Marty McFly is a rock 'n' roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence.
About those songs: they’re more serviceable than exciting. Silvestri and Ballard have cinematic and pop credit to burn, and there would be no JAGGED LITTLE PILL (album or musical) without Ballard, but apart from future Mayor Goldie Wilson (Cartreze Tucker) laying into “Gotta Start Somewhere” and, later Doc Brown’s ode to the power of science “This One’s for the Dreamers,” when music director Matt Doebler’s orchestra kicks in, we’re just marking time waiting for, yup again, “Johnny B Goode” and the Huey Lewis-sung favorites from the movie. Thankfully, we get them. And the composers have given that familiar riff from the film an accompanying lyric: “It’s on-ly a mat-ter of time.”
The uneasy musical blend is characteristic of the show itself, which, like the town of Hill Valley’s clock tower, finds itself weirdly stuck in time, trying to please generations of fans while simultaneously making something “new.” You can see it in how the writers try to hit the funny bone. Jokes that landed in the ’80s—when 1950s Doc learns that the future president is “Ronald Reagan, the actor,” for example—are still there, but are now especially dated considering that future came and went some 40 years ago. (It also seems quaint considering the caliber of celebrity we’ve had in the White House since.) On the other end of the spectrum efforts are strained to make the piece ironically contemporary, as when Doc Brown returns from the year 2020 heralding a world with no war, no hunger, and (wait for it) no disease. Cue groans from last Thursday night’s crowd.
2021 | West End |
West End Premiere West End |
2021 | West End |
West End |
2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2024 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
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