985, fully three decades after high school, but George is still being pushed around by Biff (Nathaniel Hackmann), the hulking, none-too-bright fellow who bullied George back then and still has designs on Lorraine.
Within that stifling environment, Marty is understandably eager for adventure. An opportunity for that presents itself when nuclear physicist/mad scientist Doc Brown (David Josefberg) enlists him to help in an attempt to travel through time in the aforementioned DeLorean.
(
But when Doc experiences radiation poisoning while handling plutonium, Marty tries to go for help in the DeLorean, then accidentally stomps on the accelerator too hard and ends up back in 1955. There he encounters his father, George, and his mother, Lorraine, both of them teenagers. George is the same hapless nerd, but Lorraine is … different.
Advertisement
She always told Marty and his siblings that she was prim and proper when she was in high school. Marty discovers that she was neither. Soon he is experiencing the Freudian nightmare of being hit on by his mom.
For reasons that have to do with the space-time continuum, Marty's very existence hinges on whether he can get George and Lorraine to fall in love. For Marty to be returned to 1985 – to go back to the future — he and the 1955 version of Doc Brown need to harness the power of a lightning strike on town's clocktower.
The nonstop musical and video bombardment in 'Back to the Future' seems designed to pummel the audience into submission and persuade them that their money was well spent. But it comes across as a sign of desperation in the effort to create a live simulacrum of a beloved movie.
A joke in which 1955 George is perplexed by Marty's use of the word 'heavy,' which is not funny the first time, is for some reason brought back a second time. There is some Boston-based pandering: a Tom Brady reference, a throwaway line about the 'Green Monstah.'
One number features the chorus in top hats and tails, for some reason. It should be noted, however, that the chorus is first-rate, the best thing about this 'Back to the Future.' It's far from the first time that has been true in a production that's arrived in Boston from Broadway.
Advertisement
In the number that opens Act Two, Doc Brown sings 'I can't wait to be/In the 21st century!' You might want to reconsider that, Doc.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL
Book by Bob Gale. Music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard. Directed by John Rando. Choreography, Chris Bailey. Presented by Broadway In Boston. At Citizens Opera House, Boston.
Through July 20. Tickets from $40. www.BroadwayInBoston.com
Don Aucoin can be reached at
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
4 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
25 Funny Childhood Lies Adults Believed For Years
When we're little and don't know much about the world, it's all too easy for our parents to get us to believe things that might remain unquestioned in the back of our minds for years. Recently, people on Reddit shared the most random little lie their parents told that they believed for way too long, and it's so hilariously relatable. Here are some of the top comments: "When I was 6, I was obsessed with Christmas music. I'd play Christmas albums on the record player for hours. I guess my mother took all she could take, and one day she told me it was illegal to listen to Christmas music after the New Year. I believed her for years." —quadracer1461 "My dad doesn't have a middle name. When I was little, I asked him why he didn't have one. He said his parents couldn't afford a middle name for him. He was just making some off-hand dad joke, but then I asked if he was serious, and he said, 'Yep, you pay by letter on the birth certificate, and we were a poor family, that's why my name is Pat, and I have no middle name.' Well, I had no reason not to believe him, so I believed that for yeeears until I was like 16." "My dad played a long con on me. He made a big show of making sure the shiny side of tinfoil was always on the inside when wrapping something up to cook. Otherwise, 'it won't cook, the shiny side bounces off the heat.' He started this when I was very young. And continued it. FOR YEARS. I was home alone by myself for one of the first times, and I was starting the BBQ by myself. Then, after I had lit the BBQ and stuff was on the grill, I wasn't sure if I put the shiny side in!" "My parents told me it was bad luck to sing at the dinner table. It was many, many years before I realized they were just trying to get me to shut up for twenty minutes." —OrphanGold "My mom told me that she could see that I was lying based on how my forehead looked. I started rubbing my forehead before I wanted to lie, turning it red, making my mum see that I was lying. Took me 30 years to realise I was a stupid kid." "The chaotic good lie: George, the family ghost. We had a ghost that followed us wherever we moved (military family). If you heard something or saw some movement out of the corner of your eye, but no one else was in the house, George. If your toys were messed with (six kids, happened a lot), it wasn't your sib, it was George. If something got broken and no one admitted it, it was George." "My grandmother's parents immigrated from Germany to the US, so for every big US holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, my grandma would make sauerkraut. I couldn't stand it, but was told that there was a 'sauerkraut fairy' that worked somewhat similarly to the tooth fairy, and if I ate at least a small amount of sauerkraut, the fairy would stop by and leave a quarter under my plate." "I would always use the bathroom to rinse my face off after eating, and the sauerkraut fairy always happened to visit while I was in there, so I never saw her. Believed it for years and ate way more sauerkraut than I'd care to admit."