November 7, 2025 • 29 mins
It's a race against time to return to the future....or to see Back To The Future: The Musical at The Detroit Opera House before it's gone! This touring production of the Broadway musical explores the classic Robert Zemeckis film through a new lens, adding song and dance to the story we all know and love. It's the music that brings us together today for this podcast...well, that and just about everything else that comprises Back To The Future: The Musical!
In this episode of the Box Seat Babes podcast, hosts Brian Kitson and RJ Miller-Zelinko break down the Johnny B. Good(e) and bad from the music and stagecraft of Back To The Future: The Musical! From the costumes that perfectly capture both the '80s and the '50s, to the effects that made it feel like the time-traveling DeLorean is speeding across the stage at 88 miles per hour! What about the special effects stood out to us throughout the show? Did the music make an impact on us? Find out all of this and more, including our final verdicts and whether we would see this show again, in this exciting episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back listeners to part two of our Back to the Future discussion.
(00:04):
No, we're not talking about the sequel to the Robert Zemeckis film, but instead our BoxeBabes part two discussion where we'll be talking about the incredible stagecraft and music
from the touring show of Back to the Future the musical.
uh Spoiler warning, if you haven't seen this blast from the past show and want to gowithout any spoilers, then it's time to hightail it out of here before any further damage
(00:25):
to our timeline has occurred.
However, if still here,
Let's jump right into the journey that doesn't require any roads Just about a half an hourof your time.
Before we jump into it, follow and subscribe to us on all major social media platforms tostay up to date on news and reviews from here in Michigan and larger theater community.
But thank you again, RJ, for being here.
It's a pleasure to be back in 1955 with you, or 1985, or 2005.
(00:50):
It's all...
That's actually kind of cool.
We're doing this in the year of the five.
But thanks again for joining me and being here and talking about the music, stagecraft,and everything else under the sun.
Quite possibly the better part of Back to the Future, which might be blasphemous for someof our listeners.
Yes.
Well, we'll see.
(01:10):
This might be the redemption episode.
It might not be the redemption episode.
If you're still with us after last week, thank you for being here.
enjoy it.
I hope that you like this one better.
Um, and to give you a recap of last episode, we did talk about this, the story and thecharacters from Back to the Future.
Again, the same story everybody knows, the same characters everybody knows, except RJ whohas not seen the film.
(01:35):
Again, watch part one if you haven't, we had a whole discussion.
He missed out on a essential childhood film and he will be going back to watch it at somepoint.
Add it to the list.
It never ends.
but we talked about how this story does it work?
Does it not work?
Did they capture the nostalgia?
Did they not?
Um, in our opinions, it's was meh..
(01:58):
Is that, is that, is Matt the right way to say that RJ?
Yeah, that's basically how I put it in a text to someone earlier.
So that's, that's pretty correct.
Yeah, it was meh.
was the story itself, as somebody who grew up on it, it did not connect with me the way Iwanted it to.
Be it maybe I haven't seen the film in quite some time.
(02:18):
Maybe I haven't enjoyed.
I was going to actually watch it last night and I didn't because I was tired after gettinghome because it is kind of a long show, which is kind of funny too because act one is not
as long as act two.
Act two was actually longer, which is usually not what happens for Broadway show, but Idigress.
So all that to say, we are setting the story and the characters aside and we're going totalk about first the music.
(02:40):
Obviously, RJ, you know who Al, wow, not Alvin, Alan Silvestri is because he is kind ofthe iconic, you know, 1990s, 1980s, like music man for movies.
Would you agree with that?
Like that's kind of like his whole shtick is like writing some of the most iconic songsand music.
(03:03):
or some of the biggest movies out there.
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people kind of have an era where their work like doesreally well or doesn't do really well.
um And that was his.
Absolutely.
again, I'm going through some of his just some of his work, some of his films here again,back to the future.
(03:30):
Obviously, that's why we're here.
Flight of the Navigator.
We have Predator.
We have, you know, it goes on and on.
Father of the Bride, which, you know, for Dianne Keaton fans, you know, that's this is atouching moment to talk about that.
Death Becomes Her, which already still hasn't seen.
We've got to fix that.
Um, but like there's just a lot of really important movies.
(03:53):
I mean, the bodyguard, Forrest Gump, like this is, correct me if I'm wrong, I think healso did Harry Potter.
I could be wrong.
I could be totally showing my age here and not knowing these things, but I digress.
Anyways, so the point is, that he's kind of the music, one of the musical geniuses that wehave for films.
And he, his work is very much, um, present here because obviously the score is stillpretty much the same.
(04:19):
As our music man, before we get into the new songs, I want to talk about that score alittle bit.
Did you recognize the iconic music even though you haven't seen the film?
So there's a main, what I would consider the main theme, which is really only a smallsection of maybe the title song um that I recognized because of my history in band.
(04:43):
And anytime you kind of do a, you know, film score medley, uh this was one of thosethings, right?
Like it probably would have been in a medley similar to
something with Jurassic Park and something with Star Wars and then this and so kind ofthose uh sci-fi movies.
(05:03):
uh So, you know, played a couple bars could probably, you know, la di da a couple lines,but aside from that, not, not really.
That's fair.
I mean, that's fair.
mean, this is, there is definitely a score that most people who have seen this film couldrecognize.
(05:24):
And I feel like with those, like that era of film, every film had a score that was so,like when we saw Death Becomes Her, and when they started the show and I said, that's the
music from the movie.
And you see my face is lighting up more talking about that than the current one we're on.
that, it's great stuff.
great.
We're loving here.
ah But,
(05:44):
This show, which obviously the movie is not a musical, takes that.
And then it brings in Glenn Ballard, who did a lot of music and lyrics for some of thegreats out there, Wilson Phillips, Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill no doubt.
And along with Nick Finlow brings together a whole bunch of music to the show.
(06:06):
One of the things I just want to start off right off the bat by saying about the music isI really struggled with...
that there didn't seem to be a specific identity for the 80s to the 50s back to the 80s,if that makes any sense.
Did you feel that?
Like, it felt like we were just blending all this music.
There wasn't like a specifically 1950s feel to the 50s part.
(06:27):
There wasn't like a a like a synth pop 80s feel to the 80s part.
I feel like we were that was a part of this that was missing for me.
Yeah, I mean, I think again, because of the very short spent time in the eighties, likethe costuming was doing all of the work.
And because we got, basically got like two numbers, three, three numbers, I would say atmost four.
(06:55):
um
that
really would have been falling under the 80s before they make the jump and they were all
They were all so hardcore musical theater without giving a specific time of musicaltheater.
Whereas then when we do the 30 year back, it's so clearly like I thought the fifties hadway more of an identity than the eighties.
(07:28):
They reference the music of the eighties towards the end because they literally do popmusic.
There was nothing original that told me.
we are into different time continuums basically.
Aside from, you know, the dance, dance music, dances, the live band.
(07:51):
yes, correct.
I had someone earlier describe it in a very interesting way and they said, it is 100 %reflective of a current musical and not of the decades that it came from, which I thought
was interesting because I think that is actually true.
It feels like a musical made for today.
(08:12):
Yes, which when we look at the people that made this score, right, you're talking aboutAlan making the score score, which is really
the undertones, it's not actually what they're singing or saying over music.
Glenn with the music and lyrics, but then Nick with the vocal and music arrangements.
(08:34):
So like Glenn and Nick would have been the people to really be making the decisions on, atleast, I mean, I'm sure they were all working together, but in regards to the lyrics and
the characterization of the music, like that just comp-
completely felt off and I don't know if because it was because they were shaping it up forBroadway and they wanted it to be like a block it felt like a wannabe blockbuster that was
(09:10):
completely like if you took the songs completely out of this show and just put them intheir own show
I don't know what the plot to that would be, but you could probably do it.
And the show would be fine.
because yeah, yeah.
The, I didn't need a song to tell me where are we going?
(09:32):
I didn't need a song to tell me my dad has no spine.
I didn't need a song to tell me I'm going to be mayor, though you can happily keep thatone in because that was probably
the best song of the entire show.
ah
Yeah, like the the and the ensemble numbers Yeah, it felt very like I almost felt like apart of like at least two or three of the numbers I was like Are we about to have a kick
(09:58):
line?
Like where the identity of this music is?
all over the place
which I think is also telling, cause we had a conversation on the drive home when wecouldn't really remember a song from the movie.
And you said, I almost wish, not the movie, the show, the musical.
And you said, I almost wish that this was a straight show.
(10:19):
And I have to agree because there was no sense of identity.
And there were some times that I didn't even know when we were in a new song, cause it allsounded melodically the same.
It all sounded like it blended into one another.
And part of this, I wonder, is also because we did have lot of music issues.
We had a lot of sound mixing problems where the music was too loud, the microphones weretoo soft.
(10:42):
But also, don't think that there was really, with the exception of My Baby, Pretty Baby,and Something About That Boy, I can't tell you a single song that I really listened to in
Act One.
And I only know those because I'm looking at a list and I'm like, I can identify PrettyBaby because that's the song that Lorraine's singing about Marty.
And Something About That Boy closed out the show.
But they didn't have like a, there wasn't a defying gravity moment here.
(11:04):
There wasn't like each song has its clear intention.
They all sounded like the exact same song that you would hear every hour on the radiocurrently.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, like I just think of the, you know, I'll give an example from one the more recentones we've attended, Beetlejuice.
Like automatically, I think dead mom.
(11:26):
Correct.
specific to her character, right?
Like I can draw that parallel can, those two things are simultaneous to each other.
And that is a character moment.
And I'm getting something from her character in that moment.
Whereas these, and I'll just say like, of course the cast was incredibly talented.
(11:49):
Um, they did a wonderful job.
I just, the writing.
didn't do them any favors, in my opinion.
And there was no memorable moment where I was like, this song feels, I really feel thecharacter through this song.
(12:12):
Because like you said, the song list for this is actually insane.
It never stopped.
I was like, my gosh, it actually reminded me right away of which I, I'm only drawing thisparallel because of the way in which the show runs.
(12:32):
But I was thinking of SUFFS because SUFFS almost, they almost never stopped singing.
It is almost a show where you have minimal scenes with speaking only.
And I thought that this musical was going to be like,
90 % talking with like 10, 15, 20 % music.
(12:58):
So when we started out and it just kept going, I was like, yeah, like you said, everythingfelt the same.
It felt like one very, very long.
ballad
Well, yeah.
Yeah.
(13:20):
A lot of ballad.
