One Man Back to the Future

Shelby Bond—Eckhardt Grammatté (UofW)

The power of Back To The Future is a curious thing. Well, not to me, ‘cause I’m a big fan, and not to Shelby Bond, either, who—as a kid—would go to the theatre and watch the film all day, over and over again (as he told us), and perform it for his family and anyone who would listen.

Now he’s performing it as a Fringe play. Every piece of dialogue by every character. A daunting task, but Bond has some fun with it: Principal Strickland has only one line, repeated over and over, so Bond gives that part to an audience member. He tells us the part of Jennifer, Marty McFly’s girlfriend, will today be played by (as he voiced it) an Australian exchange student, perhaps as a takeoff on the fact a different actress played her in the sequels.

He makes fun of the dated ‘80s soft drinks Marty tries to order in the 1955 diner. Some of this can be distracting to those who just want to hear the movie lines repeated the way we all know them, but we’ll rise above it in the interests of allowing Bond some fun with this whacked-out idea and his stretching it to fringe-like proportions. Sadly, no real effects here, just blinking of the house lights to symbolize the lightning that hits the clock tower, and Bond sings the songs (Mr. Sandman, Earth Angel) himself.

Better stage effects and the original songs would have made this play more special. But Bond’s passion and spitfire enthusiasm make up for any minor complaints. And he really does know all that dialogue; he hit all his marks and didn’t miss a beat. He did ignore the scene about The Honeymooners rerun on TV in 1985 that was brand new on a 1955 set, though. Great Scott!

(Speaking of the sequels, fun info: a girl in line brought a skateboard; she pleadingly noted to her friends, “It’s the closest thing to a hover board—they only have one more year to make one!”)

Beau Hajavitch