Musical adaptions of popular movies are nothing new. Just this year, we saw two film-based musicals nominated for the Tony for Best New Musical.
Now obviously, part of turning a beloved film/franchise into a musical serves a rather profitable purpose as they are selling a name of something that an audience is already familiar with, in a way to bring them in to see the show. A perfect example of this is the Spongebob Squarepants musical. I'm not the biggest fan of Spongebob but I have seen how that musical has brought in a young audience and introduced them to the world of musical theater. So, that's a good thing.
Where am I go with all this? Well, one of my favorite movies is being turned into a musical. Clearly, you can see what it is as I have brought back my Back In Time series to discuss. In February of 2020, Back To The Future: The Musical will debut in Manchester. I believe Pinkie Pie can sum up my feelings here.
Let me explain, I'm excited to see one of my favorite movies adapted to a new medium that I love but I'm also nervous about this movie being turned into something that it was not originally. I truly have nothing against musical adaptions of films as one of my favorite stage musicals is Newsies. However, there is a difference there as Newsies already was a musical and had a base skeleton to work with concerning the music. Sure, BTTF has The Power of Love, Back In Time, and the dated Johnny B. Goode sequence that may not play as well as in 2020 as it did in 1985. While I have not seen it, I have heard complaints that that sequence can be read as Marty, a white kid inventing one of the most popular songs and genres. Consider the end of that scene for a moment.
While I may have not seen it, I feel it would be disrespectful to not acknowledge that there are people that have taken umbrage with that one moment. Does that make the move as a whole, problematic? No, but we live than the '80s and if you need proof that, I suggest looking at the complaints that Tootsie has received of being called transphobic with its musical adaption. I am perhaps not the best person to speak on either of these issues but they should be addressed and not dismissed as saying people can't take a joke.
Moving away from these issues, the music is another key component of any good musical and so far, two songs sung by the show's Marty have been released. The first is just The Power of Love.
It's decent and one might say safe at first but I get why this would be the first song released in promoting the BTTF musical. It's a song that BTTF fans know and love as it's one of the two flagship songs of this franchise. So, I think starting with this song shows the fandom that this is still Back To The Future and the crew behind this show are taking good care in working with this property and hope to deliver a quality product. The next song that was released was the first original number so to speak from the show and I have a few thoughts on this.
First off, thank goodness, this show is not a jukebox musical as that would have lessened my interest in the end product a little bit. And while I'd love to hear it context, I like the idea of Marty singing this to George as a way to help build up his confidence. I've seen some people say it sounds generic but I don't see that to be the case. To me, it sounds really good.
Along these lines, this brings up something important to acknowledge, I am more than open to new actors taking on these iconic roles. I love Micheal J. Fox & Christopher Lloyd as Marty and the Doc but accepting new actors in these roles has honestly been the easiest process in hearing the news of this musical happening. I'm more interested in how they're gonna pull off the DeLorean. It baffles me a little but then again, I've seen Elphaba fly onstage, so suspension of belief is usually needed for musicals.
Like I said, I'm excited and nervous for this production and I know that it'll be a while before I get to see it but I will most certainly be following the news of this show as it's debut crawls near. At the end of the day, I really hope and think that this show can live up to the BTTF name and honor it. Let me know what you think in the comments. Peace!