—Robotic-Galaxy "My mom told me that my younger brother's IQ was higher than mine. All of our lives, he thought that meant he was smarter than me, so he treated me like I was stupid or incapable of living my life without instructions from him. Turns out, my mom just said that to get him to do better in school. I was in advanced classes and got mostly A's, and he was at risk of being held back." "My mum suffered a serious sledding injury as a kid and has some gnarly scars on her leg. As a kid myself, I obviously asked her where she got them, and without missing a beat, she told me she was attacked by a crocodile. Years later, I happened to mention to her how I had told everybody at school this, and she was horrified, as presumably half my class spent ages thinking I was a bullshitter." "I begged and pleaded my folks to let me play a musical instrument, and they relented. About three months in, I lost interest and wanted to quit. My parents said, 'You can quit, but when we bought the instrument, we signed an agreement that you have to play it for three years.'" "I sucked out loud at this instrument for three years, and when the day finally came, I said, 'Okay, my three years are over, can I quit band now?' They had no idea what I was talking about and told me to quit if I didn't want to play anymore."—QueenRotidder "I used to go see a local hockey team with my dad. I would often ask if we could leave early, then he'd say we could leave after the third period. I just assumed hockey had four like other sports. It took me years to figure it out." "That Better Homes & Gardens was coming to photograph our house, so we had to clean it from top to bottom. They had to 'cancel' the first time, so we had to clean it again. Props to my mom for getting two cleans out of us for that." "My dad told me that I don't like Snickers when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. I was in my 20s when I realized that he's a liar!" —driveonacid "That if I didn't eat the crusts on my sandwiches, I wouldn't learn to whistle. So random. I had just never thought to critically consider it; my mom told me a couple of times when I was really little. So I mentioned it once when I was maybe 8 and my mom tried to hide a smile, and I was like, 'HEY! You liar…and that obviously doesn't make any sense.' Well, joke's on you, Mom, because I ate those crusts, and I still can't whistle." "I'm a girl named Maya. My mother had me believing for YEARS that if I had been a boy, my name would have been Mayo." "If you stand in front of the microwave while it's in use, your head will explode. Looking back, I think mom just wanted space while she was in the kitchen." —SkysEevee "My dad told me that if you wear socks to bed, then you'll get blisters on your feet. Turns out he just hates the feeling of it and didn't want my brothers and me to wear them to bed. I didn't realise until I was in my late 20s and began to question why other people wore them to bed." "My mom was a neat freak. On Christmas morning, she put a big garbage bag next to the tree. She said if we didn't throw all the wrapping paper in there after every gift was opened, Santa would come back and take the toy away. Then the toys had to be put away neatly in our rooms. No after Christmas debris was around our living room, ever!" "That the guy that gets eaten in the porta potty at the beginning of Jurassic Park comes back in the end, and he's fine." —luckytintype "Mom told me that you have to cut the ends off of carrots so they don't give you a headache. I can see little me peppering her with questions while making dinner and then asking why she cut the ends off of the carrots." "My dad used to take me mushroom hunting. He told me that if I was too loud, the mushrooms would go back into the earth, like I'd scare them into hiding or something, I guess. I believed him and kept quiet. In my mid-20s (!) I was looking for mushrooms with a guy I was dating and some of his friends. They were being loud; we were drinking beer, smoking, and generally making a ruckus as we made our way through the forest. I advised them to keep it down so we could find the mushrooms." "My dad told me the ice cream truck only plays music when it's out of ice cream. I thought we were just really unlucky every summer." —altaf770 "My parents told me I was only allowed to eat as much of a vegetable as my age. For example, at 3, they would 'allow' three peas on my plate. Apparently, I would beg for more veggies because I felt that I was old enough and sophisticated enough for more. Fifty-plus years later, I still love vegetables, so score one for mind games." "That eating crust from pizza and toast was good for your teeth. I believed that my entire life until about a year ago. I'm 28 years old. One day, I just decided to Google it after randomly thinking about it, and yeah, it's not true. They just wanted me to eat the crust instead of throwing it away." And finally, "When I was five, we moved. And sometimes I'd get up in the middle of the night. My dad would always be awake; he wasn't yet medicated for bipolar. And he'd take me outside and show me the constellations and tell me about each one. It was a few years later that I learned that the constellations aren't supposed to change every night. He was just pointing to the stars and making up a new story for each thing we saw. It was beautiful." —crrrrushinator Do you have a similar story to share? Tell me all about it in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Gypsy' Starring Audra McDonald Latest To Set Broadway Closing Date Post-Tony Awards