Well, and they just they didn't supplement each other well because we had a lot ofballads, but then you'd have like these super high energy energy numbers with the
ensemble.
um And it didn't the flow wasn't there like it was it was almost like they wanted to makesure that we were still awake after the ballad.
(13:43):
And so they were like,
Let's put in a high power number that feels a little bit wonky, but we're gonna play itoff like it's a comedy thing.
I'm specifically thinking of the moment that they basically, it wasn't tap dancing, but itfelt like it um in the docs space.
(14:06):
I don't know if that's his house or his shed or what that is, but wherever we were and
then they just let and then we were like, ha ha, they're still here, oh
and then back into a ballad
And I think what's interesting too, just about this music is that I, the songs that werememorable, really, besides I gotta start somewhere with Goldie Wilson, that number's
(14:32):
great.
But the only ones that were really memorable to me were the ones that weren't even writtenfor the show.
Earth Angel, Johnny B Good, Power of Love, those songs that were actually real songs,those were the ones that stood out, but they also were the ones that were in the original
film, and so it makes sense you have those.
I was like, you let...
another person's music overshadow yours when you had a whole show you could write.
(14:54):
Yeah, yeah.
we have, I mean, I feel like every re-song had a, every re-song, every song had a repriseuh because they didn't have anything else to put in it, which a lot of shows do, let's be
fair.
(15:15):
But.
Did you need it?
Do you need a reprise to Pretty Baby?
Do you need like, yeah, struggling.
I love a reprise.
I love a callback, but there were so many callbacks.
Like literally in the middle of a song, they'd be like, all of a sudden Lorraine will justbe like hitting like a pretty baby note in the background.
(15:35):
I'm like, what's, like I get what you're calling back to, but also like too many layers,too many things.
You could have cut out three or four songs from each act and still had the story.
And also like, did we need a song where George is singing about peeping Tom on?
his future wife.
Like, I mean, like, there were some of these, I'm just like, I get what you're going for,but like, it's not doing it for me.
(16:00):
Yeah, I think Endgame, they were hoping for more comedic relief coming from the music.
And for some reason, maybe it was just because it was, it's on the line.
Like so many of plot points in the show are on the line of cringe, but because it was acomedy and because of the, it's just sci-fi and like people can kind of laugh it off.
(16:26):
But when you put it in a musical and then you make a whole song about it.
There wasn't uh nearly enough laughter.
when I think when I put this, when we keep citing Death Becomes Her, but like if you wereto put a laugh track of like what the audience sounds like in Death Becomes Her versus
this show.
I maybe heard like a handful of times that the audience actually audibly laughedthroughout almost three hours of a show.
(16:57):
Yes.
Which again, I'm not here to shit on the show completely.
And so this is where I am going to turn towards the effects because I feel like that'swhere the show really shines.
And I did, I just wanted to say, granted, this means nothing to anybody other than RJhere, but I misspoke last night when I said that I won the Tony award for best, you know,
best staging, best effects.
It did not, it was nominated, but it never won.
(17:20):
But this is where Back to the Future really shines is the effects of the staging with thecar specifically.
the lighting design with the car and the way that they used both the scrim in the frontand the digital screen in the back.
That is the sole reason why I liked parts of this show.
What was your take on all that?
(17:41):
Yeah, I mean, literally, I completely like, thank God, thank God, because it is theredeeming quality of this production.
um And that is where it blows my mind a little bit.
I'm like, this thing, you did this thing so well, like so well.
(18:07):
um
And it was in those moments where the audience was like audibly gasping and like, whoa,that's so cool.
Like it was just electric, literally.
And man, if they could have just spanned that more throughout, I think this productionwould have been 10 times as good.
(18:29):
Don't ask me exactly what that looks like, but I agree the special effects and we've seensimilar special effects, but
they just really capitalized.
What they did, they did very, very well.
And it is unlike any other production, I think, that I at least have seen in recent years.
(18:50):
uh So whatever creative minds got together and were like, this is a good plan, um youreally are probably the saviors of this show.
So just to give listeners a kind of an idea of what's going on here.
So obviously we have the DeLorean that comes out on stage, comes out very quickly.
(19:13):
I did not know if that was going to stop on the stage.
Obviously I know it's all timed and everything perfectly, but there is a middle, like notlike a record.
am I looking for?
Like a turntable, correct?
It's a turntable that they use in the staging of the show quite a bit.
But when they are driving this car, the screen on the back is looking like you're flying88 miles an hour.
(19:35):
and this car is turning on this turntable, which just gave it such the coolest effectbetween the lighting and the turning and the way that the car was going off, that it truly
felt like that car was going.
And again, part of me is like, understand how they did it.
And I also don't understand how they did it.
If that makes any sense to anybody else other than me.
(19:56):
Like there was just like this balance of like, I know the staging what's happening, but atthe same time, you're getting that car to look like it's going.
almost 90 miles an hour and it's not moving at all.
Which is a very cool effect.
Yes, um which yes, so I may have just done a tad bit of research.
(20:18):
um
Again, spoilers if you don't want to know how the car is operating, but it is obviously aspecifically built prop, the car itself, but there is a robotic arm.
Okay.
and mechanisms, which of course makes sense because of the angles that we're getting.
