Great Scott! Just two years after Bob Gale played down the idea of aBack to the Futuremusical on Broadway, Marty McFly will instead be resurrected in the West End. Way to lead fans off the scent! According to /FILM, Gale and Robert Zemeckis are working with Amblin, Universal Stage Productions (Wicked, Billy Elliot), and producer Colin Ingram on the stage production.

Jamie Lloyd
Jamie Lloyd has been recruited to direct the musical.

Alan Silvestri has been drafted to write the music, while Jamie Lloyd will direct. Gale released a statement announcing the project via BTTF.net, in which he expressed a desire to keep the musical as faithful to the films as possible. As for that “no Broadway musical” spiel, it was a classic diversion move – Gale and Zemekis have been working on the musical the whole time.

Robert Zemeckis, CFF Flight Premiere
Robert Zemeckis (above) and Bob Gale have been working on the adaptation for a whole decade.

“The Back to the Future Musical is a project that Bob Zemeckis and I have been exploring for almost ten years,” the statement says. “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.”

The Back to the Future musical is expected to open in London in 2015, in time for the film’s 30th anniversary – yes, it’s been that long. In the statement Gale also mentions that much of the film’s original score will be kept in the show, with a bunch of new songs peppered in. In the immortal words of Marty McFly, rock ‘n’ roll.

Christopher Lloyd
The only thing that is sure to be lacking - Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown.