Back to the Future Musical Review

 

Sunday 27th March. 3pm GMT. A monumental day in Musical Theatre History

As a Christmas present, had the pleasure of seeing the new Back to the Future musical at the Adelphi Theatre on London's Strand. 

BTTF is one of my favourite films of all time, a screenplay that is perfection and features two great performances in Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd whose friendship is tested by 30 years, and yet the story of Marty McFly travelling back in time in a DeLorean to 1955 to encounter his parents before they meet and putting in peril the space-time continuum is the basis for a new musical built around the inspirational score by Alan Silvestri with new original songs and lyrics by original screenwriter Bob Gale and Glen Ballard.

The show is a jumping gigawatt of energy and enthusiasm, from the outset there have been adjustments to bring the show up to the 21st century with the removal of Libyan terrorists completely and satirical asides about the future, 'No hunger, no war, no disease'.

The songs at the start of the show do not carry muster personally speaking, and it is only the injection of Doc Brown (portrayed here by Mark Oxtoby, understudy to Roger Bart) that the show and songs raise their game as the friendship between Marty and Doc takes centre stage, this is a friendship that has to stand the test of time with Marty knowing what may happen.

The show is further helped by the portrayal of George McFly by Hugh Coles (Olivier nominated and favourite perhaps) who takes the socially awkward and guffawing of Crispin Glover's screen performance and amps it up but maintaining a genuine sincerity to the role, his arc culminating in the punch to Biff which rightly gets a round of applause by the audience.

                                 

The second act begins with a storming '21st Century' number for Doc Brown that helps crank up the pace of show that does not ease up, leading to George's punch of Biff, and Marty's playing of guitar with 'Johnny B. Goode' and 'The Power of Love'

Further, the technical wizardry on offer at the show is outstanding, the use of the stage incorporating the DeLorean as an actual prop and device that can move thanks to back projection and lighting heralds a new dawn of theatre going with an immersive, special effects driven show. A car has flown on stage before with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but this is added effect and it pays off.

By the film's conclusion, with Silvestri's marvellous horn driven score sounding out this viewer (and his wife) had a happy tear rolling down his cheek. It was like I was watching the film again for the first time, the thrill of the car reaching for 88mph.

This show is suitable for fans old and new of the film, and for new theatre goers also this is a great gateway to the magic of musical theatre, great sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment by all, with people singing along to Huey Lewis' mega-hit. This is something for all ages.

Back to the Future is at the Adelphi Theatre, London where tickets are available.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 7.30pm. 

Wednesday/Saturday 2.30pm Matinee. Sunday 3pm Matinee

It has been nominated for 7 Olivier Awards which will be awarded in April; including Best New Musical, Best Lead Actor in a Musical (Olly Dobson) and Supporting Actor in a Musical (Hugh Coles - one to watch).

Why Rent is still on the money

Going to the theatre is a great experience, going to see something for the first time is a better one. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its original Broadway production, Rent is doing a limited run at the St. James' Theatre.

Rent is the Pulitzer Prize winning musical by Jonathan Larson, who sadly passed away mere days before the first show in Broadway. Yet his legacy and drive for success has always been apparent in the collaborative unity of the show; a group of rag tag individuals from differing social, cultural and racial backgrounds come together to make life long friendships.

Set upon the text of Puccini's La Boheme, the musical is the calling card of young Americans fighting off the disillusionment and alienating effect of living in America (at the end of the Millennium).

For that reason, Rent still remains a significant and unique piece of theatre that is both timeless and prescient. Watching the piece now in an age when America has elected a celebrity as their President still there is this divide between the expected normality of sexual relations, heightened tensions between communities of differing races. However, there is still the music of the soul and heart of performance.

Rent unabashedly gives high praise to the creative souls who endeavour to make good work in whichever chosen media as a means of expression (Mark) or protest (Maureen).

This production is directed by Bruce Guthrie was one of immense talent and conviction; the performers sang with such ferocity and fierce pride in their work that the emotion was washing over the audience in abundance.  The spirit of collaboration was there when the small cast came to sing 'Seasons of Love' at the start of Act II, when the big verses where sung by the periphery/background actors giving them a platform to raise the roof and showing they are a match for the principles.

Standout performances come from Layton Williams as Angel, full of physical dexterity and electrical vocal range and Ryan O'Gorman as Tom Collins, using his velvety rich baritone to engender real feeling into his solo songs 'Santa Fe' and 'I'll Cover You'; and it is fitting that Williams and O'Gorman have a great chemistry in their ensuing loving relationship on stage.

The musical Rent is on at the St. James' Theatre until 28th January. I suggest you go and treat yourself to see a brilliant production of a timeless piece of musical theatre that will stand the test of time; one that like the greatest of musicals (Oklahoma, West Side Story) that continues to resonate due to its universal themes of love, friendship and community.  These themes still ring true to us all.

525,600 minutes. How do you measure a year? How about love?

HANGMEN

Marking his return to the theatre after 10 years away making hit films such as In Bruges, Martin McDonagh's new play Hangmen is a chamber piece set over two nights in an Oldham pub run by Harry (David Morrissey), the second best Hangman in England, who is being interviewed by a young reporter Clegg (James Dryden) for the Oldham Gazette, about the abolition of hanging and the death penalty in 1965.

From the outset, when we see Harry perform a routine hanging of a soul pleading his innocence alongside his assistant Syd (Andy Nyman), McDonagh does not hold back in depicting the broad strokes of the characters promptly. Harry is a man who likes his work, is respected and proud of the service and identity the work provides, whilst Syd is beneath Harry and will start there in stature and class.

