BACK TO THE FUTURE
THE 1985 Michael J Fox blockbuster movie hurled 80s teen Marty Mcfly back into the 50s where he had to engineer his hapless parents’ first kiss and inadvertently rebooted his entire family’s history.
This musical adaptation from original screenwriter Bob Gale and composer Alan Silvestri boasts a superb cast whose startlingly vivid recreations of beloved characters and scenes made audience members whoop with glee.
But an homage, no matter how fine, can only take you so far. I only have vague fond memories of the movie but I was swept away by the wit, warmth and spectacular set pieces of this lovingly and lavishly made show.
The magic begins with the theatre ceiling and sides kitted out in glowing Tron-like neon circuit boards but the centrepiece is the iconic souped-up Delorean. Its plutonium-fuelled flux capacitor blasts Marty through time in an electrifying rush of big-screen projections and dazzling lighting effects.
His exhilarating lightning-powered return journey is genuinely nail-biting before the climactic ending sees the car fly over the stalls and then – as my jaw dropped – roll 360 degrees. Amazing.
The central double act is equally impressive. As Marty, Olly Dobson has the boyish charisma and (uncannily) the voice of Fox in his prime, while Broadway star Roger Bart brings a barrage of ticks and twitches to the Christopher Lloyd role of mad scientist Doc Brown. He also gets most of the best lines, including the lyric, “The world will write my story in / This stainless steel Delorean”.
There’s also a nice running gag about backing dancers appearing every time he bursts into song. He delivers witty 80s pastiche It Works before Act Two blasts off with his brilliantly silly spaceship banger 21st Century.
Hugh Coles is also sensational as Marty’s wimpy father George, channelling every awkward movie cringe and snort while sensitively adding such sweetness that you root for him long before he rediscovers his spine.
Silvestri’s new compositions with legendary songwriter Glen Ballard are slickly effective but deceptively forgettable. However, Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode and Huey Lewis’s thunderous The Power Of Love, both from the film’s soundtrack, build to an irresistible feel-good finale, leaving me tumbling back to the present with a big grin and a bounce in my step.