Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

So, on the 8th of September this year, I saw ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ for a second time at the Adelphi Theatre in London. I greatly enjoyed seeing it a second time, and it was fascinating to see Brian Conley taking on the role of Doc Brown this time round.

Compared to Cory English, who I enjoyed back in August, Brian Conley’s take on Doc Brown made him sound like Christopher Lloyd from the ‘Back to the Future’ movies. Maddie Grace Jepson also debuted as Lorraine Baines in the ‘Back to the Future’ musical.

And Gracie Caine debuted as Linda McFly in the musical. Rather than do a TAKE TWO review on ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’, I thought I’d share a quick review on the CD album for the musical, which I purchased at the Adelphi Theatre. It was a good purchase. 🙂

This is of course the original cast recording for the ‘Back to the Future’ musical. The original cast for the musical did their initial performances in Manchester in 2020 before they moved to the West End in London in 2021. The CD album was later released in 2022.

From reading the CD sleeves notes, the musical production was conceived in early 2006, according to Bob Gale, who co-wrote the ‘Back to the Future’ movies with director Robert Zemeckis. It’s amazing how much effort was put into making the musical possible.

It clearly shows from watching the musical in London in August and September this year. It’s great the film trilogy’s composer Alan Silvestri became involved, and how the musical numbers themselves were worked on to match the ‘Back to the Future’ atmosphere. 🙂

The original ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ cast was led by Olly Dobson as Marty McFly and Roger Bart as Doc Brown. From listening to the music CD, the songs performed are about the same ones that were in the productions I watched in August and September. 🙂

They might sound different today compared to how performers like Caden Brauch, Cory English and Brian Conley do them, but the songs are still very energetic. Having seen the production twice, I’ve been able to pick up some of the catchy lyrics that are in the songs.

Whilst ‘Earth Angel’, ‘Johnny B. Goode’, ‘The Power of Love’ and ‘Back in Time’ from the first ‘Back to the Future’ film are in the musical, there are songs like ‘It’s Only a Matter of Time’, ‘Hello – Is Anybody Home?’, ‘Cake’, ‘Gotta Start Somewhere’ and ‘For the Dreamers’.

A song that stands out very well for me is ‘It Works’ sung by Doc Brown when he reveals his Delorean time machine for the first time to Marty. There’s also the ’21st Century’ song that opens the musical’s second act, which I found very enjoyable in featuring Doc Brown.

I’m pleased Alan Silvestri’s incidental music for ‘Back to the Future’ has found its way into the musical. This includes the Overture containing the signature ‘Back to the Future’ theme, as well as ‘Don’t Drive 88’, ‘The Letter’ and ‘The Clocktower’. They’re thrilling to listen to.

These are performed by the Outatime Orchestra and have reprises of ‘Only a Matter of Time’ and ‘For the Dreamers’ in them. I was correct about the musical having a mixture of 1980s vibes and 1950s vibes in its songs, especially to present the time zones that Marty’s in.

‘Only a Matter of Time’ is a good example of featuring 1980s vibes whilst ‘Cake’ is a good musical number to depict the 1950s. And from what I’ve read in the CD sleeve notes, ‘Gotta Start Somewhere’ has a gospel number feel to reflect Goldie Wilson’s character. 🙂

I’m pleased to have seen ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ a second time at the Aldephi Theatre in London recently, and it was nice to purchase the CD album of the original cast recording. I’m sure I’ll be pretty familiar with the musical’s songs with many more listens. 😀

‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ is going to start a UK tour soon, including places like Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Sunderland and Southampton. I’m hoping ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ will be coming to Cardiff soon. Or somewhere in Wales.

Please check out the ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ website for more details to find out where you can see it close to your home. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