Back To The Future previews — Page 7

pagereynolds said: "I'm not defending Back to the Future (It didn't need to be a musical) but Wicked is LIGHT YEARS different than the novel. It's a real adaption. This does not seem to be."



Excellent point. I suspect when adapting a well-known film, there's pressure is to change as little as possible.

quizking101 said: "quizking101 said: "Do they have a windowcard for sale?"

To answer my own question, they do not, but it’s supposed to go to print tomorrow and be in by next week-ish. They only have the Marty McFly/Pinheads poster and it’s an “annoyingly sized” (the cashier’s words) 22x28"



I wonder if that came over from London? When Harry Potter first opened, there was no window card. All they had was a 15x23 poster (Which I went ahead and bought and have it in a clip poster hanger). When I went back a few weeks later to buy a tee shirt at the theater store, I asked about a window card. The store manager told me the poster I got was from the London merchandising and he was having them do window cards because it is what is sold here. My cashier said pretty much the same thing about my poster when I bought it.

Sounds like Hugh Coles is really killing it as George McFly, as he did in London, where he got an Olivier Award nomination. It's easy to see why ''Back to the Future'' would want to bring him to Broadway. At the same time, it's hard not to feel for Olly Dobson, who originated the role of Marty McFly in the world premiere of this musical. Looking at clips of him, he has a boyish charm and even sounded like Michael J. Fox. He established the show as a hit on the West End and earned an Olivier Award nomination.

Given the hundreds of times he did the show, Dobson deserved his own shot at Broadway. Instead, it was reported that the musical wanted an American actor instead on the Great White Way. So one British Olivier nominee gets to reprise his role in N.Y., but the other doesn't. Which is a great opportunity for Casey Likes, who gets to make his own mark as Marty McFly, but what a bummer if you're Olly Dobson. ''And that's showbiz!''

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0w02U7nBvs

Updated On: 7/13/23 at 03:44 AM

I saw the show Tuesday night and thought it was pure JOY! The cast is excellent and the energy was electric! Shoutout to the ensemble who are going non-stop throughout the show and dancing some great choreography. Casey Likes excels at Marty by making it his own with some touches of Michael J Fox in there. Roger Bart is incredible and hilarious. I absolutely loved Jelani Remy's number in act one. It is a great night out and the special effects are really the icing on the cake! Yeah, it's not deep, but it wasn't meant to be.

I was there Tuesday and I thought the special effects and performances were spectacular. Hugh Coles is INCREDIBLE, I never would have figured that role would hold so much potential for physical comedy, nor would I have thought that George McFly would run away with the whole show, but there you have it. He was by far the highlight of the show for me. I loved Casey Likes too, he sounds just like Michael J. Fox and has a fantastic singing voice. Roger Bart and the rest of the cast also doing great work.

The music and script feel like they were the result of high schoolers messing around at music camp for a summer. "Hey, here's this movie, Back to the Future! Write a musical out of it!" But the rest of the audience was eating it up. I agree with the poster who said this was a theme park musical for a theme park crowd. I think I've seen better written shows at theme parks, honestly.

Updated On: 7/13/23 at 11:58 AM

quizking101 said: "To sidestep a second: I do find it odd they announced a national tour so soon. I feel like they will want this to become an institution on Broadway for a while before sending it out on the road and the decision to tour before its established itself stateside seems like it would disincentive people to travel and see it in NYC"

The show was supposed to open at the end of last season with the lease for the Winter Garden being signed at the end of last summer right before The Music Man announced its initial closing date of January 1, 2023, which was when the tour was first planned. Producers then decided to wait and open the show during the summer instead, but couldn't postpone the tour and was the main reason The Music Man could extend those 2 additional weeks. There were a few possible reasons for the postponement:

1. Producers feared 2 months was not enough time to load out The Music Man and load in the very technical production that is Back to The Future, and have the it ready for technical rehearsals by early March.
2. The season was already very crowded with Kimberly Akimbo, & Juliet, Some Like It Hot and the looming behemoths of Bad Cinderella, New York, New York, and Sweeney Todd opening in the Spring.
3. They didn't think the tourism market that looks like its going to be the key to shows success would be recovered enough post Covid by spring especially looking at how the prior season shows performed over the summer and wanted to hold off a little longer to peak tourism season in NYC.

