REVIEW: GREAT SCOTT! Back to the Future wows at the Aronoff

Review by Adam Schwartz

GREAT SCOTT! Back to the Future: The Musical has landed in Cincinnati and is bringing all of your favorite characters and songs from the 1985 Rober Zemeckis classic to the stage. Not only is the singing, dancing and acting excellent, but the special effects are some of the best I have seen on a stage. So come along and surf the space-time continuum as I tell you about my experience going BACK TO THE THEA…FUTURE!

You Know the Plot

The plot of the show, for the most part is a copy and paste of the film’s plot, which thankfully is not a bad thing. There are times where a stage adaptation doesn’t fully utilize the medium it has been translated into, making it almost too similar to the original source material. This show however, does not, and instead utilizes the medium of live theatre to it’s advantage. There are of course changes to the plot, but to know exactly what has changed, I will leave that to you to discover when you see the show. 

Electric Performances

The acting is phenomenal across the board, breathing new life into these existing characters. The stand out performers are Alyssa Carol, who plays Marty’s mother, Lorraine Baines, and David Josefberg who plays Doc Brown. Both actors stood out for me as they took the characters and made them truly their own. Josefberg is having a blast with Doc Brown, running around the stage fluctuating between the emotions of curiosity and panic. Carol (the understudy) expertly brings the pent-up frustration of the 1950’s love sick high school girl to life with her overly aggressive passes at Marty. And the sad life of a settled housewife in the 1980’s earlier in the show.

The rest of the cast is doing an excellent job. I want to give a special shoutout to Cartreze Tucker for his role as Goldie Wilson, the soda-shop sweep turned mayoral candidate. He has a solo midway through act I that will leave you speechless. 

Turbo Charged FX

The production is stellar, lead by director John Rando, and produced in part by Zemeckis himself. From the famous Delorean traveling back in time to the special effects by Chris Fisher and Finn Ross, this truly feels like a melding of the great white way and the silver screen. 

Overall – A Hit

At the end of the day, Back to the Future: The Musical is a fun trip down memory lane. Both for fans of the original film and a fantastic introduction to the trilogy of films for new comers. So grab your flux capacitors, hop in your Delorean and hit to 88 miles per hour down to the Aronoff Center to see this excellent stage adaptation of Back to the Future.

Get Tickets to Back to the Future: The Musical

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