(20:38):
um I'm assuming it's lifted even just a bit off the ground when it seems like it is on theground so that the tires can, I'm not even sure if the tires spin or just the lights make
it look like they're spinning.
Obviously there are moments where the tires are rotating, but uh
(21:00):
I was very interested in knowing how it would be moving once it was off the ground.
because I know on Broadway, obviously they build a set around, basically around this andit does or did a lot more, but you want to still have that razzle and dazzle on the road.
(21:23):
And so you have to have a stage that ultimately can handle.
having a, I mean, we were not far back.
We were a middle orchestra, but it was pretty, I would say over the orchestra pit maybeeven a little bit further.
Um, so, and, turning at every angle, right.
(21:53):
and just citing what it did on Broadway, it sounds like it did a
360 barrel roll originally.
um So yeah, it is incredible.
Somebody probably with experience in automobiles and robotics obviously was a very bigpart of, I mean, I'm sure they have an operator just for that, just for the car, if not a
(22:21):
team of operators.
But yes, according to this, giant robotic hidden arm attached to the underside providesprimary lift and movement.
Which makes sense.
And I was thinking it was maybe like a forklift kind of thing, kind of like Elphaba, butlike that makes sense because it's like an actual, you need this to look and operate
(22:41):
really quickly.
And the way that it was moving, was, it's responding, like you're turning a corner, thatcar is whipping around that corner kind of dangerously, you know, like it's going.
And so that makes sense that it'd be like a robotic arm that they either have to operateor program to go off without a hitch.
Yeah, yeah.
And how smooth it happens, right?
(23:01):
Like, it has to be so controlled, because we've seen vehicles in shows before.
I mean, we saw one in Outsiders, we saw one in Great Gatsby.
There's probably more that I'm not even thinking of right now, where sometimes they're ona track.
Sometimes they are freestanding.
um But when you have something that's moving at the pace in which this one is moving,
(23:28):
Yeah, you need some extra security in there and I'm sure you've got all kinds of seatbelts and safety equipment um because unfortunately, as we know, anything can go wrong at
any time, especially with technology and robotic uh type situations.
(23:52):
So I'm positive there's like three seat belts in there and double locks on the doors andif they get something on the panel that says that it's not going right, I'm sure they do
not go and do it.
there's a no-fly zones for the DeLorean.
(24:13):
Yeah, 100%.
Before we wrap it up, I do want to touch real quick on the use of the front scrim, becauseI think that's really interesting.
They did some really cool things with climbing stairs for the Doc without him having toclimb stairs.
And they did the clock tower, and a part of the clock tower was projection onto that frontscrim.
And I know last show that we saw Beauty and the Beast, did not like the front scrim.
(24:33):
I actually really enjoyed how they implemented it, because I don't know if this was lit alittle bit better, or backlit a little bit better.
You saw the characters a little bit more.
But was really cool because they implemented some really easy tactics without having to doa whole bunch of like set work or like a whole bunch of like tearing down sets and
(24:54):
bringing them to another location.
So I did like that.
Well, and I think the difference now that I'm thinking about it is the engagement withwhatever's happening.
Like we've seen shows where they're just projecting stuff and, and you're not trulyengaging in it.
It's just, it's meant as a set piece or it's meant as, um, kind of almost like abackground item.
(25:20):
It feels like a second thought.
Like it doesn't feel as intentional as this.
felt like this was without those projections, those scenes did not happen.
And so it was just so well timed and so well, you know, thought out and constructed andultimately the actors did a great job in making sure that their timing because that is no
(25:49):
I can only imagine how many times you had to practice that.
Because if you're off by one step, like, it doesn't feel the same.
But he wasn't.
like when you miss your musical cue for the guitar.
ah
for, you know, only people who went last night will know what we're talking about.
(26:13):
So, before we wrap up, RJ, we gotta score this, we have to give it a grade, we have totalk about rewatchability.
uh I'm just gonna be brave, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna give it a C- andno, I would not see this again.
ah And I don't have to explain myself.
(26:34):
That That is true.
Yeah, I would also...
Man, C-.
That's brave.
You think it's less than that?
No, I think that's probably...
I just am always so sad to give a grade to a cast and creative that is doing such anincredible job with what they're doing.
(26:55):
And yet, production itself just doesn't have the same shine.
But yes, for, know, honestly, if we're talking books and music, if we're talking full onproduction, a C
C minus, it does, it feels right, it feels right.
If we're going just off the performances and not the story, not the technical issues weexperienced, I would say that the performance wise, was an A.
(27:23):
There were solid performances from so many actors.
The singing was great.
It's like the foundation of the show didn't do it for me.
I would love to see this show after it's reworked in a revival, maybe in 20 years, and seewhat they do to maybe fine tune this into...
make it a little more sleek and to bring back that car, because don't change that, changesome of the other stuff, bring back that car the way it is.
(27:49):
Yeah, yeah, and it does, makes me chuckle now thinking last night when we were waiting forthe production to start, there was a couple, maybe a couple rows behind us that were
talking about talking about it.
Obviously they had just arrived and he must have opened the program because he said, oh,it's a musical.
The partner or the wife, whoever was like, yeah, you didn't know.
(28:15):
You didn't know that it wasn't.
And he was like, no, I just thought, you know, the movie, the play, you know, I honestlybring it back and it's full glory of just a straight show with, with the scripting being a
little bit altered, maybe even back to some of the original content.
