Get ready to settle into a souped up DeLorean specially designed by eccentric Doc Brown to travel back to 1955 with Marty McFly who’s traveled back by accident and interrupts what should have been his parents meeting, falling in love and eventually having him and his siblings.
It’s Back to the Future: The Musical based on the iconic 1985 movie starring Michael J. Fox and Chrisopher Lloyd. The musical’s plot line follows the movie fairly closely: Marty’s dad George is bullied by his boss Biff Tannen, Marty’s mother Lorraine becomes infatuated with Marty rather than George, and the images of Marty’s brother and sister start disappearing from the photo he has of them.
It has a book by Bob Gale (co-creator and co-writer of the Back to the Future film trilogy), new music and lyrics by Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Alan Silvestri and six-time Grammy Award-winning Glen Ballard, with additional songs from the film including “The Power of Love” and “Johnny B. Goode.”
The musical also has expanded the role of Goldie Wilson, who’s running for mayor. Cartreze Tucker (National Tours: The Color Purple, Motown: The Musical, HAIR) plays both Goldie and Marvin Berry and says the two characters are miles apart.
“Goldie’s optimistic, hopeful; he has sticktoitiveness. He’s very purposeful, very driven and he’s more grounded.
“Marvin — I fashion him after little Richard — he’s very obnoxious, very flamboyant. Very colorful, very zany. In the movie he was only there for two seconds, for the punch line. He was Chuck Berry’s cousin. They really gave me the freedom to make him whatever I saw him at the time. They thought it was very colorful and funny. “
It’s really easy to switch between the two, Tucker says, “Because they both require no subtlety. “
Tucker has been performing since he was 19. He got involved in musicals by accident, he says. “I wanted to go to med school. I had a friend at the time who was in theater in high school. We were hanging out once and I was singing in my 1991 Honda Accord in Atlanta, GA and she said, ‘Wait, you can sing?’ and I go ‘Can’t everyone?’ and she said ‘No.’
“She persuaded me to take theater as an elective in junior year . The ball started rolling from there. My chorus teacher said ‘You can sing.’ My drama teacher said ‘You’re actually very charming on stage,’ and I free voice lessons from my chorus teacher who really believed in me.”
Then he went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy when he was 19.
A friend recommended he try out for the national tour, saying that Tucker’s voice was perfect for the mayor’s role. He auditioned and six call backs later he was told he had the part. “They told me two days before Christmas 2023.
The musical won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical and has been seen by more than 1.8 million people. Asked why he thinks it has been so successful, Tucker says:
“I think it’s the story. The movie itself is known to be one of the best screenplays of the 21st Century. So when you have really good material to start with, it’s really easy for it to translate on stage. Our creatives have done a fantastic job of elevating it through the technical aspects. “
Some 60 cast and crew members travel with the show to put it on stage across the country.
“I was surprised by the care from the creatives. They really did care about these characters; they cared about the story we were telling specifically. If you take away the special effects, the spectacle, they really care about the story, the heart of the story which is a father and son story. About a child trying to understand the generation before him and bridging that gap. And about the power of love.”
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at TUTS at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-558-8887 or visit tuts.org. $57-$122.