Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum–a name I only remember because I got a gift from there in Pokemon Go–and it was overwhelmingly huge. I do not think I saw a third of this place before I left. This was a museum for people who are in the arts that do not get museums. There was a section for metal workings like fences and gates. There was a section for fashion. There was a section for keys and bookshelves. It was just a museum of things. One thing I liked a lot was a 3D-printed prosthetic hand that was themed like Ben 10. All in all, it was a neat place it was just massive. So massive…and yet…no Paddington exhibit. Hmmm much to think on.
There was a room in the Victoria and Albert Museum that just showed old-timey black-and-white films which made me think about how people would come to see these films like they would come to see a magician. Film was a magic show to them. When film was first invented there was nothing like it and so it was insane to see a picture move. This is how I felt seeing Back to the Future: the Musical.
To quote Dancing at Lughnasa– “Wow wow wow wow.”
Back to the Future: the Musical is a two-hour-long magic trick. The stage was incredible and the whole show felt like a cartoon. The stage was composed of three parts in my opinion– the foreground (a translucent screen that they could drop down and put projections on), the play ground (where the actors acted), and the background (another screen for projections). When the DeLorean went back in time they did the most incredible effects I have ever seen in a show. They had the car on a part of the stage that moves and they wiggled the car just enough to make it look like it was moving on the road while the background and the foreground placed buildings and trees around the car to make it look like it was moving through a city. The show was insane. The way that the actors would seamlessly switch out with doubles fascinated me to my core. The grand finaly of the show… the classic “where we’re going we don’t need roads” line set up the biggest trick of them all… the DeLorean flew. They flew above the audience. A whole car with Doc and Marty in it.
I mean I understand how they did most of the effects but t was still an absolute trip to see. Also, Marty’s voice was spot on to the movie’s. This was the most fun I have had in a theatre ever. I even bought merch.
As stated in How I Met Your Mother–a magician’s best friend is a drunk audience and by golly, there were some drunk folks in that show. A lady a few rows ahead of me stood up in her chair to get a better view of the stage and the guy next to me leaned forward to tell her to sit down (put his whole butt in my face and this man needed to pull up his pants if he was going to be doing that). The lady started to cry and she and her friend left for a bit until they came back out and sat to the side of everyone on the stairs and a bunch of staff came and ultimately kicked them out. I bet they think that anyone who happened to see it go down would eventually forget it happened but now it’s here and I will remember it forever.
Theatre in London U of A 