Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE THE MUSICAL Is A Fabulously Fun Adaptation of the 1985 Film

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s time travelling movie is given a musical theatre makeover with BACK TO THE FUTURE THE MUSICAL.  Premiering in Manchester UK in 2020 before a West End Premier in 2021 and Broadway opening in 2023, this musical by Bob Gale (Book) and Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard (both music and lyrics), treats audiences to an evening of comedy nostalgia and a high degree of stage magic as they are transported back to 1985 and beyond.

For those that missed out on seeing the 1985 movie or have faded memories given the 40 year time gap since the movie was released, BACK TO THE FUTURE THE MUSICAL is set in 1985 when aspiring musician and high school student Marty McFly (Axel Duffy) is seeking solace with his friend, the mad scientist Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Roger Bart), after he’s received yet another rejection around his music and fears he’s doomed to the same dismal fate as his family.  While the musical deviates at times from the movie to simplify the plot, the outcome is the same, that Doc has developed a time machine be re-engineering a DMC DeLorean but Marty ends up being in it when it transports him back to 1955 and is stranded when there is no spare fuel source to return him to his own era.  In trying to get back to 1985, Marty is faced with the challenge of convincing Doc that his future invention does work while also coming to the realisation that he may have altered his own existence as he’s messed with his parent’s future.

Director John Rando has ensured that the energy and essence of the cinematic source material is retained while incorporating traditional musical theatre elements and stage magic so that this work is seen in its own right and not simply recreating the screen on stage.  Designer Tim Hatley has created a set that shows the shift between 1985 Hill Valley California, a somewhat tired town that never quite reached the potential and the bright promise it held in 1955 when it was of the newest cookie cutter suburbs with perfect white picket fenced homes and innovations that that would later be determined to be deadly and social division that still lingers despite shifts in laws and civil liberties.  This shift in the general ‘world’ of Hill Valley is contrasted with the consistency of Doc’s home laboratory which is still a treasure trove of gadgets and ideas, overseen by the scientific greats that he has hanging on the wall.  Traditional set elements are paired with animation and projection backdrops that allow the scale of spaces to be shown along will enabling movement to be implied.  A scrim across the stage allows the speed and movement of the DeLorean to take the audience on the ride with Marty and provides a screen for the animation that meets the audience before the show and during interval, and yes, a DeLorean is physically featured on stage. 

Hatley’s costuming captures 1985 California perfectly, with double denim, lycra leotards, parasilk tracksuits and a liberal dose of bright colours and perms.  This is contrasted with the bobby socks, petticoated skirts, barrel curls, colour matched shoes and dresses, bowling shirts and pastels of 1955 while the mad scientist Doc has a mysterious backup chorus line that appears whenever he breaks into song.  The use of the same performers to present themselves 30 years earlier than the start of the show is also presented with comic absurdity as mother Lorraine and bully Biff Tannen (Thomas McGuane) are supposed to be somewhat heftier at the start of the story, with the costuming appearing to be lumpy cushions shoved under their clothes. 

Given that the storyline includes a focus of music as Marty and his band have been stopped from auditioning for the school concert, there is a heavy emphasis on dance.  Chris Bailey’s choreography uses dance to show the shift in cultural elements between 1955 and 1985 while also using Doc’s chorus line moments to showcase other dance styles not as closely aligned with the 50’s and 80’s but rather more connected to the musical theatre standards. 

For the Australian premiere, Roger Bart reprises his performance of Doc Brown, a role he originated in Manchester and went on to perform on the West End and on Broadway.  He has made the role his own, not trying to replicate Christopher Lloyd’s movie performance.  Bart’s Doc has elements that feel like it would be what Doc would look like if Robin Williams had been alive to bring him to stage, crossed with Australia’s own Phil Scott, both comedy geniuses.  Bart gives his Doc a self awareness that ensures the work doesn’t take itself too seriously while also leaning in to the absurdity of the character that often seems bewildered. 

Australian Axel Duffy fills the famous red puffy vest with a dramatisation that pays homage to Michael J. Fox’s performance in both voice and physical mannerisms while holding back from it being a parody of his performance. As with Bart, Duffy balances the absurdity of the plotline with an honesty while also exposing the humour of the work in which differences in society are even more obvious with a 40 year time gap between the present day and when the movie was release and the movie originally starting, a bigger gap that that traversed in the DeLorean. 

Ashleigh Rubenach is always a delight and she fits the image of the “All American” girl next door perfectly while also having the comedic timing to carry off Lorraine’s innocently ignorant crush on the stranger that she doesn’t realise is her son.  As George McFly, Ethan Jones is suitably meek and physically awkward leading to a brilliant session where Marty tries to convince his father to learn to dance and learn to fight. 

Of the minor characters, Javon King almost steals the show with his performance as Goldie Wilson, the young African American working at the diner who has ambitions of something bigger than 1955 America would allow someone of his race.  His Gotta Start Somewhere is delivered with energy and earnestness, infusing a soul into the song and dance. 

Whether you’ve seen the movie multiple times, once, or are too young to remember the original movie, BACK TO THE FUTURE THE MUSICAL is a feel-good story about persisting and coming back after setbacks along with the The Power Of Love.  A wonderful piece of escapist theatre in a world where we need something fun, ridiculous and uplifiting. 

Back to the Future The Musical | Australia

Photos: Daniel Boud

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