Back to the Future & Water for Elephants

This week, we come to you to present a double feature in an attempt to get through as many of the new Broadway musicals this season as we can before the Tonys. So join us as we go "Back in Time" to a show that opened last summer and then take it "Easy" with a show that just opened last week!

Note: spoilers present throughout for both shows, along with discussion and spoilers for corresponding movies

(00:00) Introduction

(02:19) Back to the Future

(22:31) Water for Elephants

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Despite Back to the Future winning the Olivier Award for Best Musical when it was in the West End, it ended up receiving lukewarm notices on Broadway.

While we weren't impressed by many of the songs, it was still interesting to read through the song-by-song breakdown of the cast album (particularly that nugget of information about Jamie Lloyd being the original director).

Cindy's impressions of circus-related stories hasn't been great, starting with the song in Matilda the Musical and peaking with Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley.

Some examples of the acrobatics in the show can be seen in the New York Times feature, as well as in their Good Morning America performance.

If you ever wanted to know about running away to join the circus, Reddit has some answers for you.

While this episode was recorded during late previews of Water for Elephants, reviews have since come out. Christine was shocked at Jesse Green's critic's pick and agreed much more with Sara Holdren's review on Vulture.

While there's no cast album released yet, you can get a taste of more songs from the sitzprobe, part 1 and part 2.

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Music featured in this episode:

Back to the Future: The Musical

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