Theatre / Back to the Future: The Musical

aka: Back To The Future

Come on now, future, let's hit the turbo booster
Buckle up without a care; now you can take it anywhere!
Write my future for Simon and for Schuster:
The "Tale of How I Came to Be" a Rock'n Roll biography... yeaaaaaaah!!!

—Marty McFly, "It's Only a Matter of Time"

Back to the Future: The Musical is a Screen-to-Stage Adaptation of the first Back to the Future film with the book written by Bob Gale, one of the two writers of the original film, music by Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for said film, and lyrics by Glen Ballard.

Marty McFly, a high schooler, skateboarder and aspiring rock artist from 1985, accidentally travels to 1955 in a Time Machine his eccentric scientist friend, Doctor Emmett "Doc" Brown, made from a DMC DeLorean. When he accidentally changes his parents' meeting, Marty must race against time to hook his future parents together, save his own existence and find a way to get back to the future.

First revealed to be in production in 2012, Back to the Future: The Musical was initially intended to be released in 2015 during the 30th anniversary of the Back to the Future franchise, but it slipped into Development Hell. It finally premiered at the Manchester Opera House in early 2020 but only ran for a few weeks until it was forced to shut down there due to a government issue concerning the spread of COVID-19. It reopened on 13 September, 2021 at Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. It also began previews at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in New York City on June 30, 2023, before opening on August 3, 2023.

Although most of the songs are original compositions by Silvestri and Ballard, four of the songs that were featured in the original film — "Earth Angel", "Johnny B. Goode", "The Power of Love", and "Back in Time" — all appear in this adaptation as well. It wouldn't be Back to the Future without them.

