A ‘Back to the Future’ Musical Arrives on Broadway Next Summer

Plenty of 1980s movie properties continue to be plundered for remakes and reboots, but you’re not likely to see one based on 1985’s Back to the Future. Director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale have opposed any attempts to do so, with Zemeckis remarking “Oh, God, no” when the idea was broached in 2015.

But you can still check out a new iteration of Doc Brown and Marty McFly—provided you head to Broadway next summer.

Back to the Future: The Musical is set to open at the Winter Garden Theatre on August 3, 2023, after successful runs at the Manchester Opera House and the Adelphi Theatre in London. As in the feature, the musical follows the adventures of unlikely friends Doc and Marty, who threaten to unravel time after Marty travels back to 1955 to save Doc from being murdered by terrorists and endangers his own existence in the process.

Actor Roger Bart plays Doc. A stateside version of Marty, who was played by Olly Dobson in the UK, has yet to be announced.

Gale wrote the book for the musical, with trilogy composer Alan Silvestri and songwriter Glen Ballard doing the music. Gale told The New York Times that the idea for the project began when Leslie Zemeckis, Robert’s wife, saw The Producers on Broadway 15 years ago and recommended Back to the Future be reimagined as a stage show.

The film’s famous time machine—a gull-winged DeLorean—was designed especially for the production. A crew took 3D images of a vehicle owned by collector Steven Wickenden of Deal, England. A pneumatic platform and projection screens create the illusion of the car moving on stage. (Famously, Gale originally envisioned Marty traveling via a refrigerator in early drafts of the script.)

While the show opens in August, preview performances will begin June 30.

Looking for a new movie to watch, or at least a movie that's new to you? Mental Floss's new book, The Curious Movie Buff: A Miscellany of Fantastic Films from the Past 50 Years, offers behind-the-scenes details and amazing facts about some of the greatest movies of the past half-century. And it's available now at your favorite place to buy books, or online right here.