(28:39):
And maybe you have a blockbuster.
don't know.
And with that, call us.
We'll help you out.
ah But thank you so much.
And with that, we are done with our part two discussion of Back to the Future, but staytuned for future episodes of the Box Seat Babes podcast, where we'll be discussing more
shows that arriving here in Detroit.
(29:00):
Thank you again for joining us here in our box seats.
Till next curtain call.
Welcome back listeners to part two of our Back to the Future discussion.
(00:04):
No, we're not talking about the sequel to the Robert Zemeckis film, but instead our BoxeBabes part two discussion where we'll be talking about the incredible stagecraft and music
from the touring show of Back to the Future the musical.
uh Spoiler warning, if you haven't seen this blast from the past show and want to gowithout any spoilers, then it's time to hightail it out of here before any further damage
(00:25):
to our timeline has occurred.
However, if still here,
Let's jump right into the journey that doesn't require any roads Just about a half an hourof your time.
Before we jump into it, follow and subscribe to us on all major social media platforms tostay up to date on news and reviews from here in Michigan and larger theater community.
But thank you again, RJ, for being here.
It's a pleasure to be back in 1955 with you, or 1985, or 2005.
(00:50):
It's all...
That's actually kind of cool.
We're doing this in the year of the five.
But thanks again for joining me and being here and talking about the music, stagecraft,and everything else under the sun.
Quite possibly the better part of Back to the Future, which might be blasphemous for someof our listeners.
Yes.
Well, we'll see.
(01:10):
This might be the redemption episode.
It might not be the redemption episode.
If you're still with us after last week, thank you for being here.
enjoy it.
I hope that you like this one better.
Um, and to give you a recap of last episode, we did talk about this, the story and thecharacters from Back to the Future.
Again, the same story everybody knows, the same characters everybody knows, except RJ whohas not seen the film.
(01:35):
Again, watch part one if you haven't, we had a whole discussion.
He missed out on a essential childhood film and he will be going back to watch it at somepoint.
Add it to the list.
It never ends.
but we talked about how this story does it work?
Does it not work?
Did they capture the nostalgia?
Did they not?
Um, in our opinions, it's was meh..
(01:58):
Is that, is that, is Matt the right way to say that RJ?
Yeah, that's basically how I put it in a text to someone earlier.
So that's, that's pretty correct.
Yeah, it was meh.
was the story itself, as somebody who grew up on it, it did not connect with me the way Iwanted it to.
Be it maybe I haven't seen the film in quite some time.
(02:18):
Maybe I haven't enjoyed.
I was going to actually watch it last night and I didn't because I was tired after gettinghome because it is kind of a long show, which is kind of funny too because act one is not
as long as act two.
Act two was actually longer, which is usually not what happens for Broadway show, but Idigress.
So all that to say, we are setting the story and the characters aside and we're going totalk about first the music.
(02:40):
Obviously, RJ, you know who Al, wow, not Alvin, Alan Silvestri is because he is kind ofthe iconic, you know, 1990s, 1980s, like music man for movies.
Would you agree with that?
Like that's kind of like his whole shtick is like writing some of the most iconic songsand music.
(03:03):
or some of the biggest movies out there.
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people kind of have an era where their work like doesreally well or doesn't do really well.
um And that was his.
Absolutely.
again, I'm going through some of his just some of his work, some of his films here again,back to the future.
(03:30):
Obviously, that's why we're here.
Flight of the Navigator.
We have Predator.
We have, you know, it goes on and on.
Father of the Bride, which, you know, for Dianne Keaton fans, you know, that's this is atouching moment to talk about that.
Death Becomes Her, which already still hasn't seen.
We've got to fix that.
Um, but like there's just a lot of really important movies.
(03:53):
I mean, the bodyguard, Forrest Gump, like this is, correct me if I'm wrong, I think healso did Harry Potter.
I could be wrong.
I could be totally showing my age here and not knowing these things, but I digress.
Anyways, so the point is, that he's kind of the music, one of the musical geniuses that wehave for films.
And he, his work is very much, um, present here because obviously the score is stillpretty much the same.
(04:19):
As our music man, before we get into the new songs, I want to talk about that score alittle bit.
Did you recognize the iconic music even though you haven't seen the film?
So there's a main, what I would consider the main theme, which is really only a smallsection of maybe the title song um that I recognized because of my history in band.
(04:43):
And anytime you kind of do a, you know, film score medley, uh this was one of thosethings, right?
Like it probably would have been in a medley similar to
something with Jurassic Park and something with Star Wars and then this and so kind ofthose uh sci-fi movies.
(05:03):
uh So, you know, played a couple bars could probably, you know, la di da a couple lines,but aside from that, not, not really.
That's fair.
I mean, that's fair.
mean, this is, there is definitely a score that most people who have seen this film couldrecognize.
(05:24):
And I feel like with those, like that era of film, every film had a score that was so,like when we saw Death Becomes Her, and when they started the show and I said, that's the
music from the movie.
And you see my face is lighting up more talking about that than the current one we're on.
that, it's great stuff.
great.
We're loving here.
ah But,
(05:44):
This show, which obviously the movie is not a musical, takes that.
And then it brings in Glenn Ballard, who did a lot of music and lyrics for some of thegreats out there, Wilson Phillips, Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill no doubt.
