If ever there were a popular movie that begged to be turned into a live theatrical production – already known for its great songs, memorable characters, and a riveting storyline, it would be 1985 sci-fi sensation and audience favorite Back to the Future starring a young Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, it won numerous awards – including an Academy Award, three Saturn Awards and a Hugo, and became the highest grossing film in 1985 worldwide, inspiring two sequels. As the years went by, its fan base only increased, with critics and audiences now considering Back to the Future as one of the greatest science fiction films, and even one of the best films ever made!
Featuring a striking, time-traveling DeLorean car and flashy special-effect cinematography, a score by Alan Silvestri, and popular hit numbers like theme song, “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” by Huey Lewis and the News, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” and doo-wop group The Penguins’ “Earth Angel,” the film continues to be celebrated for its music, its message, and its amazing pyrotechnic displays.
Even better, when it finally came time to design the musical, the iconic film’s creators, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, returned to write the stage adaptation (Gale is credited for the book/co-creator/producer, while Zemeckis is co-creator/producer) along with new original music and lyrics by multi-Grammy winners Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard. Their new ballads and orchestral arrangements like “It’s Only a Matter of Time” and “For the Dreamers” add memorable melodies and emotional depth to key character scenes. John Rando, who directed the show in London, serves as the ideal director for our current North American tour.
Everyone involved in the new musical stage version was acutely aware of its historical significance and the big shoes they needed to fill. Not only did they wish to mirror the original film’s magical action, they hoped to surpass its visual and emotional impact with new music, lyrics, dance choreography, scenic and costume design, and, especially, spectacular video, lighting and sound effects. Starting with opening the show with breakneck titular scene (which comes much later in the movie) when 17-year-old Marty McFly is shockingly and spectacularly transported in “mad scientist” Doc Brown’s repurposed DeLorean “back to the future” – from 1955 to 1985.
But for video designer Finn Ross, it was important to begin the show with all the frightening and exhilarating effects of time travel. Ross felt if they could grab the audience, theatrically, in the film’s most powerful “Back to the Future” moment, they would have them for the duration! But how do you “hurl” a full-sized, steel DeLorean car into the future on a single stage, no matter how large? With great imagination, creativity and a unified effort in attention to detail, that’s how. Ross and the musical’s entire creative team spent hours poring over still frames of the film to ensure accuracy in both time periods, and then laid out a 3D model of Hill Valley in both eras based on a schematic rendering by the movie’s original production designer.
To depict the magic of motion for the car, and the excitement of hurling though space, careening car spins and flashing lights, they designed three distinct layers of backdrops – an upstage LED video wall (that’s the full length and height of the stage) to accurately depict the town, the scrim in the foreground, and the car mid-ground where projections onto the scrim and video back wall pivot around the car and make it appear as if it’s actually winding around local streets. For this, they also utilized the latest in video game technology. At each performance, the stage manager and music director must align cues so the car’s movement, the video, and projections (including a downpour and lightning storm), lighting, actors and orchestrations all occur at just the right second.
These techniques break new barriers in stagecraft, and Ross hopes their efforts will encourage others to take a second look at bringing popular films they thought would be impossible to convert to theatrical releases to life. The success of all this effort was immediately evident at opening night of Broward Center’s Broadway in Fort Lauderdale production of BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical, where audiences were caught gasping and staring in wide-eyed-wonder at the “thrill ride” of the show’s visually and musically explosive opening which later reaped unanimous cheers and applause. Patrons were instantly transported to another realm where they remained eager for the entire experience. Which is why I’d consider the special effects team high up on the “star” list of major contributors to the new musical’s success.
The cast, of course, is also uniformly magnificent. Lucas Hallauer sings, plays guitar, and passionately enacts the role of Marty McFly in all his angsty and comedic moments with perfection. David Josefsberg as Emmett “Doc” Brown completely inhabits all the passion and zaniness of the character made famous by Christopher Lloyd. In case you’re wondering, both Lloyd and Michael J Fox love the show, and attended both West End and Broadway productions multiple times. The new musical version also became an instant audience favorite, and went on to critical acclaim, winning the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, four WhatsOnStage Awards (including Best New Musical), and the Broadway World Award for Best New Musical.
