Song and Dance - 1985 - Broadway Articles Page 2

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s time travelling movie is given a musical theatre makeover with BACK TO THE FUTURE THE MUSICAL.

Perhaps no one is more surprised Steve Hackett is doing a retrospective on THE LAMB 50 years after the fact than the guitarist himself. THE LAMB was ranked in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 progressive rock albums of all time. The BBC called it a “conceptual masterpiece.” Hackett has another word for it: an anomaly.

Back to the Future The Musical has been bringing audiences on a time-travelling adventure on the West End for four years, adapting the iconic 1985 film by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale for the stage. Recently, we had the chance to chat with Oliver Halford, who was cast as the alternate Marty McFly after an open casting call. We discussed what the casting process was like, how this role in particular is full-circle for him and how he survived an absolutely chaotic opening week!

Charles Kirsch is the 17-year-old host of the theater podcast Backstage Babble, where he has conducted over 250 in-depth interviews with some of Broadway’s best. In “Stage Direction,” he will be using material from the podcast and additional interviews to chronicle the career and impact of some of the most influential theater directors. 

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future, the 1985 film, which inspired the Broadway musical, is returning to theaters nationwide this October.

Bernadette Peters will perform a concert in Australia as part of the Melt Festival of Queer Arts and Culture. An Evening With Bernadette Peters is coming to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Next month, 54 BELOW will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including Beth Leavel, Casey Likes, Joe Iconis and more. See the full month of programming here! 

Great Scott! Set your DeLorean time circuit to Summer 2025 as the cinematic blockbuster Back to the Future crash lands in Toronto at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre. Winner of the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, Back to the Future: The Musical is adapted to the stage by the movie's creators Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis and directed by Tony Award Winner John Rando. 

The 1980’s were a great era for blockbuster movies..TOOTSIE, MRS DOUBTFIRE, PRETTY WOMAN, and DIRTY DANCING, to name a few. And who doesn't want to capitalize on a beloved classic. Broadway producers love a familiar title and composers have taken a shining to transform these gems of yesteryear into Broadway musicals.

Brian Wilson, musical genius and founder of the Beach Boys, died today (Wednesday, June 11, 2025), so in honor of him, here is an article of the 40 greatest Beach Boys songs that I wrote for Broadway World two years ago.  Love & Mercy, Brian!

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL lands at Providence Performing Arts Center. National Tour delivers spectacle, nostalgia, and a flying DeLorean.

Next week, 54 BELOW will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including Jenn Colella, and more. See the full lineup here.

After selling out their seven previous shows at BleauLive Theater inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas, iconic British duo Tears For Fears have announced six additional dates for their limited engagement, Songs for a Nervous Planet.

Next month, 54 BELOW will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including Tracie Thoms, Jenn Colella and more. See the full lineup here!

The new musical Goddess can currently be seen in its New York premiere production at the Public Theater on Lafayette Street. Directed by the Public’s associate artistic director and resident director Saheem Ali, who is currently Tony Award-nominated for directing Buena Vista Social Club, Goddess is playing at the Public’s largest space by capacity, the Newman Theatre.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-breaking musical CATS will be heading to Perth’s Crown Theatre in November as part of its 40th Anniversary Australian tour.

“I'll tell you what it is. It happens because of the audience,” Iris said in an interview with BroadwayWorld.com in April. “The audience is there with you, you know what I mean? The joy we give them, they give it back to us. We just keep going back and forth with them and it’s a wonderful thing. It really is.”

Back to the Future at the Straz wasn’t just a performance but a phenomenon. It was a collision of story, skill, and science fiction that made the impossible feel intimate.

A bevy of Broadway’s brightest stars - from icons Jennifer Holliday and Andrea Martin to show-stopping newcomers Tom Francis and Jasmine Amy Rogers - lit up the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 28, 2025, at the inaugural Broadway Dream Roles. The lineup brought to life the characters they’ve always longed to play through spectacular performances and heartfelt storytelling. Check out photos of the show.

Music Theatre International has acquired the rights to the “Hits Musicals Collection” from Lively McCabe Entertainment, the theatrical development company behind Clue and Mystic Pizza. Learn more!

This time, the reader question was: There are only three states in America without known Broadway musicals set within their borders. Can you guess which three? WE're breaking it down state by state.

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts keeps the energy going with its 2024–2025 LIVE AMPLIFIED! Season and April is packed with performances.

From February 21 to March 2, Southwestern University’ Sarofim School of Fine Arts theater program presented NUNSENSE: THE MUSICAL by Dan Goggin on their Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones stage. Modeled after a line of greeting cards featuring a nun offering tart quips with a clerical slant, NUNSENSE premiered in 1985 at the Off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre and is a heartwarming and hilarious musical comedy set in a convent where a group of five nuns is determined to raise enough money to bury their fellow sisters who tragically died after a cooking accident.

Widely regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation or any other, Suzanne Vega is set to release her first full-length album of new music in over a decade. A new single from the album is available now.

The 25/26 Broadway at the Eccles season will feature eight shows including seven premiere engagements to Salt Lake City, and the eagerly awaited return of a favorite to the magnificent Eccles Theater. Learn more!