Welcome to Hill Valley! Marty McFly is a rock 'n' roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence. Based on the beloved film of the same name, Back to the Future is directed by John Rando. Set your destination time, New York and get ready to make musical theater history.
What Back to the Future does deliver instead of commentary on the original is a beat-by-beat translation of its set pieces. The DeLorean arrives onstage at the same time as Bart’s Doc, and actor and car split the entrance applause. When Marty gets inside and guns for 88 miles per hour, the screens around the stage blur behind him. (I felt right back in that Universal Studios amusement-park ride.) You’ll perhaps notice a V-shaped set of slats in the stage, ready to ignite behind the wheels of the car, and later on, the DeLorean soars into the air for its own “Defying Gravity” moment — turns out the flying cars are here. The stagecraft is well managed (Chris Fisher, of The Cursed Child, is credited with the illusions, while Finn Ross did the video design and Hugh Vanstone the lighting), but watching the climax, where Doc and Marty race to get everything set in time for lightning to strike, I kept noticing how much the musical nearly turned into a movie. The screens, which so dominate the set, provide for cuts between Doc and Marty, the score’s basically the one you know, and the actors are really there only to sit in a car and on a ledge and shout lines you know. When the ledge under Doc crumbles, that’s a screen too. If this is the future arriving on Broadway, it looks way too much like another medium’s past.
The musical is good at pointing and saying, 'Look, something shiny or cool!' So if the musical dips into an underwhelming song or misfires a gag (like Marty brandishing a lightsaber in an attempt to substitute an inadaptable film quote), the production's hyperactivity and spectacle can draw you back in. Props sizzle with pyrotechnics and Finn Ross's video designs zip like '2001: Space Odyssey' stargating. Not least of all, the clocktower climax glides like cinematic crosscutting thanks to the coordinated projection and sets.
Rush Tickets:
Price: $40
Where: Rush tickets will be available every day when the Winter Garden Theatre box office opens, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Limit: Two per customer.
Restrictions: Seat locations and the number of tickets available are subject to availability and determined at the discretion of the box office.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $45
Where: https://rush.telecharge.com/
When: The digital lottery opens at 12AM ET one day before the performance and winners are drawn at 10AM ET and 3PM ET that same day.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Tickets are non-transferable and subject to availability.
2021 | West End |
West End Premiere West End |
2021 | West End |
West End |
2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2024 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical | Roger Bart |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical | Casey Likes |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Tim Lutkin |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Gareth Owen |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Video/Projections (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Finn Ross |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Roger Bart |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Tim Hatley |
Videos