So that's a lot of anticipation and buildup, but also a fair amount of trepidation on my part as to whether this was going to be a lot of fireworks and no heart. And just in case the Venn diagram of the one person who hasn't seen the film overlaps with the two people who read this blog, this is what it's about:
In 1985, eccentric scientist Doc Brown (Roger Bart) has invented a working time machine, but when testing it he accidentally sends his teenage friend Marty McFly (Olly Dobson) to 1955 on his own, with no way of returning. Marty enlists the Doc's younger self to help him make the trip back, but along the way he accidentally gets in the way of his parents' first meeting. While the Doc tries to get the time machine working again, Marty has to engineer a new way for the painfully shy George (Cameron McAllister) to ask out the popular, flirtatious Lorraine (Rosanna Hyland.) If he fails, he will never have been born.
Robert Zemeckis' film is so full of charm it famously gets away with an Oedipal plot that hinges on Lorraine falling for Marty and making no secret of her intentions (not to mention its resolution built around attempted sexual assault.) John Rando's production has a tightrope to walk between recreating elements of the film much of the audience will have come to see, and giving the show enough of an identity to justify watching this instead of putting the DVD of the film on. Tim Hatley's designs are essentially direct copies where the costumes are concerned; it's difficult to make the town of Hill Valley itself as much of a character on stage as it is in the film, and it's in the sets where Hatley gets to show a little bit more personality, aided by Finn Ross whose projections are the most notable design element of the show.
I did think some of the performances could have been given more freedom to make the characters their own; early on McAllister (one of tonight's three understudies in named roles) copies Crispin Glover's awkward movements as George so accurately I was really worried we were going to get a slavish carbon copy. Fortunately the show's scene-stealing role has been given a bit more leeway: Bart's voice is very close to Christopher Lloyd's eccentric barking delivery* but he's also expanded the mad scientist's oddities into something even more cartoonish (and more suited to a large stage.) There's also a running joke of him acknowledging the presence of the backing singers during the songs.
The book is by the original screenplay's co-writer Bob Gale, who hits all the most famous lines but makes a couple of little plot changes to help fit a new medium - most notably he makes the car that houses the time machine voice-activated, which also means it speaks back in a robotic female voice, making it even more of a character than it was always bound to be. Because there's no question that the DeLorean, the car more famous for its part in this film than for it's short-lived production, is what everyone's talking about on the way out. It's a mechanical wonder that couples with Ross' video and Chris Fisher's illusions to create some genuine spectacle in the time travel sequences - and its first appearance, when there's no car on stage and then suddenly there's a car on stage, is a coup de théâtre matched only by its final appearance.
If I've been suspiciously quiet about the music in a review of an actual musical, that's not by accident. With music and lyrics by original score composer Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, it was definitely the weakest point for me. The songs provide some funny moments and are well-designed to show off the cast's voices - including Cedric Neal, who as Goldie Wilson and Marvin Berry has a slightly expanded role from the film - but I didn't find the tunes particularly toe-tapping or catchy, and they don't feel like they justify the time they take up on stage (and opening number "It's Only a Matter of Time" incorporates the movie's theme tune, which gives it distinct Anita Dobson/"Anyone Can Fall In Love" vibes.) In fact by the end the original songs are pretty much ditched in favour of covers from the film, with "Earth Angel," "Johnny B. Goode," "Back in Time" and of course "The Power of Love" providing the most notable musical moments. What with a nod to Huey Lewis' cameo in the film, this is the most Huey Lewis-heavy musical since American Psycho.
So in the final analysis Back to the Future elicited a mixed response from me, and probably will from most people. Yes, it's obviously tapping into an almost guaranteed cash cow, but not in as aggressively "will this do?" a style as Crack Whore: The Musical - they're definitely making sure people actually get something for their money, whether that be in nostalgia (1985 is now even further away than 1955 was from the original,) in a couple of new twists on the familiar story, and certainly in spectacle. In trying to please everyone it never quite settles on what it is, and while I was glad to have some metatheatrical moments thrown in they don't quite gel with the rest (although the gleefully arch way projections are used to show Doc walking up some stairs is the biggest laugh of the night.) Having to contend with Adelphi Upper Circle sightlines, I could certainly have done without Hatley and Rando pushing so much of the action downstage, but the usual bit of head-bobbing meant I didn't miss much. It's only in terms of contributing much to musical theatre that I thought it fell down entirely - it would probably have been the case whatever the songs were like, but as it stands there's no contest: Everyone walks out humming the car.
Back to the Future by Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis, Alan Silvestri, Glen Ballard, Curtis Williams, Jesse Belvin, Gaynel Hodge, Chuck Berry, Huey Lewis, Chris Hayes and Johnny Colla, based on the film by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, is booking until the 3rd of July 2022 at the Adelphi Theatre.
Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes including interval.
Photo credit: Sean Ebsworth Barnes.
*Dobson also sounds uncannily like Michael J. Fox at times, so much so I almost expected him to start defending an evil corporation in a contentious lawsuit against Alicia Florick
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