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Video: Stars Turn Out For A BACK TO THE FUTURE Gala Performance
May 17, 2024
Earlier this week, the best of Broadway came out to celebrate Back to the Future: The Musical's Gala Performance, benefitting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.We're taking you onto the red carpet of the big night below with the show's stars Casey Likes, Roger Bart, and special guests Bernadette Peters, Tony Yazbeck and more! Watch the video!
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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awaited new musicals to come to Broadway is Back to the Future, based on the iconic blockbuster
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starring Michael J. Fox. And tonight's special Gallup performance is a benefit for the Michael
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J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, and I caught up with the first-nighters. How excited
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are you to be here tonight for the opening? Oh, man, to coin a phrase, I'm tickle pink. You know
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I'm on Broadway, man. I'm seeing Back to the Future. I'm seeing Goldie singing dance, something I never
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did in the film that's awesome you saw the show in london right i did indeed i did indeed and i was blown away so now i'm uh
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i'm ready to be blown away in here it's fantastic i mean it's um it's certainly come a long
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ways and i'm really happy for mikey i'm happy for the two bobs and it's amazing you know when
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you when you do a film that has legs like this and i've been lucky in this business and today
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let me see what yes you got a flash because this is more important
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than me talking. Oh, yeah. And it been pretty amazing to me SAG the world of making movies And I just lucky to be here with Harry And for you being here together
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Yeah, well, I've only seen Mark a couple of times because when I was doing the movie
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I never even knew that he existed because I never got the whole script. Anyway, when being here now, after having created this role and met audiences all over the world
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is truly amazing because there's a whole new generation of actors that are embodying this story
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it's coming in in a brand new way. And I did get to see it in London. Frigging awesome, I have to say
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This play? This got musical. Yeah, I gave you to see. So it is an experience that I want everybody to have
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You just need to be there. And it's not about winning awards. It's about having the immersion in this amazing film and the experience of making it into a musical
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And it friggin' works. Thank you, Bob. You know, we're here tonight because tonight's a gala for the Michael J. Fox Foundation
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Oh, that's great. What that means to you to be here. that a lot of the money, I think it's all the money that they raise tonight is going to Michael's foundation
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That is so great. As I was saying, he's a hero. He's so brave. He just kept moving forward
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He kept himself in front of the public. He worked with as his condition was getting more difficult to control
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And he's still out and does interviews. And he's just doing everything to try to find as much of a cure as he can and maybe a cure
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Which would be wonderful. And being here tonight I mean this musical already fans are flying in from all over the world because generation ever generation loves this movie Yes yeah I sure it going to be really wonderful really exciting and really entertaining and I hope it I bet it going to be a huge success
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You're back at the Winter Garden, which has been your home, right? How exciting is that to be here tonight
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I'm excited. I'm excited to see, like, how, sometimes when I go back to a theater that I've been in
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it doesn't feel like I've been there before, you know, because I bet they reinvented it
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and I'm excited to see the special effects. How excited are you to be here tonight for the opening
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I'm excited because Roger Bart is my man. So I'm so excited to get to see him on stage again
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It's been a long time, and I love this movie, and so I can't wait to see what they've done
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And just like being here, like, you pose with the DeLorean. Oh, my gosh. I can't believe that's out here on the street
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It felt so cool. I felt so chic. Oh, my gosh, it's so good. I mean, Bernard Peters is over there posing with a car
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You don't get that on that very carpet. Hello. No, we don't. I grew up watching this movie, and it was part of my culture
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It was part of, like, BNMX. dirt bikes outside and the ramps and everything that made like grade school magical
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That's what Back to the Future was for me. I watched all three religiously
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Michael J. Fox means a lot to me, a lot to my family growing up with family ties and Spin City
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He's really funny, but he's also got like a big heart. And I'm excited to see what's going to happen on stage today
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Well, tonight is a gala for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. What that means to you to be here to be a part of that
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I mean, look, the guy represents. So much through the years but I think it like his courage his his ability to persist through the hardest times I mean how is he not a role model to especially like dads like me like watching your kid want to be raised into the best kind of environment
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I don't know, his tenacity, his spirit, his ongoing effort to help others, including young people
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You know, I'm just happy to be a part of it. How excited are you to be here tonight
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I'm thrilled to be back home. And I get to see Leanna Hunt, right
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She was a Sophie. So we actually were in this theater together on this stage
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For those who don't know, you were one of the co-stars of Mamma Mia, which ran here, was a monster hit here at the Winter Garden
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I was in the show for 11 years, over 4,000 performances. It's so cool to walk back into the Winter Garden tonight to see back to the future
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You know, I'm having a flashback of being on the stage, 10-year anniversary
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outside where there were fireworks above us. Do you remember that? I was there. You were across the street
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Right. It was incredible. And so I'm kind of having a little bit of a flashback of that right now
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It's kind of fun. How excited are you to be here tonight? I am so excited
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I mean, this movie was such an important part of my childhood
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and now to see it on stage and to be able to share it with my family is just incredible
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And we're here tonight. There's also a gala performance for the Michael J. Fox Foundation
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What that means to you? It's phenomenal when art can continue to illuminate very important messages about what's happening, you know
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with Parkinson's disease specifically. And it's incredible that they're using this show as an opportunity to highlight the important work the foundation is doing and how it is changing lives
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