Casey Likes
‘Back to the Past’
54 Below
Through August 30

The word “zillennials” — I had to look it up — refers to people who are so young that they were born more recently than millennials and even after Generation Z. If the zillennials have a superstar in the world of musical theater, it’s clearly Casey Likes, who has starred on Broadway in two major shows, “Almost Famous” in 2022 and then “Back to the Future” a year later. 

But then, the concept of traversing the generations is essentially baked into Mr. Likes’s career; the musical version of “Back to the Future” commences time traveling even before the curtain goes up.  The story starts in 1985 and then moves to 1955. In 2025, it’s something of a shock to fathom that much more time has passed since Robert Zemeckis directed his now-iconic film than the gap between that movie and the past to which it traveled. 

The basic outline of Mr. Likes’s one-man show, having its premiere this week at 54 Below, is fairly standard: He talks about his life and career and works in songs that were either inspirational for him or pivotal to his career. Granted, such a format is easier for a storied veteran like Patti LuPone or Christine Ebersole, yet for someone of his tender years Mr. Likes has a surprising amount of backstory with which to work.

He starts by throwing a bone to us old-timers, with two pop classics from Elton John’s breakthrough album, “Honky Château” (1972). First comes that album’s opening track, “Honky Cat,” rendered with sufficient funkiness and energy by Mr. Likes, his musical director, Ted Arthur, and the rhythm section of guitarist Jakob Renhardt, fender bassist Tina Lama, and drummer Shannon Ford. From there, he moves laterally to “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time),” in which he perfectly captures Mr. John’s unique blend of intimate psychedelia. 

The autobiographical portion of the program begins with his childhood at Chandler, Arizona, where for his first seven years, “I was being raised by my mother, which was great.” He recounts how he grew up obsessed with pop music, show music, and Disney culture in general, illuminating this memory with “So Close” from “Enchanted.”

In a not-uncommon display of humility, he doesn’t include any numbers from his two major Broadway roles, but instead he pays homage to his “Future” co-star, one of the iron men of contemporary musical theater, Roger Bart, who played Doc Brown. On “Go the Distance,” the main theme from the 1997 Disney film “Hercules,” he is joined by Mr. Bart himself, appearing via video from Sydney, Australia. 

Mr. Likes does, however, revive one of his roles, from the cast album of the musical version of “17 Again,” which hasn’t yet been produced on Broadway. On “The Greatest Prize,” the two incarnations of the main character sing together: Mr. Likes as the 17-year-old protagonist and Drew Gehling as his adult counterpart.

Mr. Likes extends the accent on youth with Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes” from “Curious George,” for which Mr. Likes accompanies himself on guitar. He also incorporates such contemporary figures as the Jonas Brothers on “Burning Up”  and Bruno Mars on the more lyrical “Talking to the Moon.” Then, again for the benefit of us altercockers, he essays a mash-up of two vintage soul classics, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”

The biggest boon is a medley of what he calls “Like-nesses,” punning on his own name. These are impressions of iconic male rock stars, such as Mick Jagger doing “Jumping Jack Flash.” This is a capable illustration of a singer-actor’s skills at mimicry and role playing, though when he offered a Bob Dylan impression I had the distinct feeling that he was channeling Timothée Chalamet.

Casey Likes spends most of the 75-minute show talking about himself, and it’s to his credit that he doesn’t come off as bragging when detailing so many triumphs in such a short amount of time. The closest he comes is at the beginning, wherein he apologies, somewhat sarcastically, for having been born in 2001.  He tells us, ”I’m so sorry to any of you who don’t like that.” My reaction, which I kept to myself, was that I’ve got unpaid utility bills that are older than he is.