SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Great Scott! Back to The Future: The Musical is roaring into Proctors at 88 miles per hour. The Broadway show is on its way to start its First National Tour, with previews taking place at the cast’s first stop: Schenectady.
From Marty McFly’s recognizable orange vest and Doc Brown’s hairstyle to songs by Huey Lewis and The News, the details you know and love from Back to The Future are center stage in the Broadway adaptation, with the movie’s creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale leading the way. Gale explained that while some scenes in had to be changed, the spectacular special effects on stage and creative writing ensure we see the non-negotiable moments from the original work.
“We have to do the clock tower scene, we have to have the Delorean go 88 miles an hour. When I was writing it, I didn’t know how exactly that was going to be done. So, I just wrote stuff and said, let’s let the professionals figure this out,” Gale said. “Everybody who signed on to work on it, they were all fans of the movie and their attitude was, ‘I love this movie. I want to make it as great as possible.'”
The original music by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard propel the story even further, with hit songs from the movie having their moment, too.
When it came to casting, Gale didn’t want someone who could do an imitation of Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, but rather, someone with their own take on the character.
“Everybody’s bringing a little bit something different, and I’m hearing inflections on lines I’ve never heard before, and they’re really good,” Gale said.
Prior to taking things on tour, Back to The Future: The Musical has played for audiences in Manchester, London, and on Broadway.
The original story has been making audiences laugh and sing along since 1985. But did you know Zemeckis and Gale’s movie script was rejected several times before getting green lit? Gale wants young aspiring artists to follow their dreams, no matter what.
“We had people tell us, ‘We’re not going to make Back to The Future because time travel movies don’t make any money.’ Or ‘yeah it’s a really nice script, but we don’t think audiences will want to go see that.’ It’s like, what do you do? Right? You just have to persevere. In the words of Doc Brown, ‘you put your mind to it, and you can accomplish it.’”