Back to the Future the Musical

A Back to the Future musical feels like the kind of thing that would exist in the timeline where Marty McFly marries his mother. The fact we’ve had seven years to get used to its imminent existence – a director departed, a pandemic arrived – hasn’t quite softened the fact that this feel like a swipe at many people’s childhoods. The original film, to many, is as precious as the plutonium that powers the iconic DeLorean.

So does the musical successfully transport us back to the past, or just leave a trail of flaming tarmac? As so often when the West End gives beloved titles the musical treatment, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Original writer Bob Gale has adapted his creation for the stage, and the emphasis is heavily on the visuals. In Tim Hatley’s design, radiant strips of LED lights emanate into the auditorium in serpentine circuit boards, projection screens meld stunningly with live action to create the effect of barrelling along at 88 miles per hour and, inevitably, central to everything is that lovingly recreated DeLorean.

The effect of all this is a strange hybrid, with dashes of Secret Cinema and theme-park ride thrown into the mix. If this spectacle is the future of West End shows, sign me up.

There’s just the small problem of everything else. The fact that this is supposed to be a musical is not even secondary to the spectacle, it’s the ghost of an afterthought. The film’s composer Alan Silvestri – a Hollywood legend – has joined with feted songwriter Glen Ballard to conjure a set of songs for the show and, Great Scott, are they boring.

The duo has fun slipping between 1980s rock ridiculousness and 1950s doo-wopping charm, and the orchestrations are out of this world, but not a single number does what a song in a musical should. The writers know how silly this all is, and plenty of the songs enjoy sending up the show’s absurdity, but they don’t really do much else. This musical never makes the case for it being a musical.

That lack of rigour runs riot. Director John Rando keeps a loose leash on proceedings. There’s an exponential lull every second there’s no bang or flash to entertain us.

Sadly, Roger Bart, who has played Doc Brown since the show’s first workshop, tested positive for Covid on press night, and understudy Mark Oxtoby stepped in, having never played the role in front of an audience before. Huge credit to him: he’s a magnificently wild Doc, all wide-eyed and clownish, and the production thrums when he’s on stage.

Cedric Neal excels in the expanded role of Goldie Wilson – the show really kicks into gear with his scene-stealing song Gotta Start Somewhere – and Olly Dobson matches the cool insouciance of Michael J Fox as Marty.

With its dream of flying cars and happy families, the film offered an optimistic vision for the future. Instead, here we are watching a Back to the Future musical in a pandemic. Still, it’s possible to ignore the fact that dramaturgically, structurally and emotionally this show is a mess when it offers up such relentless glee and unceasing spectacle. When that famous fanfare plays and the DeLorean flies, time does too.