The play has a real rat a tat about the dialogue, a back and forth usually seen in 1930s Screwball comedies, you have to keep your wits about you otherwise you might miss some information but McDonagh is always gracious enough to stop and take a breathe with a well placed shit or fuck to halt proceedings.

The introduction of Mooney (Johnny Flynn), an upstart Londoner into the pub looking to rent a room out, prompts a shift in tone from light to sinister as Mooney may well not be the lad about town people think he is.

The play at 2 and a half hours long with an interval is breezy and flies by, this is in part thanks to the writing ably helped by the stellar cast throughout lead by Morrissey's strong central performance, his arc from begrudging self-satisfaction to acceptance of his changing role in a changing time is delicately handled by such an accomplished actor.

Flynn as Mooney plays him with the right menace and needle as the diffident outsider with a hint of Malcolm McDowell from If... and A Clockwork Orange in there, and while Nyman as Syd does do meek and weak well, this reviewer would have greatly liked to have seen Reece Shearsmith's performance where laughs and pathos would have mixed better.

And a special mention to Simon Rouse as half-deaf Arthur who gets the cheap laughs as part of the three man Greek chorus of Harry's regulars, and brings the house down with an innocuous line 'At least Shirley is safe, that's the most important thing', a line of heartfelt intent but misguided context.

Matthew Dunster's direction is tight and the use of the conversation between Harry and Clegg where they look out to the audience instead of each other is handled well, and the set design and period detail by Anna Fleischle is pitch perfect to a tee from Harry's three piece suit to Mooney's pencil tie.

Stop hanging around and go see Hangmen before its life is cut short.

Hangmen is at the Wyndhams Theatre, Charing Cross Road and is a Delfont Mackintosh Theatre.

All New People

Zach Braff (star of TV sitcom Scrubs) transfers his self-penned debut theatrical play to the London West End after a brief run on Broadway in early Autumn of last year.  Only this time, Braff is taking the lead role of Charlie, previously performed by Justin Bartha (The Hangover).

When we first encounter Charlie, he is smoking a cigarette whilst standing on a chair with a noose around his neck.  Charlie is at his lowest ebb, he is about to commit suicide.  And then there is a knock at the door, and Charlie's plans to a turn for the better.

Emma (Eve Myles -Torchwood) is a British girl attempting to sell the beach house for the summer, the beach house Charlie says belongs to his parents.  Emma initially wants to ask Charlie why he wants to kill himself, yet he is reluctant to be close to anyone.

Emma calls in reinforcements, Myron (Paul Hilton) a fireman who is also the local drug dealer who joins the slowly growing party.  The third knock at the door presents a prostitute, Kim (Susannah Fielding) who is a gift to Charlie from an old friend in Manhattan.

Set in the bleak midwinter of Long Island, the cold and bitterness of the outside elements try to exact upon the people inside this one set play.  Braff has written a play that is at times laugh out loud funny and at times quite gripping with the emotional pull nearer the end of the conclusion.

Braff's play revolves around the fear of something to the central character (in the same vein of Neil Simon or Woody Allen, those other Jewish doyen writers), in this respect it is about Charlie's fear of growing older as he has hit the 35 year old milestone.  He has a stressful job as an air-traffic controller and his lapse into philosophical thinking at the desk led to the death of six people due to his mistake.

Charlie also has a fear of being alone, yet he is quick to shun away any attention he receives from his three visitors (they can be considered ghostly; the prostitute represents his past, Myron his here and now and Emma the possibility of future - a debt to Dickens perhaps).  The vigour and unexpectedness of the three guests leads to a wave of profanity in a plea for privacy, yet only once does he calm down does the comedy come out of the character's themselves, once we get over the initial set up of preventing Charlie's suicide.  The play morphs from a situation comedy to that of one driven by character.

The ending although slightly ambigious, can be deemed to be relatively happy for all concerned considering the real-time events that have taken place previously.

Braff is having fun with the format, and you can see the time he spent watching each performance in New York has paid dividends - Charlie whilst being the reason we are here, is the straight man of the piece - the best lines are reserved for Hilton and Fielding, in characters that could have been one-dimensional yet projected into something else.  Braff also delights in destroying the set - cornflakes, broken glasses, a broken art display lay strewn over the stage by the end; he also has a good ear for a joke, such as the running gag of him booby-trapping the apartment like Home Alone.  That joke works, because Braff is writing as a man who remembers how big that film was and the cultural significance of the work on the audience he is writing for.  The audience is mostly all 20-40 year old white anglo-saxons who are enjoying the fact they are seeing a famous sitcom character in the flesh.

However, if you expect anything resembling the manic frenzy of a Scrubs episode, you shall be severely disappointed.

Braff has a real presence on stage, never over-reaching for our attachment to his character; yet his work as writer is the star here. For acting plaudits, you need to look at the supporters - all have a dark secret and they all act their socks off.  Myles shows she has bones for comedy, Fielding gives her bimbo blonde a neat twist but Hilton, a RSC veteran, is amazing in his role as the cyncial Myron; he is having fun with Braff's words giving different connotations to the words on the page with real panache.

All New People is a debut theatrical work by a special talent; go see it for an engaging night out in the West End that is not a musical and is not a farce.

It runs at the Duke of York's Theatre on St. Martins Lane, for a strict 10 week run from 22nd February.

http://duke-of-yorks.official-theatre.co.uk/
www.allnewpeople.co.uk