It’s been 40 years since Back to the Future first hit the big screen. Now, from the same creators behind the iconic films, comes Back to the Future: The Musical. From Jan. 6-11, the musical adaptation of the timeless classic will be at the Ohio Theatre.
The film’s creators, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, have always wanted to revisit the franchise. After Zemeckis’ wife mentioned the idea after seeing the movie The Producers, they began kicking around the idea of revisiting the franchise in a different medium.
They thought the film’s larger-than-life characters would translate well to the stage, especially Marty McFly, the inspiring rock’n’roll star who would have every reason to sing.
The musical follows the plot of the first film, with some changes to fit a live stage production.
“No one will confuse it with the trilogy. No one will think that we are doing harm to the trilogy,” says Gale.
They began working on the musical in February 2006 and the show first opened in early 2020 in Manchester, England. The long development process was worthwhile, though, with the production winning the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, four WhatsOnStage Awards and the Broadway World Award for Best New Musical.
Now, the musical is touring North America. Buy tickets here for its Columbus premiere.
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Hitting 88 mph
From the start, the creators knew they didn’t want the musical to be an exact replica of the movie.
“We did not want the musical to be an (exact) adaptation of the first movie because we didn’t want anybody walking out of the theater saying, ‘I should’ve just stayed home and watched the movie’ so we knew things had to be different enough,” says Gale.
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The first step was figuring out where the musical numbers could naturally fit within the plot. The team rewatched the film and went through the script, finding potential places for musical numbers. Originally, they found about 30 possible places for songs.
Composer Alan Silvestri and lyricist Glen Ballard then wrote four sample songs. Once the group listened to the songs, they knew the story would translate from screen to stage well.
Another major step in the creation process was problem solving how to translate some of the film’s iconic movie magic into live theater format, resulting in a few changes, namely toward the beginning of the story.
Ryan Hartford/Ecliptic Photo
One element the creators knew had to be a part of the show was the DeLorean. They decided it would be in the musical and hit 88 mph before knowing exactly how to pull that off.
“In the early workshops, we weren’t even thinking how we were going to do (the DeLorean). We just said, ‘Well, somehow we will figure this out,’” says Gale.
They ended up working with the creatives behind Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to recreate the DeLorean’s magic.
The team also uses the DeLorean as a way to let the audience know what year it is. The DeLorean is a voiced character, similar to Siri, but with a little bit more of an attitude.
Gale emphasized the entire creative team working on the musical, on and off the stage, brought a lot of passion to the production. Everyone shared a love for the movies and were determined to make all the sci-fi magic happen on stage.
Matthew Murphy/Evan Zimmerman
Forward in time
Before the musical’s official premiere, the creative team had an early workshop in England, inviting 20 diehard Back to the Future fans, including the co-president of the Michael J. Fox Fan Club. The creators knew that if these fans didn’t like the show, then it needed more workshopping.
“I was sitting near the co-president of the Michael J. Fox Fan Club at that event, and they came up to me at the intermission and they said, ‘We didn’t think anybody else could be Marty McFly expect Michael J. Fox but the guy you got here is terrific,’” says Gale.
Once they received positive feedback from diehard fans, they knew they had something.
“We got some pushback conceptually. We heard from a lot of fans saying ‘Oh my god. I can’t go see this it’ll ruin my memories of the movie. How could you do this?’ Then those people end up going to see the show and then they do a complete 180,” says Gale. “It (also) doesn’t matter whether you know the movie or not. We’ve got a lot of people who go see the musical without having seen the movie and they thoroughly enjoy it.”
Korrigan Craddock is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