Gypsy, the high-profile Broadway musical revival starring Audra McDonald, will play its final performance August 17, producers said Wednesday. The news comes after the show scored five Tony Awards nominations including for McDonald for playing Rose and for Best Musical revival but missed out on Tony night. At closing, the show, which had an open-ended run, will have played 28 previews and 269 regular performances at Broadway's Majestic Theatre. More from Deadline 'Gypsy' Broadway Review: Audra McDonald Takes Her Turn At Momma Rose 'John Proctor Is The Villain' Surges In Sadie Sink's Final Week, While 'Call Me Izzy' Plummets Without Jean Smart – Broadway Box Office 'Merrily We Roll Along' Broadway Live Capture Gets December Theatrical Release Date Danny Burstein and Joy Woods were also Tony-nominated for the George C. Wolfe-directed revival of the classic musical that features a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Style, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and choreography by Camille A. Brown, who earned the show's fifth Tony nom. It did win Drama Desk Awards this year for McDonald and Best Revival. Last week, Gypsy, with McDonald back from a vacation, saw a $522,183 jump in box office over the previous week to $816,086; attendance marked 61% of the Majestic's capacity. But now it joins other Broadway productions taking their final bows after the Tonys, after announcements by Boop! The Musical, Smash, Real Women Have Curves, Dead Outlaw among others, to announce an early close after coming up empty at the Tonys. Gypsy featured scenic design by Santo Loquasto, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, sound design by Scott Lehrer, hair and wig design Mia Neal and makeup design by Michael Clifton. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Stranger Things' Season 5 So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
Broadway's ‘Gypsy' Revival, Starring Audra McDonald, Will Close
A boundary-breaking Broadway revival of 'Gypsy' starring Audra McDonald will end its run on Aug. 17, much earlier than its producers had hoped. The run was originally open-ended, meaning that no closing date had been set, and tickets were on sale through Oct. 5. But on Wednesday night, the production announced the new closing date; at the time of its final performance, it will have played 28 preview and 269 regular performances at the Majestic Theater. The show is the sixth musical to announce a closing date since last month's Tony Awards (following 'Boop!' 'Cabaret,' 'Dead Outlaw,' 'Real Women Have Curves' and 'Smash'), reflecting Broadway's difficult financial dynamics (nonmusical plays have been faring much better). 'Gypsy' was nominated for five Tony Awards, including as best musical revival and for McDonald's performance, but won none. The revival, directed by George C. Wolfe, was highly anticipated because McDonald, with six Tony Awards, is Broadway's most-honored contemporary performer, and she is the first Black actress to play on Broadway the lead role of Rose, the ur-stage mother whose daughter becomes a stripper. The musical, with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, was inspired by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee; it first opened in 1959 and is generally considered one of Broadway's best golden age musicals. When the revival opened in December, it received overwhelmingly positive reviews. In The New York Times, chief theater critic Jesse Green named the show a critic's pick and wrote of McDonald, 'Doing a psychological striptease, showing more of the character's rage than her predecessors, she is stupendously affecting.' At the box office, the show seemed to be selling well for much of its run, grossing well over $1 million most weeks in its early months, and peaking at $1.9 million during a week in mid-January. But the show is costly to run, thanks to a large orchestra and sizable cast that includes children, who can be costly to employ because they require supervisors who need to be hired by the production. 'Gypsy' also lost a substantial amount of potential revenue over the normally lucrative Christmas holidays when illnesses forced the cancellation of seven performances. Its weekly grosses have been heading in a troubling direction — last week the show sold only 61 percent of its seats and grossed $816,086. And musicals have been fetching much lower ticket prices than starry plays. For example, during the week that ended June 1, when all three shows were running, the average ticket price at an 'Othello' revival starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal was $425, and at 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' starring George Clooney, it was $339. The average ticket price for 'Gypsy' was $114.
