Back to the Future is the latest London opening since lockdown. Based very heavily on the iconic film of the same name Back to The Future tells of Marty McFly who finds himself travelling from 1955 from 1985 courtesy of Docs time machine and a Dolerian. When he arrives in the 50’s he finds himself stuck there, face to face with his parents and helping to ensure that he hasn’t changed the course of history and thus erasing his existence.

The first thing that hits you about this show is the scale of it. The show has to portray a time travelling car, Doc climbing his way to the top of the clock tower and Marty falling out of a tree! The show manages to accomplish all of this and more and utilises everything from comedy to the wow effect to do so.

The set is expansive and switches from the town square to the school and to a spacecraft as well as everything in between. The set changes are so swift and the fight scene at the school switched from he canteen to the classroom following some clever choreography. The set combined with the illusions means that visually it is one of the most impressive that I have seen.

The iconic role of Doc is played by Roger Bart. He is brilliantly zany and he captures brilliantly the essence of Doc whilst putting his own stamp on it. Olly Dobson is Marty McFly and he is Michael J. Fox in all but name – his looks, his voices and mannerisms. The rest of the cast are all superb, playing up to their roles from the bully Biff, Aidan Cutler to Marty’s geeky father, Hugh Coles. A special mention also goes to Cedric Neal whose vocals popped.

Whilst Back to the Future is a musical the music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard are totally forgettable. Whilst they are fun while you are watching the show none of them even stirred any flicker of emotion and I would struggle to hum even a chorus of one of them. With music being such a vital part of a musical it is a shame that this key element is missing, especially as everything else was so strong.

If you are a fan of the film you will love the show, save for a few minor changes to make the film work on stage it remains utterly faithful to the original. This is no bad thing as the film is iconic but it does mean that sometimes the musical elements such as the score and choreography get overshadowed by flying cars and iconic lines.

If you like the sound of Back to The Future can buy tickets here.

If you liked this review you might also like my review for the Waitress tour, Come From Away and & Juliet.