Back to the Future – The Musical will end its Broadway run on Jan. 5, 2025.
The musical, which is an adaptation of the 1985 film, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway on Aug. 3, 2023, and will have been on Broadway for 18 months at the time of its closing. The show has sold $80 million in tickets and appeared to attract movie fans, and new audiences to Broadway, but received mixed critical reviews and has seen a gradual decline in grosses and attendance.
Producers plan to open four productions in the next 18 months including Germany, Japan and announced an eight-year deal with Royal Caribbean to play the musical “in its full physical form” on Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas.
The show features a book, which closely follows the plot of the first film, by Bob Gale, the co-creator and co-writer for the film trilogy, and music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri, who wrote the film score for the series, and Glen Ballard. The musical originated in the U.K., with the production in London now on its fourth year on the West End, and also has a North American tour, which launched in summer 2024.
“With nearly 40 percent of our audience never having seen a production on Broadway before, I’m proud that at a time when theatre is viewed by so many as being inaccessible that this show was able to bring in a new audience and it is my hope that this legacy endures and these people return to see another Broadway show in the future. We are having the same success across the North American Tour where the show has already been seen by half a million people – many also new to the theatre. We look forward to welcoming fans to the theatre with four new productions opening next year including Japan and Germany as they join our two existing productions in London’s West End (now in its 4th year) and the North American Tour,” lead producer Colin Ingram said in a statement.
The Broadway show was nominated for two Tony Awards, for best performances by an actor in a feature role in a musical, for Roger Bart, and for best scenic design of a musical (as it does have a flying car as part of the production) but did not take home any trophies at the 2024 ceremony.
The production hit its highest gross, of $2.1 million, last year in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but has recently seen grosses fall below $1 million and lowered attendance. This makes the show, which features a large cast and many technical elements, hard to sustain.
The musical is directed by John Rando and currently stars Roger Bart (Doc Brown), Casey Likes (Marty McFly), Evan Alexander Smith (George McFly), Liana Hunt (Lorraine Baines), Jelani Remy (Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry) and Nathaniel Hackmann (Biff Tannen).