The first thing you need to know about me is that I’m a “Back to the Future” superfan.

Recite every line? Yup. Theme park ride? Ridden. Dream car? DeLorean, of course.

So, when I learned “Back to the Future: The Musical” was coming to Denver, I knew I had to see it.

From the moment the first notes of that oh-so-familiar score blared in the Buell Theatre, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. I was instantly back in time to the first time I watched the movie — 6 years old, kneeling on the blue carpet of my grandmother’s apartment watching the VHS tape with my cousins.

The two hours and 35 minutes that followed took me on a starry-eyed trip through Hill Valley, as I followed the time-traveling adventures of Marty McFly, played by Caden Brauch.

The first thing that really struck me was how immersive and authentic the experience felt. In one of the early scenes, I immediately noticed that the Twin Pines Mall sign looked exactly like the one in the movie. The red JC Penney sign glowing in the distance on a video screen backdrop made me feel like I was there in the mall parking lot.

But then, as the musical began to veer slightly off course from the movie script, I could feel the superfan voice in the back of my head protesting.

“Wait, where’s Einstein?”

“The time circuits are voice activated? Huh.”

“Hold on, they wrote the Libyan terrorists completely out of the script?!”

I was starting to feel frustrated that the storyline was deviating from the story that had been imprinted in my brain for nearly 40 years.

And there was something that didn’t feel quite right to me about actor Don Stephenson’s portrayal of Doc Brown. It was goofy and slapstick — it was a little too Martin Short, not enough Christopher Lloyd for my taste. Was Doc really the comic relief in the “Back to the Future” movies and I had missed it? I always thought of him as a serious scientist.

“This is an adaptation,” I had to keep reminding myself. “It’s not meant to be exactly the same.”

My frustration subsided a bit as I focused on the things that I really enjoyed.

The sets were incredible. I felt so much nostalgia seeing the clocktower, the 1980s park benches, the familiar façade of Hill Valley High School, Doc’s workshop, the 1950s diner, and the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance.

The costumes were perfection. Marty, Doc Brown, Biff, George McFly and Lorraine looked like they’d just stepped off the movie set. Even the extras hit the mark — the ’80s dancers in their spandex leotards and leg warmers and the ’50s girls bopping in their poodle skirts.

And Great Scott! The DeLorean was awesome. The way they used video projectors, a rotating stage and flashing lights to make it appear as though it was driving and traveling through time – it blew my mind.

I also loved seeing the lesser-known characters trot out on stage like old friends I hadn’t seen in years: Principal Strickland’s familiar “Slacker!” shout, Biff’s 3D-glasses-wearing sidekick, the sign-toting activist shouting: “Save the Clocktower.”

And then there was actor Cartreze Tucker, who stole the show with his incredible singing, elevating the role of Goldie Wilson from what could have been a small part to a memorable throughline in Marty’s trip across the space-time continuum.

I went to the show because I love the story and the characters, but I hadn’t given much thought to what to expect of the music. And this was, after all, a musical.

So, when the musical skipped over the spot where I had assumed I’d hear “Power of Love,” and then omitted “Mr. Sandman” as Marty arrived in the 1950s, I started to get nervous that all of the classic tunes from the movie had been scrapped — “maybe for licensing reasons,” I thought — in favor of a slew of originals.

“It’s an adaptation,” I reminded myself.

Don’t get me wrong, the original songs were fun for the most part. I enjoyed the dance numbers. But none of the original songs really stood out to me as songs that could potentially be standalone hits.

But the second act redeemed it for me with familiar tunes “Earth Angel” and “Johnny B. Goode” during the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance scene. And then to my surprise, I did get to hear “Power of Love” in a cast finale scene after Marty returned to 1985.

But “Back to the Future: The Musical,” which continues at the Buell Theatre through Feb. 9, saved the biggest nostalgia-inducing trick for last as the DeLorean literally lifted off the stage and the wheels turned sideways as it began floating toward the audience. For a moment I wondered if it was going to fly out over us.

As I walked out of the theater, I reveled in the feeling of nostalgia the musical had unlocked and I wondered if the original songs would grow on me with time.

But above all, I yearned to go home and watch all three “Back to the Future” movies again.