The Back to the Future cast is back in the present, as three of the lead actors reunited at the "Back To The Future: The Musical" Gala Performance on Broadway on July 25.
Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson (who played Marty McFly, Emmett "Doc" Brown, and Lorraine Baines McFly respectively) were all in attendance at the special performance for the musical, which is still in previews and will open officially on August 3rd.
Also present: the film's director and co-writer (and a co-producer of the musical) Robert Zemeckis, co-writer and co-creator of the film trilogy and writer of the book for the musical Bob Gale, and producer Steven Spielberg.
The original film was released on July 3, 1985 and was an immediate critical and commercial success, becoming the highest grossing film of the year and picking up an Academy Award for Sound Editing.
Its esteem has only grown since, now being seen as one of the greatest science fiction films ever made. It spawned two sequels, released in 1989 and 1990, which saw a majority of the original cast reprise their roles.
The Back to the Future franchise took off in the early 1990s, bolstered by its successful trilogy of films and an animated TV series, a video game, and a ride at Universal Studios.
The musical was originally set to release in London in 2015, the year the characters traveled to in the second movie, but was delayed by a shake-up caused by the departure of the original director. It eventually opened in February 2020 and, following Covid delays, moved to the West End the following year.
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The Broadway version of the musical has been playing in previews since June 30, 2023 at the Winter Garden Theatre, starring Casey Likes as Marty and Roger Bart as Doc Brown.
In a previous conversation with Variety, Michael, now 62, opened up about his grueling schedule when he filmed Back to the Future, shooting for the sitcom Family Ties in the day and the Robert Zemeckis film at night into the wee hours of the morning.
"I was running on adrenaline," he admitted to the outlet. "I barely knew where I was, and I didn't really know what I was doing. That served the film because Marty's supposed to be disoriented."
In October, Michael and Christopher reunited for a surprise panel at New York Comic Con, looking visibly moved as they took to the stage to talk about their partnership in the beloved trilogy, getting up to hug each other as fans cheered them on.
The appearance came not long after the former's mother Phyllis Fox had passed away, and he spoke fondly of her at the convention, saying: "I was 23 years old, and I called her, she was in Canada, and I said, 'They want me to do this Steven Spielberg movie, but I have to do it at night and I have to do Family Ties in the daytime.' And she replied, 'You'll be too tired.'"
He added: "To this day — well, till two weeks ago — my mother thought it was a really bad idea for me to do Back to the Future. She loved the movie, [but she was right], I got tired."