BACK TO THE FUTURE – THE MUSICAL | OPENING NIGHT REPORT

BY NEIL KENNY

I was fortunate in getting a ticket for the opening night (20th February 2020) of the Back to the Future – The Musical at the Palace Theatre and Opera House Manchester.

This was all very last minute planning having spotted the single available seat the preceding day on the theatre’s website.

I arrived early in order to collect my ticket from the Box Office and there were people in costume everywhere. At one point I ended up talking to a party of Marty McFly’s (and one Doc) all the way from France as we waited in line for Bob Gale (who wrote the film) who was at the bar signing autographs. Alas that plan came unstuck when he was called away (but more on that later).

When it came to show time I was in seat Z33 – which is at the back – but still had a reasonable view. Next to me was a lady from Scotland who had chosen to visit Manchester after her cruise to Hong Kong got cancelled (due to the Coronavirus) and on the other was a chap who I had encountered before at a Comic-Con. Small world….

But what about the show? Well it was jolly good fun. You cannot help but smile as it tells a familiar but ever so slightly streamlined tale. That doesn’t mean they lose much but they have coalesced it to fit the format. However I also noticed a few lines that snuck in from the sequel movie.

Onstage all sorts of tricks are played to create the locations and some very clever front and rear projection is often used. That and the use of a turntable allowed for some quite creative moments and transitions between scenes. And let’s not forget the car; The DeLorean’s sudden appearance on stage was very dramatic – the audience erupted at that point!

In fact the experience was very cinematic and you actually forgot at times that this was live action. During the course of the show they did things that are normal from a TV and film perspective but are challenging when done live on stage. So praise goes to Biff’s leg for the freeze frame (that was some muscle control) and they also managed to do a fourth wall gag (of sorts).

Being a musical there were obviously a few songs; a surprising variety of styles were employed to match the time period on stage and don’t forget the story’s present day is now the past to us ‘the audience’.

Downsides? Well not many apart from like all venues your experience will be governed by your seat but even where I was I had a fairly decent view of the proceedings. There was a long pause in the second half as a technical problem stopped the action but that didn’t last long and there were a few niggles where some of the magic was momentarily revealed by accident courtesy of rogue stage lighting but that was a very quick incident that most people wouldn’t have noticed.

And the cast?; the leads were very good. Marty is very close to the original with a very similar voice. The Doc is slightly different from the character we knew as he has become a few degrees cooler(!) so that he makes a better fit into the musical numbers. Marty’s parents (all versions) really do convey the characters you remember, Biff has a song with misspoken lyrics like his character and the future Mayor of Hill Valley (oops is that a spoiler!) brings his part to life. In fact the whole company performs well and as I’ve already mentioned the ‘freeze frame’ calls for some rock steady posing.

So I can say that I enjoyed it immensely and the audience clearly did. If you need a reason to go see it and not wishing to spoil the experience so I’ll just say this; where else are you going to see the Doc boogieing on a hoverboard…

And finally – I did meet Bob Gale and Alan Silvestri (composer of the music) as they were seated not far from me in the stalls. Really nice chaps who stayed back to meet the crowds.

Back to the Future – The Musical is on for 12 weeks only at the Palace Theatre and Opera House Manchester.

Check out the official website here.