Tropes

• Adaptation Distillation:
  • The show condenses and combines the scenes from the film in the school cafeteria and the later sequence where Marty gets into a confrontation with Biff in the diner; the later scene takes place entirely in the school, where Marty improvises a skateboard instead from a cleaning lady's cart.
  • A unique examples combines an existing scene from the movie with one that was deleted. In the film, after Biff returns the McFly's totaled car, George is suckered into buying several boxes of peanut brittle from a young girl. In the musical, the car wreckage is cut and Biff is instead the one to sell George the peanut brittle.
• Adaptational Badass: The DeLorean of all things, for a car that's also its own character. The car only responds to Doc Brown's voice whenever he states a date to travel to, meaning that no one can steal it and time travel. It also doesn't stall on the driver throughout the musical, only doing so after Marty returns to October 26, 1985.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Principal Strickland was already caustic in the original film, but here, he chews over Marty's audition, saying it was "crap" and outright telling the lad he got no future.
• Adapted Out: There are some characters and scenes in this musical that don't show up like they did in the original film...
  • The Libyans are nowhere to be found in the musical due to how impractical a second vehicle is on stage. As such, the main plot kicks off when Marty accidentally time travels in the DeLorean while trying to seek medical help to save Doc from dying from radiation poisoning.
  • Einstein and Copernicus, Doc's pet dogs in 1985 and 1955 respectively, are absent in the musical, owing to it holding lots of special effects, and how difficult it is to have pets live on stage. This causes Doc to become the world's first time traveller.
  • Mr Peabody is referenced by Doc in 1985, but does not appear in 1955, and the DeLorean is left undisturbed in the barn where it crashed until Doc and Marty come to retrieve it.
  • Loraine's siblings, including "Jailbird" Joey, are not present, though her mother is shown as visibly pregnant.
  • Match and Skinhead, two members of Biff's Gang of Bullies in 1955, are not present in the musical with a new guy named Slick taking over. However, in the 2023 Broadway production, Match and Skinhead are reinstated.
  • Situationally, the Clocktower sequence is streamlined, with Doc only having to connect the first set of cables near the Clock Tower, and not the second pair near the tree as its impossible to incorporate a zip line in a theatre with the setup of the clocktower set piece.
  • The scene of Marty impersonating "Darth Vader" to scare George into asking out Loraine is removed entirely.
• All Musicals Are Adaptations: This musical is adapted from the original Back to the Future film from 1985.
• And the Adventure Continues: Marty is back in 1985, his family is more well-off with an annual celebration honoring George McFly and Marty reunites with Jennifer... And then Doc Brown suddenly returns to pick up Marty and show him the future.
  Doc Brown: I'll have you back in 30 seconds; after all, it's a time machine! Come on!
  Marty: You're the doc, Doc.
  DeLorean system: TIME CIRCUITS: ON. DESTINATION TIME: [current date and time of the musical's showing].
• Arc Words: "Put your mind to it".
• Aside Glance: Several, the most prominent of which coming after "21st Century", when Doc mentions that his vision of the year 2020 included a world with no disease.
• Bilingual Bonus: During "Something About That Boy", the set continuously changes to display different parts of the highschool. One of them is a classroom where Lorraine and her friends are attending a French course. The sentences written on the blackboard are all translations of famous lines of the show, including the final one ("Roads? Where we go, we don't need roads").
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • The first visuals for the musical show a time display that begins in the present time and date of the musical's current showing at the theatre it is playing in (such as the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End), before going back in time to October 25, 1985, Hill Valley, California, meaning the audience goes "back in time". The time is also set as the destination time for the DeLorean in the ending. When the DeLorean flies, it goes towards and over the audience.
  • Marty namedrops the trope in the musical number "It's Only a Matter of Time".
  • In "It Works", Marty addresses the Chorus Girls that appear out of nowhere.
• Bookends: The musical begins with visuals on a time display showing the present time and date of the musical's showing before it goes back in time to Hill Valley on October 25, 1985. When Marty and Doc go off in their flying DeLorean to see the future, Doc sets the car to travel to the exact time and date of the musical's showing.
• Call-Forward: Some of the objects that show up on the view screen during "21st Century" include a hoverboard and the Time Train.
• Car Song: "It Works" has Doc Brown singing about his magnum opus, the DeLorean time machine, and the one invention installed into its systems that makes it capable of time travel.
• Chorus Girls: "It Works" features six girls in silver race track suits with flames and high heel boots appearing out of nowhere to accompany Doc in his song about the DeLorean time machine.
