Great Scott! Check out 'Back to the Future the musical'

Over the summer, I attended “Back to the Future the Musical” at Playhouse Square. When I went, I hadn’t watched the movie so I was going into the show blind, but I immediately fell in love with the story and the music. Caden Brauch and Don Stephenson play the titular roles of Marty McFly and Doc Brown. The show was playing in Cleveland from June 11 to July 7.

The musical is based on the movie of the same title. The story revolves around the main character, Marty McFly, living in Hill Valley, California in 1985. He goes back in time thanks to a friend’s time machine; Doc Brown’s time machine was built out of a DeLorean. Marty changed history by interacting with his parents in 1955. He has to fix it before he goes back to 1985 or else he will be erased from existence because his parents never met.

Brauch and Stephenson, along with Zan Berube, Burke Swanson, Cartreze Tucker, Ethan Rogers, and Luke Antony Neville, round out the principle roles. Berube and Swanson play the loveable Lorraine Baines and George McFly. Tucker plays both roles of Goldie Wilson and Marvin Berry. Rogers plays the hostile Biff Tannen, and Neville plays Mr. Strickland, among others. 

The show was created by the same people who created the movie in 1985, Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis, and Alan Silvestri, along with Glen Ballard who joined the production. Gale is the book writer. Gale is also a co-creator and co-producer with Zemeckis. Silvestri and Ballard wrote the music and lyrics for the show. 

There are some major differences between the movie and the musical because some things in the movie can’t translate to the stage. One major difference is how Doc dies in the beginning when Marty is going back in time. Instead of being shot by Libyan terrorists (like he is in the movie), he dies because of radiation poisoning due to the plutonium that powers the DeLorean. I think the change was a good one because it would have been hard to have another car on stage along with the DeLorean. Also, how Brauch and Stephenson play it off makes the moment very comedic then sad because Doc dies. 

Another difference is that Biff chases Marty through the school in the musical, not on a skateboard or car. That would have been hard to do due to the stage's limited space. Even though the show has all of these changes, they all make sense for the stage. All of the changes were made so that way it could fit onstage.

I think that if you get the chance to see the show, you should. It was wonderful to watch. There may be a lot of differences to the movie,but they make sense for the show. The music is amazing and makes sense for the story and times that the show takes place. The show includes “Power of Love”, “Back in Time”, “Earth Angel”, and “Johnny B. Goode” all from the movie. Even if you aren’t a musical theater person, the show has a lot of the same things from the movie that anyone who loves the movie would enjoy.