DeLoreans travel on scene as Segerstrom revs up ‘Back to the Future: the Musical’
Edwin Pineda’s first love was the 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, featured in the television show “Nightrider.” Then the car enthusiast saw the 1985 film “Back to the Future,” and the DeLorean stole his heart.
“When I watched the movie and saw the car rolling down the street, I knew that is the car I want,” Pineda recalled.
In the film, Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown use a time-traveling DeLorean to go back to the 1950s, where McFly must help his parents fall in love to ensure his existence in the future. The film inspired Pineda to buy his 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 and fix it up to look like the modified car in the movie, with wires, blinking buttons and lights. The car has even been autographed by creators from the movie, including Lloyd.
The sci-fi classic is also the inspiration for “Back to the Future: the Musical,” which is on its inaugural North American tour and opened at Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Thursday. Pineda and other members of the Southern California DeLorean Club parked their cars in the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza for the show’s local opening.
“Southern California has one the largest concentrations of this car in the world,” said Ronald Ferguson, head of the Southern California DeLorean Club. The car club has about a dozen events a year and aims to connect DeLorean owners with one another.
Ferguson, also a board member of the DeLorean Owners Assn., said the 1985 movie reaffirmed his interest in the marque, and he remains passionate about the history of the stainless-steel sports car.
“The DeLorean itself is a car that defines a story line that is undeniable,” Ferguson said.
The lead producers on the musicals include Colin Ingram, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, the creators of the “Back to the Future” film trilogy. On stage in Costa Mesa until Jan. 5, the production includes songs from the movie like “The Power of Love” and “Johnny B. Goode.”
“If Bob Zemeckis and I time traveled back to 1980 and told our younger selves that the script they were struggling to write would become a Broadway musical 43 years later, they’d kick us out of their office and call us crazy,” Gale said in a statement. “Well, sometimes, crazy ideas give birth to great entertainment.”
After the matinee showing on Dec. 26 the audience flooded the plaza to pose for pictures with Pineda’s time-machine DeLorean and others, with “hoverboards” propped up in the driver seat.
Fans that missed the car show at the opening have another chance to see a DeLorean time machine up close.
The “Back to the Future” trilogy was made using two hero cars, known as “A-car” and “B-car.” Although “B-car” was damaged at the end of the trilogy, B-car parts were recovered and put on another Delorean, which will be on display at Segerstrom Hall for one night only on Friday, Jan. 3 from 5 to 10:30 p.m. The restoration of the vehicle by Gale and Terry Matalas was made possible by local Segerstrom Center donor Dave Tabb, who also shares a love of the iconic vehicle.
The “A-car” is on display at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. Pineda urges other movie fans go see it and feel some of the joy he feels sharing his car with others.
“I got into this because I am big fan of the movie, and it is a dream come true having this car,” said Pineda.
“Back to the Future: the Musical” run now through Jan. 5 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, with tickets starting at $44.07. Visit scfta.org for more information.
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