Other cast standouts are Cartreze Tucker as civically conscientious Mayor Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry, Sophia Yacap as Marty’s forever enthusiastic and supportive girlfriend Jennifer, and Nathanial Hackmann as big, bad, brawny bully Biff. And there are two timeline iterations of Marty’s parents: mostly nerdy and defeatist Mike Bindeman as George McFly and similarly defeated, though pretty and spunky in her youth, Zan Berube as Lorraine Baines McFly.
Additional “stars” of the show include choreographer Chris Bailey with dance arrangements by David Chase, dance captain Brittany Bohn and assistant dance captain Ross Thompson, who also served as fight captain. Both old and new numbers in both time periods, whether pop, boogie-woogie, rock, or traditional musical tunes or ballads, were given fresh and exciting choreography. Adding to all the period glamour and dance moves were colorful 1050s and 1980s costume design – especially the fancy female skirt flourishes for which we can thank designer Tim Hatley, with wigs, hair and makeup by Campbell Young Associates.
Dramatic, even violent encounters, were enhanced by fight director Maurice Chan. And keeping all the tunes on time and magnificent were music coordinator Kristy Norter, musical supervisor, vocal & music arrangements by Nick Finlow, music director Matt Doebler, sound design by Gareth Owen, lighting designers Tim Lutkin & Hugh Vanstone, and illusion designer Chris Fisher.
The fantastic touring band in the pit featured music director/keys 1 Matt Doebler with associate music director/keys 2 Jordan Cunningham with Jaren Angud on drums, Reed 1 William Leary, and music coordinator Kristy Norter. They becasme more of a full orchestra when accompanied by our expert, six-member local band on woodwinds, brass, guitar, brass and keyboard.
In addition to all the fabulous show tunes, dances, and flashy special effects, lay a very human, compelling and relatable story with an important message of hope. Namely that despite the most dire of early circumstances, belief in oneself and support by important figures in one’s life can bring about miraculous changes for the better. Doc, whose quirky lab survives intact through the ages (and is an endearingly messy yet realistic stage set) features portraits of his heroes – prominent scientists like Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Edison. He tells Marty how these titans of research and invention experienced multiple setbacks but never gave up as negative outcomes were simply seen as adding data that brought them closer to their ultimate, earth-shattering discoveries.
Early on, Marty’s loyal and dedicated girlfriend Jennifer asks him: “Why do you let people put you down?” He gets his sad answer when seeing his dad, at his age, constantly allow himself to be bullied and reflects, “My father doesn’t have a spine.” Then observing him shyly watching Lorraine from a tree. disgustingly adds: “He’s a Peeping Tom?”
Marty meets Doc, as instructed on a recording at his lab, at the Twin Pines mall parking lot. He enters Doc’s DeLorean in a desperate attempt to get medical help for the middle-aged inventor he considers his best friend, and now lies dying from exposure to the plutonium he’d used to supercharge his vehicle (and break the time barrier) to 85 mph. But instead of getting to a hospital, Marty finds himself hurtling back 30 years to his Hill Valley town and high school of 1955, where he’s confronted with teenage versions of his parents, George and Lorraine, and their nemesis, crude bully, Biff.
It’s a psychological awakening for Marty as to why his guitar-playing dreams to make it as a musician and reap a better life had been constantly put down by his defeatist family, as reflected in the number, “Got No Future.” Settling for the minimum attitudes are shared by his parents, sister Linda and brother Dave, who are also completely oblivious to his aspirations as they join him in “Hello – Is Anybody Home?”
But it’s not all nasty classmates or sad familial situations. There’s also plenty of humor sprinkled throughout … including some comments that are site specific. Like when Doc shows off the flex capacitor that powers time-travel. He insists Marty pronounce it as capacitor, with the accent on “tor” as in “Fort Lauderdale.” It’s powered by 1.21 gigawatts of plutonian or lightning bolt energy that would make it possible to head to the 21st century. In fact, we watch Doc wake up startled, saying “I dreamed I was in the year 2020” where there was no crime, no world hunger, disease or war. OK, now that’s ironically funny!
And we get to laugh at some of our mistaken “scientific” views of the 1950s when doctors touted the new menthol cigarettes for healthy living, asbestos was advertised as an ideal house insulation and DDT and pesticides were liberally sprayed on lawns and crops. Still, their projections of a Jetson-style future were somewhat sweeter and more pink-hazed than the harsh, black-and-silver futuristic numbers of the 1980s and beyond.
