Don your red vest and denim jacket. It’s time to head back to the future. But first, we have to go back to the past, like Marty McFly did when he learned something no one wants to learn: his parents were losers.
After a quick escape from terrorists in a rigged DeLorean, Marty McFly lands right into the lives of his parents, but now they’re in high school.
Marty sees firsthand that his dad was bullied mercilessly by Biff Tannen. It is up to Marty to change everyone’s future while he works hard with eccentric Doc Brown to get back to his real time, the future.
Take the journey along with Marty and Biff in Tucson in Broadway’s touring production of “Back to the Future,” which opens Tuesday, April 14, at Centennial Hall.
Nathaniel Hackman plays Biff Tannen, who spoke from his hotel room in Dallas, Texas, where the company was performing. It might seem easy, even fun, to play a bully, but there’s more to it than finger pointing and yelling.
“All of the McFly family, and Biff, we all play both the older versions of ourselves in 1985 as well as the younger versions in 1955,” Hackman said. “For all of us that means makeup shifting.”
Hair shifting and costume shifting too. He has to see a different person to change his hair and makeup and someone else to help him change costumes, too, mainly because costuming and hair and makeup are two different unions. Of course, this all takes place backstage while others are performing.
Hackman said he is fortunate because he has time for the changes. Not all the cast is so fortunate.
“Marty has a few less-than-15-second changes where he has to change his entire costume and get his hair zhuzhed and a chance to get water if he’s lucky,” he said.
Hackman’s route to the role was circuitous. He knew the movie from watching it as a little kid in 1985 and he loved it, has loved it these last 40 years. When he heard it was a musical, he had his doubts. Working in London at the time, Hackman went to a production at a West End theatre.
“I will admit, I was a bit trepidatious as a fan going into the show, thinking, ok, have they ruined this thing that I love?” he asked himself. “When I got there I experienced the thing for the first time. … I just went in completely cold and I admit to having something like a religious experience.”
He loved the show.
“It was exactly what I wanted it to be,” Hackman said. “It was all of the nostalgic moments that I wanted. … It was all of the costumes that I recognized and … the famous lines from the film and of course the DeLorean time machine is the actual star of the show.”
Ever one to seize an opportunity, Hackman realized he had worked with the director and choreographer on the off-Broadway show, “Jerry Springer, the Opera.” He sought them out.
“I knew these guys and I had their information in my phone,” he said.
He immediately texted them to congratulate them and to say, “I hope it runs for years and when it comes to Broadway you must see me for Biff.”
Six or seven auditions, an audition tape and several months later, “I made it into final callbacks for the Broadway production,” he said. “It was down to me and about four other guys, but I found out after the fact that it was my job to lose because I resemble Tom Wilson, the original actor in the film who played Biff.”
Hackman played Biff for two full years on the Broadway stage and now he’s in the touring company.
“II will say I just love the show and I love the fandom,” Hackman said. “I am a fan and so getting to go to the stage door at nearly every performance there’s someone who is dressed up in the iconic Marty McFly outfit with the red vest over the denim jacket.”
He also sees fans dressed as Doc Brown in the lab coat and crazy white-haired wig.
“Getting to see the looks on their faces and hear their stories of their experiences with this (show) and how special it is to people, it’s just such a blessing.”
Back to the Future
WHEN: various times from Tuesday, April 14 to Sunday, April 19
WHERE: Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Boulevard
COST: Tickets prices start at $58 and go up from there.
INFO: centhall.org/