After I first heard that Again to the Future was being tailored right into a Broadway musical, I used to be each curious and skeptical.
How do you’re taking a beloved basic like this iconic ’80s movie and switch it right into a musical stage manufacturing? My spouse and I made a decision to see for ourselves over the weekend, and, properly… it was actually freakin’ bizarre.
From the opening moments of the play, it was clear that this was going to be a wierd journey and it wasn’t going to be a totally trustworthy retelling of the film everyone knows and love.
Main elements of the story have been modified, and it began with Doc Brown’s destiny as he doesn’t get shot by terrorists within the musical. As an alternative, he succumbs to radiation poisoning from the plutonium he makes use of to energy the DeLorean. It’s a wierd, somber shift for such an lively character.
And the ending? The film’s finale is changed by a baffling “George McFly Day,” celebrating Marty’s father’s newfound confidence as a well-known creator.
Oh, and let’s not neglect the half the place Marty touches his mother’s boob. Sure, you learn that proper. Lorraine, Marty’s mother, is way extra aggressive in pursuing him within the play than within the film.
That stated, there have been some genuinely cool moments within the manufacturing. The results used for the DeLorean and the time-travel sequences have been spectacular and creative.
The staging and particular results group clearly labored onerous to make these scenes dynamic and enjoyable. It’s only a disgrace the remainder of the manufacturing didn’t stay as much as the identical degree of creativity.
After which there’s the music. Oh, the music. As somebody who grew up with a dad deeply concerned in musical theater, I’d wish to suppose I developed a very good ear for good music, and the music in Again to the Future: The Musical was tough. There was possibly one respectable tune, however even that one was forgettable.
Not one of the authentic film’s allure or power translated into the musical numbers, which have been bland at finest and cringe-worthy at worst.
One other challenge was the tone. Every thing in regards to the musical felt overly cartoonish, as if the manufacturing couldn’t resolve whether or not it wished to be a spoof or a honest adaptation. The consequence was a weird mixture of slapstick humor, over-the-top appearing, and awkward storytelling that by no means fairly clicked.
In the long run, the present left me feeling that simply because you’ll be able to adapt a basic film right into a musical doesn’t imply you must. The unique Again to the Future is a masterclass in storytelling, pacing, and character growth—qualities the musical struggles to seize.
For followers of the movie, it could be value seeing purely out of curiosity, however don’t count on to go away the theater feeling such as you’ve traveled again to the long run.
You’ll extra possible go away scratching your head and questioning, “What did I simply watch?”