  Marty: Hey Doc, who are the girls?
  Doc Brown: I don't know; they just show up every time I start singing!
• Clock Tower: As from the original film, the clock at the top of Hill Valley's courthouse which gets struck by lightning on November 12, 1955 at 10:04PM. We're able to see it visibly thanks to a larger set piece resembling it as Doc braves the high heights to reconnect the wires there.
• Cool Car: As expected, the DeLorean Time Machine, being capable of Time Travel and all of its nifty gadgets and gizmos aplenty decked out all on it. Oh, and it has lights lining the body and it's voice activated though it only recognises Doc's voice.
• Dark Reprise: "It's Only a Matter of Time" has two gloomier editions to a hopeful, upbeat song...
  • "Audition/Got No Future", specifically the latter section, uses the hook from the song in a sadder tone as Marty laments having his dreams never coming true despite his best efforts.
  • "The Letter/Only a Matter of Time (Reprise)" has Marty reflects on his only chance to return to 1985 using the song's verses. It also borrows some lyrics from "Wherever We're Going", a duet by Marty and Jennifer originally meant to highlight the two's romance, to note Marty's desire to return to his girlfriend.
    Marty: Will I be on my way...
    Or will I have to stay?
    But it's always a matter of time...
• Deadpan Snarker: The DeLorean of all things. Owing to the fact that it doesn't recognise Marty's voice, he keeps struggling to get it to understand and it says it doesn't recognise Marty in a Computer Voice that comes off as hilarious.
  Marty: [imitating Doc] GREAT SCOTT! Destination time change to 1:20AM!
  DeLorean system: YOU ARE NOT DOCTOR EMMETT BROWN.
  • This crops up even earlier, with Doc setting up the time circuits:
  Doc: This is incredible machinery!
  DeLorean system: I KNOW.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: "Cake", which plays when Marty arrives in 1955 Hill Valley, includes people praising asbestos as the best possible material for insulation or cigarettes as being good for health.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: The original film had Doc being gunned down by the angry Libyan terrorists he swindled the plutonium from. This musical does not have any Libyans, so Doc ends up dying from radiation poisoning from the plutonium he stole from a warehouse, which causes Marty to jump in the car to seek medical help and accidentally time travel to 1955.
  Doc Brown: I've been irradiated, so stay back, stay way back! Or you will be too!
• Distinction Without a Difference: When 1955 Doc decides to climb the clock tower, there's this brief exchange:
  Marty: I thought you were scared of heights!
  1955 Doc Brown: No, Marty, I'm terrified of them.
• Dream Intro: Or specifically, Dream Song at the beginning of the second act. "21st Century" is 1955!Doc's dreams of the political, social, technological and economic advances of the future.
  1955 Doc Brown: It's like the new kingdom come
  And it's nothin' but fun!
  The new millennium!
• Double Meaning: In "It's Only a Matter of Time", one of the lyrics Marty sings is "I'm breaking through the fourth wall". Not only does Marty directly address the dreamlike chorus of girl dancers in "It Works", but time is also considered the fourth dimension and when he travels back in time, he does so by breaking the fourth dimensional wall.
• Face Your Fears: Doc in this musical has a fear of heights as explained as he approaches Marty before he heads to the school dance. During the climax, the wires at the top of Hill Valley's clock tower disconnect due to high winds, forcing him to climb up to reconnect them. Doc braves the high heights and the storm to get them connected, being determined to get Marty back to 1985.
• Flying Car: The DeLorean during the show's finale, having been upgraded by Doc in the future with hover hubcaps. It even goes over the audience and performs an aileron roll over them!
• Foreshadowing: When Marty enters Doc's lab, there is a radio news voiceover reporting of a stolen case of plutonium which also states that plutonium is highly radioactive and can cause death by radiation poisoning. Sure enough, a combination of inadequate protection and prolonged exposure to plutonium slowly kills Doc.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: During "Something About That Boy", as the set continually changes to represent different parts of the high-school while Biff chases Marty across it, a blackboard on which French sentences are written is briefly visible. The sentences are actually translations of famous lines of the show, including the very last one ("La route ? Là où on va, on n'a pas besoin, de route.")
• "I Am" Song:
  • "Hello, Is Anybody Home?" reveals the personalities of Marty's family: George doesn't have a metaphorical backbone, Loraine is out-of-touch and complacent, Linda wants to date and Dave is satisfied with this less than ideal life working at a fast food restaurant.
  • "My Myopia" reveals 1955 George McFly's timid personality getting the better of him, despite the lad wanting more from life.
• It Will Never Catch On: 1955 Doc is introduced talking on the phone to a "Mr McDonald" and refusing to invest in his ridiculous enterprise of selling hamburgers, as "there is no money to make there".
