Back To The Future The Musical – Adelphi Theatre

Olly Dobson and Roger Bart in Back to the Future the Musical at the Adelphi Theatre, London. Picture: Sean Ebsworth Barnes

Back To The Future The Musical continues at the Adelphi Theatre, London.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Film to stage adaptations are tricky, especially if the movie in question has taken on an iconic status. Stick too closely to the original without re-inventing the piece and the results may be disappointing (Dirty Dancing onstage is an example of this). Stray too far from the earlier version and you risk alienating a crucial fan base.

When it comes to the classic 1985 film Back To The Future, I am very much part of that fan base (as a teenager I had posters of Michael J Fox as Marty McFly on my wall) and though Back To The Future The Musical doesn’t get everything right, it’s fair to say it ticks many of the right creative boxes.

While the production perhaps lack originality in the book and score departments, no such criticism can be aimed at the show’s design. On entering the auditorium, Tim Hatley’s sprawling circuit board, video game-style design does wonders in transporting an audience into another world where time travel can exist alongside the drudgery of everyday life, where ‘if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything’.

Hatley does a fine job on all fronts, not least the shift between the styles of 1955 and 1985, but the real triumph has to be making onstage time travel believable in that iconic DeLorean car, complete with flux capacitor. This pièce de résistance is of course a collaborative effort so full credit also to lighting designer Tim Lutkin, video designer Finn Ross, sound designer Gareth Owen, illusion designer Chris Fisher and Twins FX. I wouldn’t want to give anything away about how these vital scenes are achieved but they create a sense of wonder that is perhaps lacking elsewhere.

It must have felt imperative for librettist Bob Gale (the book is based on the movie written by Gale and co-creator/producer Robert Zemeckis) to be faithful to the film, but ultimately theatre is a different art-form and while it is great to hear so many familiar lines (as well as a few references to popular culture and recent events), it doesn’t always feel as if the writing is making an emotional connection with the audience.

This isn’t helped by a pretty forgettable score from Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard, although it has to said there are a few exceptions including ‘Pretty Baby’, ‘Something About That Boy’, ‘Put Your Mind To It’ and ‘For the Dreamers’.

The last of these, sung by Roger Bart’s delightfully eccentric Doc Brown, has an emotional resonance (particularly in light of recent life-saving efforts from scientists across the world), the kind of which would have been welcome in bigger doses elsewhere in the show.

Bart, back after quarantining due to a bout of Covid, is in fabulous form, whether delivering the fast-paced dialogue or performing songs accompanied by different dance troupes who appear every time one of his musical set-pieces begins (choreographer Chris Bailey doesn’t always hit the spot but his work for Bart is good fun and often helps him break the fourth wall). Every time Bart appears, the energy of the production goes up a notch.

There is also much to savour in Bart’s onstage relationship with the extremely personable Olly Dobson as Marty McFly, a chemistry first nurtured in the show’s pre-West End (and pre-Covid) tryout in Manchester. Rarely offstage, Dobson is something of a Michael J Fox doppelganger but also brings his own charm and triple threat talent to the table. He doesn’t disappoint when it comes to performing those memorable tracks (‘The Power of Love’, ‘Johnny B. Goode’) from the movie either.

Among a strong and enthusiastic ensemble, Huge Coles (George McFly), Rosanna Hyland (Lorraine Baines) and Aidan Cutler (Biff Tannen) make an impression, even if they are little limited to playing imitations of their movie counterparts, and the golden-voiced Cedric Neal (Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry) is a joyful presence as always.

I should point out that the majority of the audience around me constantly interacted with director John Rando’s production and couldn’t wait to jump up and applaud when the curtain came down. For many fans of the movie, the show will provide all the familiar ingredients they hoped for, with some jaw-dropping stagecraft thrown in. The jury’s out on how well it will work for those who don’t know the source material. For me, Back To The Future The Musical will remain an entertaining rather than an exciting experience.

Lisa Martland