Back to the Future—the Musical directed by John Rando
(Adelphi, 2021)
Reviewed by Roy Gray
‘Back to the Future—the Musical’ played to packed houses and cheering crowds, or did when I saw it, in November 2021 at the Adelphi in The Strand. There’s almost no need to worry about spoilers here as the audience know exactly what to expect and cheer when it happens. There is a big potential audience in those who have seen the movie and so, to a great extent, this seems to be aimed directly at them.
To achieve this aim the actors look like their movie counterparts (the clothes, the wigs) so no one needs to be introduced, though of course the dialogue does ensure we know Marty McFly and Doc Brown. It remains set in 1985 and there is a DeLorean and plenty of special effects to make its jaunts realistic.
In a nod to our times this Delorean is voice controlled, Amazon Alexa style, which allows some extra fun. You’ll, maybe, be happy to know that, despite this, the Delorean doesn’t sing—possibly a missed opportunity—but everyone else does and the songs fit the script and bring their own cheers. I doubt many, other than the cast, leave humming the show melodies but the music and dancing is fine and the songs do their job.
So, as I’m sure you all know, Marty travels back to 1955 leaving Doc Brown, who built the time travelling car, in the lurch. Once there he finds himself renamed Calvin Klein and looking for the younger Doc Brown so he can get home to Jennifer and save the Doc.
Before that he finds himself listening to a song extolling the virtues of 1950’s small town America/Hill Valley such as cigarettes, DDT, asbestos etc. Soon Calvin/Marty meets his teenage father, falls out of the tree outside his future grandparent’s house and fends off the attentions of his future mother. Then he has to bring those two teenagers together to make sure the future includes himself—you know the story. There’s even a little skateboarding though some things have changed to accommodate a stage version. Hence some movie outdoor action is rewritten to happen in Hill Valley High.
However, all goes well at the prom, eventually, the Delorean does its thing and Marty returns to 1985. There he finds exactly what you expect but it’s all great fun. There is a spectacular ending and, as far I could tell, everyone left happily. If you like the film you’ll enjoy this.
The movie’s co-writers, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis adapted their script for the musical version. They were inspired by the success of Ghost the Musical in 2005 but it took 14 years to get it on stage, in Manchester, only for the pandemic to close it down after 3 weeks. (I had tickets for late March 2019.) Luckily those 3 weeks were enough to show it ‘had legs’ and it has now moved to London. The show is directed by John Rando with both original music by Alan Silvestri (who did the film score) and Glen Ballard plus the hit songs used in the movie (e.g., ‘Johnny B. Goode’).
Main Cast:
Olly Dobson as Marty Mcfly
Roger Bart as Doc Brown
Hugh Coles as Marty’s father George Mcfly
Rosanna Hyland plays Marty’s mother Lorraine née Baines
Courtney-Mae Briggs as Jennifer and Aidan Cutler as Biff.
They all do a great job and there are plenty more in the cast but, no doubt, Covid will ensure every understudy will get their chance.
The show is running until 3rd July 2022.
Review from BSFA Review 17 - Download your copy here.