And along with Nick Finlow brings together a whole bunch of music to the show.
(06:06):
One of the things I just want to start off right off the bat by saying about the music isI really struggled with...
that there didn't seem to be a specific identity for the 80s to the 50s back to the 80s,if that makes any sense.
Did you feel that?
Like, it felt like we were just blending all this music.
There wasn't like a specifically 1950s feel to the 50s part.
(06:27):
There wasn't like a a like a synth pop 80s feel to the 80s part.
I feel like we were that was a part of this that was missing for me.
Yeah, I mean, I think again, because of the very short spent time in the eighties, likethe costuming was doing all of the work.
And because we got, basically got like two numbers, three, three numbers, I would say atmost four.
(06:55):
um
that
really would have been falling under the 80s before they make the jump and they were all
They were all so hardcore musical theater without giving a specific time of musicaltheater.
Whereas then when we do the 30 year back, it's so clearly like I thought the fifties hadway more of an identity than the eighties.
(07:28):
They reference the music of the eighties towards the end because they literally do popmusic.
There was nothing original that told me.
we are into different time continuums basically.
Aside from, you know, the dance, dance music, dances, the live band.
(07:51):
yes, correct.
I had someone earlier describe it in a very interesting way and they said, it is 100 %reflective of a current musical and not of the decades that it came from, which I thought
was interesting because I think that is actually true.
It feels like a musical made for today.
(08:12):
Yes, which when we look at the people that made this score, right, you're talking aboutAlan making the score score, which is really
the undertones, it's not actually what they're singing or saying over music.
Glenn with the music and lyrics, but then Nick with the vocal and music arrangements.
(08:34):
So like Glenn and Nick would have been the people to really be making the decisions on, atleast, I mean, I'm sure they were all working together, but in regards to the lyrics and
the characterization of the music, like that just comp-
completely felt off and I don't know if because it was because they were shaping it up forBroadway and they wanted it to be like a block it felt like a wannabe blockbuster that was
(09:10):
completely like if you took the songs completely out of this show and just put them intheir own show
I don't know what the plot to that would be, but you could probably do it.
And the show would be fine.
because yeah, yeah.
The, I didn't need a song to tell me where are we going?
(09:32):
I didn't need a song to tell me my dad has no spine.
I didn't need a song to tell me I'm going to be mayor, though you can happily keep thatone in because that was probably
the best song of the entire show.
ah
Yeah, like the the and the ensemble numbers Yeah, it felt very like I almost felt like apart of like at least two or three of the numbers I was like Are we about to have a kick
(09:58):
line?
Like where the identity of this music is?
all over the place
which I think is also telling, cause we had a conversation on the drive home when wecouldn't really remember a song from the movie.
And you said, I almost wish, not the movie, the show, the musical.
And you said, I almost wish that this was a straight show.
(10:19):
And I have to agree because there was no sense of identity.
And there were some times that I didn't even know when we were in a new song, cause it allsounded melodically the same.
It all sounded like it blended into one another.
And part of this, I wonder, is also because we did have lot of music issues.
We had a lot of sound mixing problems where the music was too loud, the microphones weretoo soft.
(10:42):
But also, don't think that there was really, with the exception of My Baby, Pretty Baby,and Something About That Boy, I can't tell you a single song that I really listened to in
Act One.
And I only know those because I'm looking at a list and I'm like, I can identify PrettyBaby because that's the song that Lorraine's singing about Marty.
And Something About That Boy closed out the show.
But they didn't have like a, there wasn't a defying gravity moment here.
(11:04):
There wasn't like each song has its clear intention.
They all sounded like the exact same song that you would hear every hour on the radiocurrently.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, like I just think of the, you know, I'll give an example from one the more recentones we've attended, Beetlejuice.
Like automatically, I think dead mom.
(11:26):
Correct.
specific to her character, right?
Like I can draw that parallel can, those two things are simultaneous to each other.
And that is a character moment.
And I'm getting something from her character in that moment.
Whereas these, and I'll just say like, of course the cast was incredibly talented.
(11:49):
Um, they did a wonderful job.
I just, the writing.
didn't do them any favors, in my opinion.
And there was no memorable moment where I was like, this song feels, I really feel thecharacter through this song.
(12:12):
Because like you said, the song list for this is actually insane.
It never stopped.
I was like, my gosh, it actually reminded me right away of which I, I'm only drawing thisparallel because of the way in which the show runs.
(12:32):
But I was thinking of SUFFS because SUFFS almost, they almost never stopped singing.
It is almost a show where you have minimal scenes with speaking only.
And I thought that this musical was going to be like,
90 % talking with like 10, 15, 20 % music.
(12:58):
So when we started out and it just kept going, I was like, yeah, like you said, everythingfelt the same.
It felt like one very, very long.
ballad
Well, yeah.
Yeah.
(13:20):
A lot of ballad.
Well, and they just they didn't supplement each other well because we had a lot ofballads, but then you'd have like these super high energy energy numbers with the
ensemble.
um And it didn't the flow wasn't there like it was it was almost like they wanted to makesure that we were still awake after the ballad.
(13:43):
And so they were like,
Let's put in a high power number that feels a little bit wonky, but we're gonna play itoff like it's a comedy thing.
I'm specifically thinking of the moment that they basically, it wasn't tap dancing, but itfelt like it um in the docs space.