• Large Ham:
  • As always, Doctor Emmett Brown goes crazy in all of his actions such as when he unveils his magnum opus, the DeLorean time machine. It helps that he's played by the energetic Roger Bart.
  • Biff Howard Tannen is far more louder and wilder than his film's depiction such as picking on George McFly in 1955 and plotting to defeat Marty with a Villain Song of his own.
• Lampshade Hanging: Marty explains that he was late arriving to the clock tower because he was "getting changed for no good reason".
• Leitmotif: Bits of Back to the Future's iconic theme along with a few scrambled notes taken from the first film's tunes, including those from Doc Brown's theme, are sprinkled throughout the musical.
• Musical Interruptus: The songs are all left uninterrupted in the album, but the same cannot be said for some of them in the musical proper.
  • "Future Boy" has an extended finish which Marty attempts to continue with a Truck Driver's Gear Change to B major, only for 1955 Doc Brown to interrupt him and cause all of the backup dancers who show up every time he sings to hurry off the stage as the musical abruptly stops.
  • During "The Power of Love", the whole town joins in Marty and the Pinheads' cover of it, but as the song reaches its end, Doc Brown suddenly returns in the upgraded DeLorean, causing the singing and the music to stop.
  • This was also true of "Cake"^note originally titled "Cake and Eat It Too" in the original Manchester run, where the song ringing of the bell up in Hill Valley's clocktower interrupted the climax of the song and the townsfolk to resume their normal activities. When the show moved to London, the song was revised to end uninterrupted.
• Mythology Gag: The marquee for Marty McFly and the Pinheads is styled after one of the cover designs for the single release of "The Power of Love", with the typeface even being directly lifted from Huey Lewis and the News.
• Pep-Talk Song:
  • "Gotta Start Somewhere". Then malt-shop employee Goldie Wilson, having been inspired to become mayor of Hill Valley, tries to encourage then-teenaged George McFly to boost his self-esteem and do his best in whatever he does.
  • "Put Your Mind to It" shows Marty trying to encourage George and boost his self-confidence and dancing abilities by using Doc's famous quote.
• The Power of Rock: Marty's cover of "Johnny B. Goode" is a fun piece for the party goers to jam to like the original film until Marty gets carried away. Surprisingly, Chuck Berry isn't called or mentioned at all. ^note although the phonecall to him was present in early previews, and he's sometimes namedropped at the start of "Deep Divin'".
• "Psycho" Strings: Just like the film, the music becomes more shrill as Marty begins to fade from existence.
• Race Against the Clock: Just like the first film, Doc and Marty face multiple difficulties to get Marty back to 1985 using a lightning bolt that will strike Hill Valley's clock at 10:04PM and accelerate the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour.
• Shout-Out:
  • The DeLorean can talk with a robotic female voice. Now, where have we seen this before?
  • While in the midst of freaking out about the 1.21 Gigawatts, Doc picks up Farmer Peabody’s scarecrow and laments "If you only had a brain."
  • During his second brawl with Biff, Marty takes a light fixture and uses it like a lightsaber. He even quotes Darth Vader's infamous line from The Empire Strikes Back.
  • "21st Century" has the background window look like something from Star Trek. Doc even compares the DeLorean to "Captain Kirk's" in "It Works". The window in "21st Century" also briefly shows the TARDIS passing by.
• That's All, Folks!: After the final bows and as the full cast breaks into dance, the curtain falls with the text "Make like a tree and get outta here" shown on it to get the audience to leave the theatre.
• The End: Unlike many musicals which Smash to Black, the final display of the musical proper is a projection of this text set against a time warp to ensure there will be no sequels to this musical.
• Triumphant Reprise: "For the Dreamers" was initially Doc's melancholic tribute to all people who wanted their big break by realising their dreams even if they fail despite their best efforts. It gets a more epic rendition as he braves his fear of heights to reconnect the disconnected wires at the top of the clocktower to send Marty back home with the lightning.
• Verbal Tic: Doc Brown often accentuates the word "Lightning" with a Metal Scream.
• Villain Song:
  • "Good at Being Bad", which only featured in the Manchester edition, explains Biff's personality and knacks at being a bully.
  • Biff's part in "Something About That Boy" has Biff and his gang discussing their dislike of "Calvin Klein" and plot to defeat him.
  • "Teach Him a Lesson" where Biff and his gang plot to defeat Marty at the school dance.
    Biff: SATURDAY NIGHT!!! (Evil Laugh)
• World of Ham: It's not to the extent where it's utterly dramatic, but everyone will have a reason to dance and celebrate whether it be praising Hill Valley in 1955 or rocking out at the George McFly Day celebration.

---

But it's only a matter of time
(Only a matter of time)
Yes, it's only a matter of—
Only a matter of time...
Aaah-aaah-aaah-aaaaaaaaaaah...
TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!

—Full Company, "Doc Returns/Finale"