I didn’t know what to expect from my first-ever musical. Would it be some sort of over-the-top operetta? Or just a regular play with songs awkwardly shoved in? Either way, I’m glad Back to the Future: The Musical was my first. First times are always special, aren’t they?
Now, I wouldn’t call myself the biggest fan of the trilogy, but I’m undoubtedly in the global top 10. I’ve watched each film countless times, starting in 1989 or 1990 on a pirated VHS my father brought home. He worked in the financial department of the Soviet police, using his economics degree to hunt down “thieves of socialist property”—black market traders, mostly. One of the perks of the job? A weekend with a confiscated VHS player and a couple of tapes—a rare luxury in the USSR. When it was his turn, he brought home parts one and three of Back to the Future. I had to wait an entire month to see part two. Naturally, it became my favourite.
Time travel takes many forms. Sometimes, it’s a DeLorean tearing through the space-time continuum at 88 mph. Other times, it’s a musical that hurls you back to your childhood like a flux capacitor on overdrive. And this musical? It was a time machine in its own right. The writing, the acting, the songs, the special effects—and yes, the DeLorean—were all spot on.
By the end, I barely resisted the urge to borrow the DeLorean for a quick trip to the future—surely by now, the hoverboards are real, the pizzas rehydrate in seconds, and someone’s finally fixed that broken clock tower.
👍👍
Back to the Future: The Musical
Adelphi Theatre, London
Written by Bob Gale
Music & lyrics by Alan Silvestri & Glen Ballard
Directed by John Rando
Cast: Roger Bart as Doc
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Illustration by Elia Kabanov feat. Midjourney.
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