BACK TO THE FUTURE Musical Coming to London in 2015
It looks like a Back To The Future stage musical is actually going to happen, and it's coming to London in 2015! Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis are working with Amblin, Universal Stage Productions (Wicked, Billy Elliot), and producer Colin Ingram to adapt the classic movie into a musical.
The music for the show will be written by Alan Silvestri, and it will be directed by Jamie Lloyd. Here's a statement from Gale thanks to BTTF.net.
The Back to the Future Musical is a project that Bob Zemeckis and I have been exploring for almost ten years. We’re thrilled to be at last in partnership with a creative and producing team that will create a show that is true to the spirit of the film without being a slavish remake. Director Jamie Lloyd is full of passion, energy and imaginative ideas and we are overjoyed to have the film’s composer Alan Silvestri composing the music, with lyrics by Glen Ballard who has also collaborated with Zemeckis before on many projects. With all of us working together, we know the integrity of the material will be preserved in a production that will be a wonderful companion to the Trilogy. We intend to use music from the movie along with brand new songs to make a version of Back to the Future that is fresh, entertaining, and takes advantage of all the amazing things that can now be done on stage. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film.
Here's what Lloyd had to say about bring the film to life on the stage:
Rather than attempt to recreate such an iconic movie on stage, we have assembled a brilliant artistic team to discover a unique theatrical language to take audiences on a journey through time in a vibrant, unexpected way. The production will include illusions, skateboarding and many other surprises that will capture the spirit of the film but freshly interpret it for a new audience. Steven Spielberg once described the film as a musical and whilst we are incorporating some of the original, exhilarating score and songs, Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard’s witty, infectious and heartfelt new songs are the perfect springboard to tell this uplifting story anew.
This sounds like it could turn out to be a really entertaining musical. I hope it's successful in London, because I'd love for it to find its way to the U.S. so we can watch it here!