I imagine they had to import someone from the UK cast in order to allow Roger Bart to perform over there in the first place. It's usually a deal between the two unions. That's not to diminish the work Coles is doing -- he's great!

quizking101 said: "I think what Coles is doing on that stage is really the sort of transcendent character work that merits an import from the UK. All of these roles could easily be (and were) cast by American actors so it truly speaks to his performance and the producers’ investment in him that they brought him over for the Broadway launch.

McFly is, with all due respect, a generic every-boy role and you could probably find dozens of chorus boys who could slide in and make it their big break. Likes is definitely a rising Broadway talent and I’m glad he’s getting a fresh start after ALMOST FAMOUS flopped."

Jordan Catalano said: "Happy to be well enough this week to go back to the theater so I finally caught this tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed it in London the few times I’ve seen it and, while I DID enjoy it tonight, I can’t place my finger on why I think it’s better over there. Casey is fantastic, Roger is doing Roger, Hugh is still giving that same amazing performance and the effects are all the same. But I just cant figure out why I felt something was missing.
But really it doesn’t matter, the audience was having an absolute blast and even my friend who hates this kind of stuff but had a great time tonight, said this is gonna run for years.


And there was no fat suit for Lorraine tonight, so I guess they got rid of it."


Was the fat suit a Broadway thing? I saw the show last month and I have no recollection of a fat suit in London… but maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention?

Do you think Michael J will attend opening night?

They are doing a performance and party in a few weeks ti benefit his foundation.

Love the movie. It came out when I was 11 and I still consider it a top 4 movie.

Music is a big part of the movie so a musical makes sense. No one has mentioned the orchestra here. It’s incredible. The underscoring from the movie is thrilling to hear on Broadway.

I won the lottery. I was 2nd row center in the mezzanine.

I did love the songs esp “Something About That Boy” and “Gotta Start Somewhere.”

This is the perfect musical to bring children have already seen Wicked and The Lion King multiple times. It will be a massive hit.

Huckster2 said: "also, another theme on the negative posts . Songs not memorable. That’s because it is original music. Most songs heard the very first time, especially in a show with so much else going on, are not memorable. That is why juke box musical reviews say “they like the music””, while originals are not memorable. Case in point. Read the original reviews for the much beloved Wicked. Bttf music is better on multiple listening like every show. It took me many listens to even understand Hamilton lyrics, and we know that music is great."

Of course, music is different for everyone, but as someone who would describe BTTF's score as "not memorable", usually I can't remember a specific melody directly after a show, but I do remember songs where I have a moment of "I can't wait to hear that again" and BTTF just does not have that. Upon listening to the cast album afterwards, there were 2 songs I think that stood out enough for me to add them to my music library but I still couldn't tell you which ones or how they sounded (and the Chuck Berry song just really outshone them).

It sounds like you'll probably enjoy the show though, so have fun, and it will be interesting to hear your thoughts afterwards!

I felt fortunate to have seen the show without Bart in London.

Cory English was Doc Brown without all of the Bart ticks. A lot less annoying.

He chewed the appropriate amount of scenery.

JeffDaEgg2 said: "I was there last night (won lotto, got orchestra S11), and Lorraine had some sort of added weight on her in the 1985 scene (it was really bad pillow-y stuffing, from what I could tell....so not an actual fat suit, but think Regina George's clearly-this-is-a-pillow-on-her-butt moment from the Mean Girls film). Not sure if that's different from what was used before.

Was anyone else there last night? I'm 99% sure the final big car effect didn't happen at all but I want to make sure I'm not hallucinating. The car was impressive, but I have NO recollection of the final effect that was previously mentioned in spoilers. and I'd be worried for my wellbeing if I somehow repressed it."

I guess we have the evolution of a Wicked no-fly show!