Theater Thursday - Back to the Future

What: Back to the Future 

Where: Winter Garden Theatre 

             1634 Broadway 

              New York, NY

Who: Recommended for Ages 6 and Up

Me -  I really enjoyed Back to the Future. It was a very good show. There were definitely changes from the movie. Usually, when there's an adaptation of anything, there's one version that I just like better. Even when I like both versions, I feel like I always prefer one over the other. Then, when I am watching the version I liked less, I just keep thinking a lot about how things were done in the version I prefer and how I like them better that way. 

This show wasn't like that. I could tell what was changed and remember how it was different in the movie, but it didn't feel like it should have been the way it was in the movie in the show nor did it feel like it would have been better if it was like it is in the show in the movie. It felt like the show was exactly what it needed to be and the movie was exactly what it needed to be. The changes they made in the show were perfect for the show and made it work as a theatrical experience. If they had done those things in the movie, I don't think it would have been as good. It wouldn't have been the same. In the same way, if they tried to make the parts they changed the same way they were in the movie, it wouldn't have worked as a show.

The casting of the show was perfect. Everyone just felt so right for their part. It felt like they did in the movie but not like they were trying to be caricatures of the originals. It felt like they were exactly what you would want them to be.

When I first heard that Back to the Future would be going to Broadway, I was very excited about it. When they announced that Casey Likes was going to be starring in it, I was even more excited. I had seen him in Almost Famous four (4) times, and I knew from that that he had the perfect energy to play Marty McFly based on having seen the movie.  I was really excited to see him in the role. Now, having seen the show I still think he has the perfect energy for the part and enjoyed seeing him in it.

 

I really liked some of the songs in the show. I didn't necessarily like all of them, but there are a bunch of them that I did think were really good. I also liked the fact that the songs that were a big part of the movie they kept in the show.

The special effects in the show were really cool and very unique. A lot of the effects that you see in the show are not the kinds of things that you see in every other show that you see on Broadway these days. It was pretty exciting to get to see that stuff. 

The show is very similar to the movie in a lot of ways which would please fans of the movie. They even kept all the best lines from the movie in the show even some of the ones that aren't as famous. However, you don't have to have seen the movie to enjoy the show. It's just a really cool fun show that anybody can enjoy.

Mom - Back to the Future the musical is a movie-to-stage adaptation that neither outshines nor is less than the original. It is the same enough to be comfortingly familiar like an old pair of shoes that fits just right but also different enough to be its own thing. The changes made were good necessary changes and not just change for the sake of change as is often the case.

The acting is good. Casey Likes, in the role of Marty McFly, does not sound or look (from far away) as much like Michael J. Fox as Olly Dobson did in the London version of the show, but perhaps that is a good thing and makes it easier for him to make the role his own. His performance is lively and energetic. Roger Bart, in the role of Doc, wisely doesn't imitate Christopher Lloyd but has his own kind of crazy energy. The character is given a little more heart here with the addition of the ballad This is For the Dreamers.  Hugh Coles absolutely steals the show in the role of George McFly. He hilariously and completely embodies the character with every fiber of his being. There's a reason he won an Olivier award for the role and was one of only two actors from the London cast to repeat their roles in the American version (Roger Bart is the other).

The beloved songs from the movie, Johnny B Goode, The theme song (The Power of Love), and Back in Time (which was just used as background music in the original and in this version is a post-curtain call jam) are all happily included in the score. There are plenty of new songs written for the show as well. They are mostly lively effervescent songs accompanied by boisterous dances. There are also a few ballads including the aforementioned This One's For the Dreamers and Wherever We're Going, a song sung mostly by the character of Jennifer, Marty McFly's girlfriend who is given much more of a presence here than she had in the movie. The songs all serve the plot beautifully, and there is not one that seems unnecessary.

The special effects including the movement of the time travel car are all done beautifully. Anything you cannot possibly imagine how they would find a way to do in a show they did find a way to do. It is not at all the same as it was done in the movie, of course, but it works perfectly for the stage. All in all, Back to the Future the musical, is an incredibly well-done show and is one of the most fun times you can have in the theater.

And that's our view. For more information about Back to the Future or to purchase tickets, visit www.backtothefuturemusical.com/new-york.

Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop.

Photo credits:

All Back to the Future production photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

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