Hello, McFly? ‘Back to the Future: The Musical’ brings 1.21 gigawatts of entertainment to Kennedy Center
The 1985 blockbuster movie remains one of the most beloved sci-fi family comedies of all time.
Now, the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical version arrives in D.C. as “Back to the Future: The Musical” hits the Kennedy Center from July 23 to Aug. 11.
“I love it and I think everybody loves it,” actor Don Stephenson told WTOP.
“You could argue this is the greatest time-travel story ever made and I think there’s a good case to be made for that. … It has all of the special effects, the sci-fi and the time travel, but the main thing that it has is heart. The way you learn to appreciate and love your parents and the relationship and mentorship between Doc and Marty is very heartfelt.”
Adapted from screen to stage by Bob Gale, who cowrote the film with director Robert Zemeckis, the story follows Marty McFly, who is transported back to 1955 in a DeLorean time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown.
There’s one catch: he accidentally alters the course of his family history and find himself in a race against time to make his parents fall back in love, while simultaneously trying to send himself … back to the future.
“Bob Gale, the co-creator of it who’s been with us every day in rehearsals and on the road with us, he tells this great story of flipping through his father’s high school yearbook and he sees a picture of his dad and he’s like, ‘Huh, I wonder what he was like then?,’ which we’ve all done,” Stephenson said.
“With that kernel of an idea, Bob created this entire journey that we’ve all gotten to go on all of these years.”
Stephenson said he loves playing the mad-scientist role of Dr. Emmett Brown, made famous on screen by Christopher Lloyd alongside Michael J. Fox’s lovable ’80s kid Marty McFly, now played on stage by Caden Brauch.
“He and I are having a wonderful time together,” Stephenson said.
“The part of Doc is so much fun to play because Doc has always maintained his childlike wonder about everything. Doc is wide-eyed and there’s an innocence about Doc even though he’s really smart. Everything is an emergency and everything is on the edge of having a crisis with Doc. I told Bob in rehearsals that at the end of every line is an exclamation point: ‘Great Scott!'”
Visually, the crew has the wonderful challenge of bringing the iconic time-travel special effects to life on stage.
“The other co-star of the show is the DeLorean, which we have on stage,” Stephenson said.
“You will not believe what you are seeing before your eyes. Your head will expand in ways you never thought possible and you really will be taken on a ride that’s unbelievable. … It’s stunning and you really want to take your hats off to all of the designers, the director and the choreographer. They have done such a magnificent job. … I can’t believe it.”
Of course, the stage musical features plenty of new Broadway show tunes written by Alan Silvestri (music) and Glen Ballard (lyrics), along with several standout songs from the movie’s soundtrack.
“In many ways, the movie was leaning in the direction of being a musical because there was so much music in it,” Stephenson said.
“Obviously the Huey Lewis songs [‘Power of Love’ and ‘Back in Time’] were huge and we have all of that. … ‘Johnny B. Goode’ is in there when Marty plays that at the dance. … Marty plays his famous guitar solo that doesn’t quite sound like 1955 and everybody’s like, ‘What is that?’ As we know, ‘Your kids are gonna love it.'”
Audiences are encouraged to dress up and have a good time for a family-friendly evening.
“It’s such great fun,” Stephenson said.
“There was a father who came dressed as Doc and he had his 9-year-old son who was dressed as Marty, so it just goes to show you that it’s for everybody. I even saw a woman in the audience dressed as Doc! Everybody loves ‘Back to the Future,’ they identify with the characters and it’s really great fun for the whole family. You’ll experience the story in a brand new way whether you’ve seen the movie or not.”