INTERVIEW: Evan Alexander Smith on his journey to understand George McFly
Photo: From left, Casey Likes and Evan Alexander Smith star in Back to the Future on Broadway. Photo courtesy of Evan Zimmerman for Murphy Made / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
Back to the Future is the cinematic gift that keeps on giving. The 1980s movie, starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, continues to be discovered and enjoyed by multiple generations of fans. This time-traveling tale of a young man heading back to the 1950s, when his parents were in high school and had their whole lives ahead of them, is as classic as classic gets.
In modern times, the show was successfully adapted into a big-budget musical, which continues to pack in audiences in London’s West End and now at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. Evan Alexander Smith joined the company of actors this past summer, portraying the pivotal role of George McFly. He’s joined on stage by Roger Bart as Doc Brown, Casey Likes as Marty McFly, Liana Hunt as Lorraine McFly and Jelani Remy as Goldie Wilson / Marvin Berry.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Smith said in a recent phone interview. “I started in late June. I think it’s been almost two-and-a-half months now. It feels like it’s going by really fast, but it’s been the best time.”
Smith, who appeared in Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along and Amazing Grace, first heard about the show when the production opened in Manchester, England. He logged it in the back of his mind and noted that Bart was playing the character of Doc Brown. The next time the musical came on his radar was when the producers stated that the show would transfer from the United Kingdom to the United States.
“I thought, oh, like every actor does when they announce a show coming, is there something for me?” he said. “I thought, oh my gosh, of course George McFly. The director, John Rando, was somebody who I had worked with at the beginning of my career in Canada, and I sort of put the pieces together and thought, oh my gosh, this is something that I would love to do, that I think I’d be right for.”
Smith also saw in that news release that Hugh Coles would be reprising his role as George in the American version. Smith still kept the show in the back of his mind, but he moved on to other theatrical pursuits, including the Tony-winning mega-hit Merrily We Roll Along.
“Maybe one day he will move on from the show, and maybe at that point, I could get in touch with somebody,” Smith said to himself. “Then as luck would have it, about a year into the show’s run, he announced that he was going to be moving on from the show, and my agent gave me a call. And from there it was the same sort of typical actor-audition process, and I got really, really lucky.”
As a child growing up in the 1980s, Back to the Future was always on television in the Smith household. The film came out a few years before the actor was born, but he has fond memories of catching reruns in syndication. He would sit on the couch with his father and watch the McFly family on the small screen, never knowing that one day he would be portraying the father figure on a Broadway stage.
“The needle that we try to thread with this production is paying homage to the incredible performances from the film, while not necessarily getting stuck in a direct impression,” Smith said about his technique. “So for me it was about taking those things that we identify with Crispin Glover’s performance — his manner of speech, his look, we do a really great job with our hair and costume department — to try to evoke the sort of nostalgia of that performance while bringing everything that is within me to it. For me, it was a lot about just finding his heart and getting in touch with that vulnerability and then from there, yeah, just really trying to make him feel like a real person and not a caricature.”
Smith also dug deep into his himself to better understand how George overcomes being bullied in high school. For Smith, this is an important role that rings true for his life and the lives of many audience members.
“I was bullied when I was a kid,” the actor admitted. “I didn’t have a ton of close friends when I was young and luckily found that group of people as I got a little bit older and especially in high school. I really did identify a lot with that aspect of George, trying to find his way, trying to find his people, looking for acceptance. I was talking with our associate director last week about the nature of George’s relationship with Biff, that essentially his best friend is his biggest bully because he just wants so badly to be accepted by anybody who will pay attention to him. I had a lot of that in elementary school. As long as I was invited to hang out, it was OK. I think George is experiencing a lot of that as well. It’s tough. I think he just wants so badly to be seen and to be understood, and it’s not until he crosses paths with Marty that that really happens for him.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Back to the Future, featuring Evan Alexander Smith, continues at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