(14:06):
I don't know if that's his house or his shed or what that is, but wherever we were and
then they just let and then we were like, ha ha, they're still here, oh
and then back into a ballad
And I think what's interesting too, just about this music is that I, the songs that werememorable, really, besides I gotta start somewhere with Goldie Wilson, that number's
(14:32):
great.
But the only ones that were really memorable to me were the ones that weren't even writtenfor the show.
Earth Angel, Johnny B Good, Power of Love, those songs that were actually real songs,those were the ones that stood out, but they also were the ones that were in the original
film, and so it makes sense you have those.
I was like, you let...
another person's music overshadow yours when you had a whole show you could write.
(14:54):
Yeah, yeah.
we have, I mean, I feel like every re-song had a, every re-song, every song had a repriseuh because they didn't have anything else to put in it, which a lot of shows do, let's be
fair.
(15:15):
But.
Did you need it?
Do you need a reprise to Pretty Baby?
Do you need like, yeah, struggling.
I love a reprise.
I love a callback, but there were so many callbacks.
Like literally in the middle of a song, they'd be like, all of a sudden Lorraine will justbe like hitting like a pretty baby note in the background.
(15:35):
I'm like, what's, like I get what you're calling back to, but also like too many layers,too many things.
You could have cut out three or four songs from each act and still had the story.
And also like, did we need a song where George is singing about peeping Tom on?
his future wife.
Like, I mean, like, there were some of these, I'm just like, I get what you're going for,but like, it's not doing it for me.
(16:00):
Yeah, I think Endgame, they were hoping for more comedic relief coming from the music.
And for some reason, maybe it was just because it was, it's on the line.
Like so many of plot points in the show are on the line of cringe, but because it was acomedy and because of the, it's just sci-fi and like people can kind of laugh it off.
(16:26):
But when you put it in a musical and then you make a whole song about it.
There wasn't uh nearly enough laughter.
when I think when I put this, when we keep citing Death Becomes Her, but like if you wereto put a laugh track of like what the audience sounds like in Death Becomes Her versus
this show.
I maybe heard like a handful of times that the audience actually audibly laughedthroughout almost three hours of a show.
(16:57):
Yes.
Which again, I'm not here to shit on the show completely.
And so this is where I am going to turn towards the effects because I feel like that'swhere the show really shines.
And I did, I just wanted to say, granted, this means nothing to anybody other than RJhere, but I misspoke last night when I said that I won the Tony award for best, you know,
best staging, best effects.
It did not, it was nominated, but it never won.
(17:20):
But this is where Back to the Future really shines is the effects of the staging with thecar specifically.
the lighting design with the car and the way that they used both the scrim in the frontand the digital screen in the back.
That is the sole reason why I liked parts of this show.
What was your take on all that?
(17:41):
Yeah, I mean, literally, I completely like, thank God, thank God, because it is theredeeming quality of this production.
um And that is where it blows my mind a little bit.
I'm like, this thing, you did this thing so well, like so well.
(18:07):
um
And it was in those moments where the audience was like audibly gasping and like, whoa,that's so cool.
Like it was just electric, literally.
And man, if they could have just spanned that more throughout, I think this productionwould have been 10 times as good.
(18:29):
Don't ask me exactly what that looks like, but I agree the special effects and we've seensimilar special effects, but
they just really capitalized.
What they did, they did very, very well.
And it is unlike any other production, I think, that I at least have seen in recent years.
(18:50):
uh So whatever creative minds got together and were like, this is a good plan, um youreally are probably the saviors of this show.
So just to give listeners a kind of an idea of what's going on here.
So obviously we have the DeLorean that comes out on stage, comes out very quickly.
(19:13):
I did not know if that was going to stop on the stage.
Obviously I know it's all timed and everything perfectly, but there is a middle, like notlike a record.
am I looking for?
Like a turntable, correct?
It's a turntable that they use in the staging of the show quite a bit.
But when they are driving this car, the screen on the back is looking like you're flying88 miles an hour.
(19:35):
and this car is turning on this turntable, which just gave it such the coolest effectbetween the lighting and the turning and the way that the car was going off, that it truly
felt like that car was going.
And again, part of me is like, understand how they did it.
And I also don't understand how they did it.
If that makes any sense to anybody else other than me.
(19:56):
Like there was just like this balance of like, I know the staging what's happening, but atthe same time, you're getting that car to look like it's going.
almost 90 miles an hour and it's not moving at all.
Which is a very cool effect.
Yes, um which yes, so I may have just done a tad bit of research.
(20:18):
um
Again, spoilers if you don't want to know how the car is operating, but it is obviously aspecifically built prop, the car itself, but there is a robotic arm.
Okay.
and mechanisms, which of course makes sense because of the angles that we're getting.
(20:38):
um I'm assuming it's lifted even just a bit off the ground when it seems like it is on theground so that the tires can, I'm not even sure if the tires spin or just the lights make
it look like they're spinning.
Obviously there are moments where the tires are rotating, but uh
(21:00):
I was very interested in knowing how it would be moving once it was off the ground.
because I know on Broadway, obviously they build a set around, basically around this andit does or did a lot more, but you want to still have that razzle and dazzle on the road.
(21:23):
And so you have to have a stage that ultimately can handle.
having a, I mean, we were not far back.
