Spectacular feel-good entertainment, Back to The Future: The Musical combines peak Hollywood nostalgia with modern Broadway magic for a dazzling trip back to the past.
For Gen X fans, Back to the Future represents a special time of travelling to the city to see a movie, when multiplexes and their franchised tent-pole blockbusters were all but a twinkle in a studio mogul’s eye.
Back to the Future is a brilliant idea for a stage-to-screen adaptation. Not only are ticket-buying parents the right age but the settings provide the creative team with two retro time periods to recreate. It is also a ripper of a story, with terrific early beats when Marty goes back in time and a plethora of fabulous payoffs at the climactic end of proceedings.
Back to The Future: The Musical opened in the UK in 2020, playing on the West End since 2021 and winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2022. The Broadway season at the landmark Winter Garden Theatre opened in June of this year.
With a book by Bob Gale (who co-wrote the screenplay with director Robert Zemeckis), the plot of Back to The Future: The Musical closely follows the movie, just excising the gun violence of the Libyan terrorists. Some famous lines, a couple of songs, and plenty of iconic moments are recreated, but director John Rando makes the wise decision to give stage Marty and Doc their own personality, banter, and energy.
The movie readily opens up in to a musical with the merry Hill Valley townsfolk clad in distinctly garish 1980s before moving to the Rydell-like 1950s high school and malt shop. When Doc sings, dreamy back up singers and dancers miraculously appear.
Original movie composer Alan Silvestri co-writes the music and lyrics for Back to The Future: The Musical with prolific songwriter Glen Ballard. The songs work very well in the context of the show but there are few if any memorable melodies to stand on their own. Rando and choreographer Chris Bailey compensate effectively with 1.21 gigawatt energy for all the company numbers, with further heavy lifting from video, lightning, scenic, and costume design.
Design elements are at their zenith with the super slick creation of the DeLorean itself. So amazing are the scenes with the time-travelling car that it is testament to the quality of the book, direction, and performances that the regular scenes more than hold up in comparison, with the audience cheering That Kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance practically as much as the incredible flight of the DeLorean.
Having travelled to London to originate the role of madcap inventor Doc Brown, veteran stage and screen star Roger Bart continues in the role for the Broadway engagement. With the role amped up with a number of lively songs, Bart is a natural fit for the role, making the character his own with zany comic invention and energy.
As Marty McFly, Casey Likes proves himself an extraordinarily charismatic lead performer, singing, dancing, skate boarding, and playing guitar all without breaking even the slightest sweat. Likes has a charming sparkle and conveys the authentic vim and vigour of young Marty in convincing and endearing style.
UK actor Hugh Coles also continues from the West End premiere, giving underdog George McFly a quirky bundle of ticks and raw nerves.
Family entertainment of the highest order, Back to The Future: The Musical is guaranteed to impress all but the most cynical of theatregoers. Hopes are high for an Australian season before too long at all.
Back to the Future plays at Winter Garden Theatre, New York. For tickets, click here.
Photos: Matthew Murphy