Brand Loyal Musicals in London

LONDON – The shiny toy has a human story embedded in it.Back to the Future: The MusicalOpened here at the Adelphi Theater on Monday night. But you pretty much know from the very beginning that a revitalized audience hides its biggest roar of recognition for a certain stage set.

would be buzzing car It was so loved by the 1985 blockbuster that it’s the business card of Tony Award-winning director John Rando’s transcription of the movie in the West End. (A run in Manchester in March 2020 was interrupted due to the epidemic.)

And so it proves. The lauded DeLorean has yet to enter a set by Tim Hatley, which itself resembles a giant computer console with LED bezels, as the theater has erupted in the past with chants that may have been reserved for legends, so to speak. scene. The gull-wing doors are almost ready to fly, the vehicle then ascends to the auditorium and somersaults along the way. “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang“Eat your heart.

The result honors a hard-working array of lighting, sound and video designers – not to mention the illusions of Chris Fisher – and recalls the mega-musical era of the 1980s and its addiction to visual effects: “The falling chandelier in The Phantom of the Opera” and just to name two examples. The spinning helicopter in “Miss Saigon” for

What about the actors? Back to the Future’s opening performance, as it were, suffered a last-minute substitution when (awesome) lead actor Roger Bart was suspended that day with a positive Covid-19 diagnosis. The role of wild-haired Doc Brown, immortalized onscreen by Christopher Lloyd, was temporarily given to Bart’s backup Mark Oxtoby. In the last preview, I caught Bart’s upbeat, manic and unexpectedly touching performance.

Still, can you imagine the turmoil that may ensue is the show’s mechanized abilities to close shop? This, as with many films that have made their way into stage musicals, brings grief to a stage attempt that exists mainly to honor the brand. As with the Disney extravaganza “Frozen,” which opened in a newly bustling West End just five days ago, the creators should give the obsessive a reasonable copy of the movie as they try to find something uniquely stage-worthy against all odds. a franchise. (Both musicals outweigh the goods.)

The need to think outside the celluloid box explains 16 new songs by Grammy winners Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard that overload a story known in musical terms for News, which is currently rocking Huey Lewis and The Power of Love on screen. Always welcomed, this provocative shows up just in time to fuel a happy ending with applause.

By contrast, the new songs feel largely full, but Bart finds “For the Dreamers” appealingly pathetic, and Olly Dobson brings boundless energy and a powerful voice to wannabe rocker Marty McFly, the young time traveler Marty McFly playing in the movie Michael J by Fox. “Something About That Boy” has fast-paced catchy to the “Grease” era the material pays homage to, and a few issues specifically refer to time, befitting a sci-fi narrative where skateboarders are happy. Marty is forced to repair less than the space-time continuum.

Still, it’s DeLorean who started a double-page program post explaining vehicle features like temporal domain stabilizers, a Tachyon Pulse Generator, and most importantly, a Flux Capacitor. As the engine that drives the plot – you’ll forgive that choice of words – it gets an exercise when this last item goes back to 1955 in an anxious Marty’s effort to reunite his family to ensure his own existence is not erased. .

Since 1985 itself was a long time ago, the book by Bob Gale (a co-author of the film with Robert Zemeckis) reasonably dismissed the Libyan terrorists featured in the film. Instead, we take a rather hopeless reference to the current cabbage appetite and a tongue-in-cheek reference to 2020 as a time without war, crime, or disease.

To the ventures from Marty’s own mother, Lorraine (a clear-voiced Rosanna Hyland), it’s her 1950s geeky charmer Hugh Coles). Rhyming with “myopia” and “utopia” in the song, this slow blooming wizard is not his own son, who belongs in Lorraine’s arms.

A friendship develops between Marty and Doc, a mentor who has broken the fourth wall more than once in this iteration, expressing the horror of finding himself surrounded by the high pitch choir line of choreographer Chris Bailey. Surprise, in context, is understandable. After all, it can’t be easy to do a fold dance in a scenario where the car is making the best moves.

“FrozenThe vast stage of Theater Royal Drury Lane is breath-taking as she surrenders to a shimmering ice landscape, where Elsa, endowed with magic, can sing “Let It Go,” the powerful Oscar-winning ballad from the 2013 animated film. This sends the audience into a high range. But for all the transformations with Christopher Oram’s set, the emphasis is firmly on the characters, not particularly on the restrained Elsa (Samantha Barks) and her relatively docile sister Anna, whose arrogance is intended to look endearing. I’m afraid it caught me cold on screen and back on stage. (It must be said that a spoiled Stephanie McKeon did what the piece required.)

It is Elsa, who is perfectly aware of Barks, who benefits most from this reassessment of a show. first Broadway title forced to resign by the pandemic. Having had time to re-look at the material, director Michael Grandage and his team reinforced the full emotional state of a snow queen in wild conflict with her own powers and gave the brothers a duet: “I Can’t Lose You,” making this show in a literal or figurative environment set by “Wicked.” places it on a centered continuum. brotherhood.

The plot is still strange: Anna and Elsa’s parents die at sea, the loss is hardly significant, and many changes in behavior seem decidedly arbitrary. Oh, and beyond giving choreographer Rob Ashford something to do, how else to explain the second curtain-opener “Hygge,” which features an ensemble half-clothed from a sauna?

A definite bonus to the London production is the restoration of a reported restoration. 60 million pounds The theater itself now looks posh enough that I might be wary of inviting thousands of people through such elegantly furnished portals. “Frozen” is sure to attract countless families throughout its run. Let’s hope these hungry and thirsty bosses treat their new fascinating surroundings with respect.

Back to the Future: The Musical. Directed by John Rando. Adelphi Theatre.

Frozen. Directed by Michael Grandage. Theater Royal Drury Lane.