Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri (‘Back to the Future: The Musical’) used their ‘entire arsenal of experience’ to bring the beloved film to Broadway [Exclusive Video Interview]
“As we investigated the story, the bones of the story itself, what we discovered was that it was ready made for the stage,” explains Glen Ballard of “Back to the Future: The Musical.” The famed songwriter collaborated with composer Alan Silvestri to bring one of the most beloved movies of the 1980s to the stage. The road to Broadway was long, but full of creative potential. “We thought it was a delicious opportunity,” admits Ballard. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
The project came with many appealing assets, with perhaps the most important one being Silvestri’s iconic score to the film. The duo transformed the films’ title theme into a catchy opening number, appropriately called “It’s Only a Matter of Time.” A new set of lyrics that introduce the audience to Marty McFly (Casey Likes) fits neatly into the infamous melody line. “I think one of the first things Glenn and I thought was, wouldn’t it be fun to at least explore something lyrically for the theme from the film,” remembers Silvestri. “It turned out to feel organic to what we were doing in the overall sense of the show. And it was fun to have that tip of the hat…it all just felt very natural.”
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Musical theater writing provided the songwriting team with exciting new challenges to solve. “The biggest difference for me is that you’re not trying to write a hit song every time,” says Ballard, who has written tracks for recording artists like Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. “What you’re doing is you’re using songwriting to tell stories.” The pair found creative freedom by serving a story, rather than worrying about capturing the zeitgeist. “We get to kind of use our full musical vocabulary and lyrical vocabulary without having to worry about whether or not it is just a hit song on the radio right now,” admits Ballard, “and that’s a huge liberation for me.”
The pair have a history of collaboration, but according to Silvestri, the process of making a musical allowed them space to explore the entirety of their musical palettes. “It’s interesting because working our way through the musical, we found that there were places where we were exploring that range, and there are places in the show that are scored very cinematically and other places where we’re out-and-out singing a song,” he explains. “Let’s find out what the show needs moment by moment and use our entire arsenal of experience to bring the right response.”
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Ballard and Silvestri earned a joint Oscar nomination for their original song “Believe” from “The Polar Express.” Silvestri earned an additional Oscar nomination for his score to “Forrest Gump.” Ballard has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning seven times. Those wins include an Album of the Year victory for Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” and a Best Musical Theater Album win for the cast recording of the identically titled Broadway musical. Silvestri is a two-time Emmy winner for “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.” He is also a nine-time Grammy nominee (including a bid for his “Back to the Future” film score), and two-time Grammy winner.
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