Vasco Emauz on becoming Marty McFly in 'Back to the Future' in the West End

Vasco Emauz’s career is travelling faster than the DeLorean’s 88mph, as he takes over the lead role in Back to the Future: The Musical this month.

Vasco Emauz, a recent musical theatre graduate and the new Marty McFly in Back to the Future: The Musical, says there’s a lot about his character that he can identify with. “He’s very ambitious and he has a huge dream. I tend to be a bit impulsive, and I think he is as well. I’m very go, go, go, go, do things, think later,” he explains.

Emauz’s determined nature is clear from the number of air miles he has racked up this year, flying from his native Portugal to auditions overseas with only a few days' notice. But Back to the Future was a total surprise.

“It was my biggest audition to date,” he says. “I was actually in London for another audition, so I had to film at my friend's apartment — sorry to her neighbours! — I did my self-tape and I sent it. I manifest sometimes, so I got home, I opened my calendar, and I added the first rehearsal and the first performance. That’s still in my calendar — thankfully, now it’s real!”

Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s musical about a teenager who time-travels to the 1950s thanks to a flying DeLorean marks Emauz’s professional and West End debut, and he says he’s thrilled that the show’s producers took a chance on him. “I'm just so grateful to be here. I didn't see this as a possibility for me for quite a long time,” he says.

Emauz is a big fan of the original 1985 film, specifically Michael J. Fox’s performance, and he finally got to see the musical in the West End in January. “It was my second West End show,” he says, after seeing Wicked in 2017. “I watched it with a friend and during the interval, I was like ‘Damn, I want to play that role. It just seems like the best time.’”

The new graduate certainly has a lot to adjust to, moving to a new city at the beginning of July and heading straight into rehearsals ahead of joining the show in August. Has he had to pick up any new skills for the part? “I’m still getting to grips with skateboarding. I’ve had a few lessons so far and it’s going well. I’ve already fallen flat on my ass many times. I’m also having guitar lessons. ‘Johnny B. Goode’ is such an iconic moment and it’s such a crazy guitar riff, so I’m working on that.”

In his rare moments of downtime before joining the cast, Emauz is also looking forward to immersing himself in everything London and the West End has to offer. “There are so many shows that I’d like to see. Cabaret is a big one, as well as long-running shows that I’ve never seen such as The Lion King and Les Misérables.” He also can’t wait to try different restaurants in Chinatown.

Above all though, he is still pinching himself that Marty will be his first role in the West End. “It’s a dream come true,” he says. “To be a part of something as big as this for my first job is something I wouldn't have pictured in a million years. I had to do a five-year plan for college, and this wasn't even year five. Year five would have been doing a small little part somewhere. So to be Marty McFly in Back to the Future is unbelievable. I’m still digesting it.”

Book Back to the Future: The Musical tickets on London Theatre.

This article first appeared in the August issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Vasco Emauz as Marty McFly. (Photo by Matt Crockett)