“Back to the Future” co-creator Bob Gale has advice for fans of the 1985 time-travel movie classic who may be hesitant about seeing the 2020 musical version.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people who were nervous about going to the show because they were afraid they were going to ruin their childhood, ruin their memories—but don’t worry about that,” said Gale during a phone interview to promote the show, which comes to San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre on Feb. 12 and runs through March 9.
Bob Gale is the co-creator of the massively popular “Back to the Future” franchise. (Screenshot/”Back to the Future: The Musical” Facebook page)
“I can assure everybody that that won’t happen. I’ve been with it from the beginning to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Gale adds, mentioning that English actress Hannah Waddingham (of “Ted Lasso” fame) who presented him with the show’s Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2022, hadn’t seen it. He says he told her, “‘Go see the show. If you’re unhappy, I’ll give you your money back.’ She’s since seen it three times.”
With a book by Gale, and music and lyrics by Grammy winners Alan Silvestri (who wrote the film’s score) and hitmaker Glen Ballard (who worked with Alanis Morissette and Wilson Phillips), “Back to the Future: The Musical,” of course, tells the story of a Marty McFly, a 1985 teen who takes a trip back to 1955 in a souped up DeLorean, then must intervene in the high-school lives of his parents to ensure they get together so he can be born.
Gale says the musical is not a play-by-play of the movie. Taking a chapter out of the TV show ‘Knight Rider,’ the time-machine car, for example, now talks: “It sounds like Siri and it works great.” It also has a bit of an attitude, sassing back “profanity not necessary” when Marty tells it, “Damn it, start!” and it won’t, because it only recognizes the voice of Doc Brown, the mad scientist who created it.
Also missing: Doc’s dog Einstein. Gale says, “The dog isn’t in the show because you can’t do that onstage, except somebody in a ridiculous dog costume.”
One of Gale’s favorite numbers is “It Works,” when the DeLorean enters, and it’s accompanied by women in silver racing suits dancing in the background: “It’s just so insane and crazy,” says Gale. “Upon seeing it for the first time, I was laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes.”
Gale notes that, like the movie, the live show has fans of all ages and backgrounds: “It’s initiating a new generation into the wonderful world of musical theater. And so we get families here, we get people that love the movies. And we get a lot of straight guys who wouldn’t normally want to go see a musical but come for the car.”
During the Broadway run, members of the New York Giants and New York Jets came, and for some it was their first musical, Gale says.
Interestingly, despite the unquestionable admiration for the “Back to the Future” franchise (there are two film sequels to the original), making the musical was not easy. The film trilogy was made in 10 years; it took more than 15 years for the stage show to come together because producers were wary that the creative team, including director-writer Robert Zemeckis, had not worked in the theater world.
But when Colin Ingram, producer of “Ghost: The Musical,” came in contact with the team, they knew they found the right guy. Gale says, “Colin was a lot younger than some of the producers. He was a fan of the movie and that makes a big difference absolutely.”
For Gale, the story of “Back to the Future” in all its forms remains universal, for every culture and every generation, he says, “Because who doesn’t wonder about what my parents were? And the idea that your parents were once kids? I mean, it’s a shocking realization when you’re 8 years old.”
“Back to the Future: The Musical” runs Feb. 12 through March 9 at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets are $60 to $254 at broadwaysf.com or (888) 746-1799.
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