A Back to the Future musical is blasting into London's West End and a brand new trailer has dropped showing a singing and dancing Marty McFly along with the rest of the Mill Valley gang. This is the latest in a long line of recent musical adaptations of popular films. In recent years, everything from Mean Girls to Big Fish has become a musical, with varying degrees of success. Producers have now revved up their DeLorean to 88 miles per hour and gone all the way back to 1985.
The musical was created by an incredible group of people with ties to the original film. The book was written by original director Robert Zemeckis and his co-screenwriter Bob Gale, and the music and lyrics were provided by original composer Alan Silvestri along with songwriter Glen Ballard, who co-wrote and produced the album Jagged Little Pill for Alanis Morisette. The musical originally opened in February 2020 at the Manchester Opera House before its set transfer to West End's Adelphi Theatre. However, the theater was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the show was set to go directly to the Adelphi once theaters reopened.
Now the show has opened and it is currently running through July 3, 2022. The official YouTube page for Back to the Future - The Musical has dropped a brand new trailer. While anyone who has seen Back to the Future has seen Marty McFly perform the rock 'n roll hit "Johnny B. Goode" at the school dance (the song will also appear in the musical, along with Huey Lewis & The News' "The Power of Love"), it's a trip to see Doc Brown, Lorraine, George, Biff Tannen, and the rest of the characters belting it out and dancing up a storm. The trailer also shows off the stage production's impressive sets and onstage special effects, including the climactic clock tower sequence and the iconic image of characters fading out of a photograph. Check out the trailer below:
The cast includes a mix of newcomers and musical theatre heavy hitters. Marty is played by West End actor Olly Dobson, who has previously appeared in the ensemble of the Meat Loaf jukebox musical Bat Out of Hell. Doc Brown is played by Roger Bart, who, in addition to his ample stage credits, has appeared in the movie musicals The Producers and Disney's Hercules as Young Hercules. The cast also includes Hugh Coles (Atlanta) as George McFly, Rosanna Hyland (West End's School of Rock and Sister Act) as Lorraine Baines-McFly, Cedric Neal (The Voice UK) as Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry, Aidan Cutler as Biff Tannen, and Courtney-Mae Briggs (West End's Hamilton and In the Heights) as Jennifer Parker.
Back to the Future is such a marvelous fit for a musical spectacle that it's a shock it hasn't been adapted to the stage until now. Unfortunately, fans outside of the UK will probably be unable to travel to see it. Hopefully, the musical does so well that it crosses the pond to tour Broadway and everywhere else, so everyone can get a chance to sample the magical musical mayhem.
Source: Back to the Future - The Musical