Great Scott! The DeLorean has landed at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre and like any self-respecting child of the ‘80s, I felt compelled to go “Back to the Future.”
The production is among the new attractions for Bay Area theaters fans, including a new take on “Uncle Vanya” at Berkeley Rep.
I must admit that the totally awesome automobile does not disappoint. In our age of snooze-worthy Cybertrucks, it’s hard not to gush over this flashy paragon of style and substance. In a nod to “Knight Rider,” this baby even talks. In fact it’s by far the snazziest part of this nostalgic musical, which runs through March 9. Yes, the luxury car of yore is the star of the show, which is more amusement park thrill ride than musical, start to finish.
Don’t get me wrong. Given the tenor of recent events, deciding to hide in the splendor of the past makes perfect sense. Reliving your childhood, sipping on a themed cocktail, perhaps a Flux Capacitor, and swooning over Marty McFly (Lucas Hallauer) and chuckling at kooky old Doc Brown (Don Stephenson) has an undeniable appeal for my cohort. If you ever owned a pair of fuzzy pink leg warmers, this is your guilty pleasure, no?
Alas there’s not nearly enough whimsy and heart here to last you through two hours and 45 minutes of recycled Robert Zemeckis magic. Illusion designer Chris Fisher and set designer Tim Hatley deserve their props but eye-popping special effects alone just don’t cut it.
Indeed the over reliance on digital wizardry makes you wonder why you didn’t just stay home and stream the OG flick. That would better satisfy the yearning for sentimentality that director John Rando relies on.
This question is perhaps most pressing for Gen Z kiddos. My daughter Daphne, 14, has a well developed taste for ‘80s ambience. She has been weaned on the John Hughes oeuvre and the Karate Kid canon. She, like her mother, cannot wait for more “Stranger Things.”
But I’m afraid it took a significant candy and soda bribe to get her to sit through Act 2 here. It’s not that the show is terrible but there are a lot of dead patches where you get to ponder its inadequacies in comparison to the beloved 1985 flick. The pace is certainly too sluggish for a story you know like the back of your space-time continuum.
The added music is too earnest and generic while the extra backstory makes the story drag. There’s far too much padding in between scenes painstakingly re-enacted from the movie, which are just as funny and original as you may recall from childhood.
George McFly’s ode to geekiness, “My myopia is my utopia,” is not a song anyone needs to hear. “Put Your Mind to It” and “Got No Future” are utterly forgettable.
Certainly, trying to recreate the smart-alecky charisma of Michael J. Fox and the genius eccentricity of Christopher Lloyd is a thankless task. That said, Mike Bindeman
delivers a wonderfully herky jerky performance as the uber nerd George and Zan Berube radiates spunk as Lorraine. Cartreze Tucker chews up the scenery as the belt-it-out Mayor Goldie Wilson. These lively performances and the aforementioned amazing automobile give this animatronic retread some shine.
The fourth wall-busting DeLorean dancers, a recurring Rockettes-style kickline, are also a fun touch but the joke soon wears out its welcome. You may also giggle at the anachronism punchlines about how much progress humanity can be trusted to make regarding patriarchy, racism and environmental decline. But the yuks are too few and far between.
Only ride-or-die nostalgia junkies will want to hop aboard this musical. Now, if they were offering selfies in the flying DeLorean at the intermission, that would be worth the price of admission. I’d buckle up in a minute.
Contact Karen D’Souza at karenpdsouza@yahoo.com.
‘BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL’
Book by Bob Gale, music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, presented by BroadwaySF
Through: March 9
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco
Running time: Two hours, 45 minutes, one intermission
Tickets: $60-$254 (subject to change); www.broadwaysf.com