the mommy avenger

Let me just start by saying something that my regular readers already know about me: Back to the Future is my all-time favorite movie. Not top five. Not top three. THE favorite. The one that set the bar for everything else that came after it.

I still remember sitting in that theater as an eight-year-old, completely transported. I don’t think I breathed for two hours. I came straight home and did something I have never done before or since — I sat down and wrote Michael J. Fox a letter to tell him how much I loved it. (Fun fact: he actually wrote me back. I know. I KNOW. Eight-year-old me nearly passed out.)

So when I say I had high expectations for Back to the Future: The Musical, I want you to understand the weight of that statement. This wasn’t just a show I was curious about. This was deeply personal territory. And I will also be very honest with you — I had not been able to see this musical adaptation yet, despite it making serious waves. So when it made a stop right here in Salt Lake City at the Eccles Theater, I was not going to miss it for anything.

The question that kept circling in my mind as I got ready that evening: How on earth are they going to replicate that feeling on a stage?

I was about to find out.

Before the curtain even went up, the Eccles Theater was already buzzing with a very specific kind of energy. You could feel it the moment you walked in the door. The audience was absolutely packed with fans of the original film — and people came dressed for it. We are talking 80s-inspired outfits, a few very committed Marty McFly vests, some excellent hoverboard-era looks scattered throughout the crowd. The vibe in that theater before the show started was just pure, joyful anticipation. It was the kind of electric atmosphere where you smile at total strangers because you already know you are all in on the same thing together.

And then the lights went down.

I am not being dramatic when I say this — the show started, and I was immediately, completely, actually taken back in time. The story is all there: Marty McFly, the DeLorean, Doc Brown, the accidental trip to 1955, the race to get back before it is too late. All of it. The fun and the heart and the urgency that made the original film so irresistible — the stage version captures it in a way I genuinely did not expect.

The cast is great. Lucas Hallauer as Marty McFly had me doing double takes. The mannerisms, the physicality, the way he carries himself — it was uncanny how much of the original Marty came through in his performance. He clearly did his homework, and it showed in the best possible way. Every little gesture, every reaction — Hallauer nailed it in a way that honored the original without just doing an impression. It felt alive.

David Josefsberg as Doc Brown brought a lot of energy and comedy to the role.

And then there was Kathryn Adeline as Lorraine Baines, who I have to tell you — she stole the show. Her performance of “Pretty Baby” was absolutely adorable and hilarious in equal measure. The audience was in complete hysterics. It is one of those moments where you look around and everyone in your row is laughing at exactly the same time and you just think, this is why live theater exists. She was a genuine delight from start to finish.

George McFly and Biff are all present and accounted for too — every character you fell in love with in the film is there on that stage, and the show does right by all of them.

One of the things I loved most about this production is how deliberately and cleverly the music reflects the distinction between the 1980s and the 1950s. When we are in Marty’s world, the music feels big and modern and electric. When the story drops us into 1955, the sound shifts — and suddenly you feel the contrast in a way that is so fun and so smart. It reinforces that time-travel experience through the music itself, not just through the set design.

The show features original music from multi-Grammy winners Alan Silvestri (Avengers: Endgame) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”), plus beloved songs from the film including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Earth Angel,” and “Back in Time.” Hearing those songs performed live, in context, with a full audience reacting around you? It hits differently. In the very best way.

Okay. We need to talk about this, because it is genuinely the thing I was most skeptical about going in. The DeLorean is central to Back to the Future in a way that almost nothing else is in any movie I can think of. That car IS the magic. How do you bring that onto a stage?

Friends. They figured it out.

The actual DeLorean that appears in this production is breathtaking. It is a full-scale, gorgeous, iconic piece of theater magic — and the production uses it in ways that are inventive and spectacular and completely committed. Add to that the pyrotechnics, the strobe effects, the haze, the lighting design — this show uses every tool in the theatrical arsenal to make you feel like you are part of the time travel. Not watching it happen. Part of it. The audience around me gasped, cheered, and laughed out loud at the effects sequences. I may have grabbed the arm of the person next to me at one point. I am not ashamed.

Here is what I want you to know: this show works on every level. It works if you are a die-hard fan of the original film who needs it to honor what you love. (It does.) It works if you are bringing kids who have never seen the movie. (They will love it.) It works if you are someone who just wants a night of pure, exhilarating, fun live theater. (You will not be disappointed.)

It is joyful. It is funny. It is genuinely moving in the moments when it needs to be. And those special effects are worth the ticket price on their own.

Back to the Future: The Musical is playing at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City through June 14, 2026. This is a very limited engagement! So grab your tickets before they are gone. Seriously — this one is not going to linger. Salt Lake City, do not let it pass you by.

Eight-year-old me, who sat in that movie theater all those years ago and felt the world crack open with possibility, would have loved every single second of it.

^{*we were invited to facilitate a feature, all opinions are our own*}