We were a middle orchestra, but it was pretty, I would say over the orchestra pit maybeeven a little bit further.
Um, so, and, turning at every angle, right.
(21:53):
and just citing what it did on Broadway, it sounds like it did a
360 barrel roll originally.
um So yeah, it is incredible.
Somebody probably with experience in automobiles and robotics obviously was a very bigpart of, I mean, I'm sure they have an operator just for that, just for the car, if not a
(22:21):
team of operators.
But yes, according to this, giant robotic hidden arm attached to the underside providesprimary lift and movement.
Which makes sense.
And I was thinking it was maybe like a forklift kind of thing, kind of like Elphaba, butlike that makes sense because it's like an actual, you need this to look and operate
(22:41):
really quickly.
And the way that it was moving, was, it's responding, like you're turning a corner, thatcar is whipping around that corner kind of dangerously, you know, like it's going.
And so that makes sense that it'd be like a robotic arm that they either have to operateor program to go off without a hitch.
Yeah, yeah.
And how smooth it happens, right?
(23:01):
Like, it has to be so controlled, because we've seen vehicles in shows before.
I mean, we saw one in Outsiders, we saw one in Great Gatsby.
There's probably more that I'm not even thinking of right now, where sometimes they're ona track.
Sometimes they are freestanding.
um But when you have something that's moving at the pace in which this one is moving,
(23:28):
Yeah, you need some extra security in there and I'm sure you've got all kinds of seatbelts and safety equipment um because unfortunately, as we know, anything can go wrong at
any time, especially with technology and robotic uh type situations.
(23:52):
So I'm positive there's like three seat belts in there and double locks on the doors andif they get something on the panel that says that it's not going right, I'm sure they do
not go and do it.
there's a no-fly zones for the DeLorean.
(24:13):
Yeah, 100%.
Before we wrap it up, I do want to touch real quick on the use of the front scrim, becauseI think that's really interesting.
They did some really cool things with climbing stairs for the Doc without him having toclimb stairs.
And they did the clock tower, and a part of the clock tower was projection onto that frontscrim.
And I know last show that we saw Beauty and the Beast, did not like the front scrim.
(24:33):
I actually really enjoyed how they implemented it, because I don't know if this was lit alittle bit better, or backlit a little bit better.
You saw the characters a little bit more.
But was really cool because they implemented some really easy tactics without having to doa whole bunch of like set work or like a whole bunch of like tearing down sets and
(24:54):
bringing them to another location.
So I did like that.
Well, and I think the difference now that I'm thinking about it is the engagement withwhatever's happening.
Like we've seen shows where they're just projecting stuff and, and you're not trulyengaging in it.
It's just, it's meant as a set piece or it's meant as, um, kind of almost like abackground item.
(25:20):
It feels like a second thought.
Like it doesn't feel as intentional as this.
felt like this was without those projections, those scenes did not happen.
And so it was just so well timed and so well, you know, thought out and constructed andultimately the actors did a great job in making sure that their timing because that is no
(25:49):
I can only imagine how many times you had to practice that.
Because if you're off by one step, like, it doesn't feel the same.
But he wasn't.
like when you miss your musical cue for the guitar.
ah
for, you know, only people who went last night will know what we're talking about.
(26:13):
So, before we wrap up, RJ, we gotta score this, we have to give it a grade, we have totalk about rewatchability.
uh I'm just gonna be brave, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna say it, I'm gonna give it a C- andno, I would not see this again.
ah And I don't have to explain myself.
(26:34):
That That is true.
Yeah, I would also...
Man, C-.
That's brave.
You think it's less than that?
No, I think that's probably...
I just am always so sad to give a grade to a cast and creative that is doing such anincredible job with what they're doing.
(26:55):
And yet, production itself just doesn't have the same shine.
But yes, for, know, honestly, if we're talking books and music, if we're talking full onproduction, a C
C minus, it does, it feels right, it feels right.
If we're going just off the performances and not the story, not the technical issues weexperienced, I would say that the performance wise, was an A.
(27:23):
There were solid performances from so many actors.
The singing was great.
It's like the foundation of the show didn't do it for me.
I would love to see this show after it's reworked in a revival, maybe in 20 years, and seewhat they do to maybe fine tune this into...
make it a little more sleek and to bring back that car, because don't change that, changesome of the other stuff, bring back that car the way it is.
(27:49):
Yeah, yeah, and it does, makes me chuckle now thinking last night when we were waiting forthe production to start, there was a couple, maybe a couple rows behind us that were
talking about talking about it.
Obviously they had just arrived and he must have opened the program because he said, oh,it's a musical.
The partner or the wife, whoever was like, yeah, you didn't know.
(28:15):
You didn't know that it wasn't.
And he was like, no, I just thought, you know, the movie, the play, you know, I honestlybring it back and it's full glory of just a straight show with, with the scripting being a
little bit altered, maybe even back to some of the original content.
(28:39):
And maybe you have a blockbuster.
don't know.
And with that, call us.
We'll help you out.
ah But thank you so much.
And with that, we are done with our part two discussion of Back to the Future, but staytuned for future episodes of the Box Seat Babes podcast, where we'll be discussing more
shows that arriving here in Detroit.
(29:00):
Thank you again for joining us here in our box seats.
Till next curtain call.
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