'Back to the Future: The Musical' set to open in August, cast set

"Back to the Future: The Musical" has set the cast for its Broadway premiere and it will debut in August.

"This is heavy, Doc."

According to several reports, including The Hollywood Reporter and Vulture, the lead roles of Emmett "Doc" Brown and Marty McFly will be portrayed by veteran actor Roger Bart and actor Casey Likes. 

The musical is based on the popular trilogy from the mid-1980s that starred Christopher Lloyd as the exuberant "Doc" Brown and Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly. The trilogy has shattered the test of time as it has become a cult classic that has spanned new generations.

Robert Zemeckis, who directed the films, and Bob Gale, a screenwriter on the trilogy, are the playwrights for the theater production. 

Movie and TV viewers may recognize Bart as a character actor who has made appearances on several casts including the 2005 film version of "The Producers," and five episodes of TV's "How I Met Your Mother." Likes appeared in "Krampus: The Origin" in 2018 and is portraying KISS lead singer Gene Simmons in the upcoming biopic "Spinning Gold."

The production, which premiered in London's West End, is filled with several original songs including "Future Boy," the nickname a naive "Doc" Brown gives McFly when he arrives in 1955. Classics from the Fabulous '50s are also said to be in the songbook; "Earth Angel," and "Johnnie B. Goode." And of course "The Power Of Love," made famous by Huey Lewis and The News, is also on the list. 

Other members of the cast include Liana Hunt, who appeared in the Hallmark movie "Ghosts of Christmas Always," portraying McFly's mother Lorraine, Nathaniel Hackmann, of "Les Miserables" fame, as Biff Tannen.