'Back to the Future' Musical Heading to London in 2015

Courtesy BTTF.com

Once upon a time in 1985, there a was a movie about a boy, a girl, his mom, a wild-haired scientist and a Deloreon...and it was glorious. To celebrate its 30th birthday, we're heading back in time for a stage production of "Back to the Future." BTTF.com is reporting that a 2015 musical is being planned for London and the project is being helmed by BTTF director, Robert Zemeckis in collaboration with writer, Bob Gale. If it does well in London, it may be heading to Broadway.

Bob Gale says, "The 'Back to the Future' Musical is a project that Bob Zemeckis and I have been exploring for almost ten years. We're thrilled to be at last in partnership with a creative and producing team that will create a show that is true to the spirit of the film without being a slavish remake. Director Jamie Lloyd is full of passion, energy and imaginative ideas and we are overjoyed to have the film's composer Alan Silvestri composing the music, with lyrics by Glen Ballard who has also collaborated with Zemeckis before on many projects. With all of us working together, we know the integrity of the material will be preserved in a production that will be a wonderful companion to the Trilogy. We intend to use music from the movie along with brand new songs to make a version of Back to the Future that is fresh, entertaining, and takes advantage of all the amazing things that can now be done on stage. We can't think of a better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film."

Jamie Lloyd stated, "The production will include illusions, skateboarding and many other surprises that will capture the spirit of the film but freshly interpret it for a new audience."

It sounds like they have a pretty good plan in place and already have a set and costume designer (Soutra Gilmour), Paul Kieve will be handling the illusions, Jon Clark will handle lighting design, and Alan Williams will handle the musical supervision. Andrew Willis will be the skateboard consultant.

It is reported that, "The producers of the 'Back to the Future' musical will include Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, Colin Ingram, Universal Stage Productions, Donovan Mannato and CJ E&M."

Okay back to the music. We just read that there will be new music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard but it's also reported that there will be "additional music from the film by Huey Lewis & The News, Chuck Berry, Pat Ballard and Curtis Williams, including ‘The Power of Love’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’."

The 1985 classic starred Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown and took in a staggering $360.6 million at the box office worldwide. The total box office for all three films in the franchise was $936.6 million (over $1.8 billion in today's money).

So what do you think? Will it be a success and make it across the pond to Broadway? More importantly, would you cough up the dough for a ticket? Share your thoughts and BTTF memories below in the comments. I still remember seeing it in theaters and when I left, I thought, "Is this the present? Could this just be someone else's past?" It blew my mind but I was a weird kid!

-Larissa Mrykalo