2025 Tony Awards: ‘Buena Vista Social Club,' ‘Death Becomes Her,' ‘Maybe Happy Ending' Lead Nominations
Musicals Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy Ending lead the 2025 Tony nominations with 10 nods each.
All are nominated for best musical, a category that also includes Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical.
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A number of starry names received their first Tony nomination, including George Clooney, for his role in Good Night, and Good Luck; Nicole Scherzinger, for her role in Sunset Blvd.; Sarah Snook, for her role in The Picture of Dorian Gray; Bob Odenkirk, for his role in Glengarry Glen Ross; and Mia Farrow, for her role in The Roommate.
Othello, one of the most expensive productions on Broadway, led by Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, was notably shut out of the nominations.
'It's a thrill to have five nominations for this play,' Clooney said of Good Night, and Good Luck's noms. 'For everyone involved, this has been an incredible experience. I couldn't be more proud or feel more lucky.'
Said Farrow: 'Honestly, I didn't expect this! I burst into tears. I wish my mom were here — she would have been so proud of me. I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude to be among these nominees, as this is just the best community in the world. I'm still in the 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god' mode!'
Audra McDonald received her 11th Tony Award nomination for her role as Rose in Gypsy on Broadway, becoming the most Tony-nominated performer in history. She had previously held the record with Chita Rivera and Julie Harris, when all had 10 nominations.
The best play category includes English, The Hills of California, John Proctor Is The Villain, Oh Mary! and Purpose. The 78th annual Tony Award nominations were announced May 1 by Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce.
Special Tonys are also going to be awarded to the musicians who make up the band in Buena Vista Social Club and to the illusions and technical effects team at Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
The Tony Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place June 8 at Radio City Music Hall, hosted by Cynthia Erivo. Harvey Fierstein is set to receive a lifetime achievement award, with actor Celia Keenan-Bolger receiving the 2025 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for advocacy work through the arts. The 2025 Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre will be presented to Great Performances, Michael Price, New 42 and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
A full list of nominations follows.
EnglishAuthor: Sanaz Toossi
The Hills of CaliforniaAuthor: Jez Butterworth
John Proctor Is the VillainAuthor: Kimberly Belflower
Oh, Mary!Author: Cole Escola
PurposeAuthor: Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Buena Vista Social ClubDead OutlawDeath Becomes HerMaybe Happy EndingOperation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Eureka DayAuthor: Jonathan Spector
Romeo + Juliet
Thornton Wilder's Our Town
Yellow FaceAuthor: David Henry Hwang
Floyd CollinsBook/Additional Lyrics: Tina Landau Music & Lyrics: Adam Guettel
Gypsy
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.
Buena Vista Social Club, Marco RamirezDead Outlaw, Itamar MosesDeath Becomes Her, Marco PennetteMaybe Happy Ending, Will Aronson and Hue ParkOperation Mincemeat: A New Musical, David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts
Dead OutlawMusic & Lyrics: David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna
Death Becomes HerMusic & Lyrics: Julia Mattison and Noel Carey
Maybe Happy EndingMusic: Will AronsonLyrics: Will Aronson and Hue Park
Operation Mincemeat: A New MusicalMusic & Lyrics: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts
Real Women Have Curves: The MusicalMusic & Lyrics: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good LuckCole Escola, Oh, Mary!Jon Michael Hill, PurposeDaniel Dae Kim, Yellow FaceHarry Lennix, PurposeLouis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of CaliforniaMia Farrow, The RoommateLaTanya Richardson Jackson, PurposeSadie Sink, John Proctor Is the VillainSarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy EndingAndrew Durand, Dead OutlawTom Francis, Sunset Blvd.Jonathan Groff, Just in TimeJames Monroe Iglehart, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong MusicalJeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes HerAudra McDonald, GypsyJasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The MusicalNicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Glenn Davis, PurposeGabriel Ebert, John Proctor is the VillainFrancis Jue, Yellow FaceBob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen RossConrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!
Tala Ashe, EnglishJessica Hecht, Eureka DayMarjan Neshat, EnglishFina Strazza, John Proctor Is the VillainKara Young, Purpose
Brooks Ashmanskas, SMASHJeb Brown, Dead OutlawDanny Burstein, GypsyJak Malone, Operation Mincemeat: A New MusicalTaylor Trensch, Floyd Collins
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social ClubJulia Knitel, Dead OutlawGracie Lawrence, Just in TimeJustina Machado, Real Women Have Curves: The MusicalJoy Woods, Gypsy
Marsha Ginsberg, EnglishRob Howell, The Hills of CaliforniaMarg Horwell and David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian GrayMiriam Buether and 59, Stranger Things: The First ShadowScott Pask, Good Night, and Good Luck
Rachel Hauck, Swept AwayDane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy EndingArnulfo Maldonado, Buena Vista Social ClubDerek McLane, Death Becomes HerDerek McLane, Just in Time
Brenda Abbandandolo, Good Night, and Good LuckMarg Horwell, The Picture of Dorian GrayRob Howell, The Hills of CaliforniaHolly Pierson, Oh, Mary!Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Dede Ayite, Buena Vista Social ClubGregg Barnes, BOOP! The MusicalClint Ramos, Maybe Happy EndingPaul Tazewell, Death Becomes HerCatherine Zuber, Just in Time
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of CaliforniaJon Clark, Stranger Things: The First ShadowHeather Gilbert and David Bengali, Good Night, and Good LuckNatasha Katz and Hannah Wasileski, John Proctor is the VillainNick Schlieper, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Jack Knowles, Sunset Blvd.Tyler Micoleau, Buena Vista Social ClubScott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, Floyd CollinsBen Stanton, Maybe Happy EndingJustin Townsend, Death Becomes Her
Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First ShadowPalmer Hefferan, John Proctor Is the VillainDaniel Kluger, Good Night, and Good LuckNick Powell, The Hills of CaliforniaClemence Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Jonathan Deans, Buena Vista Social ClubAdam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.Peter Hylenski, Just in TimePeter Hylenski, Maybe Happy EndingDan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins
Knud Adams, EnglishSam Mendes, The Hills of CaliforniaSam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the VillainKip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social ClubMichael Arden, Maybe Happy EndingDavid Cromer, Dead OutlawChristopher Gattelli, Death Becomes HerJamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
Joshua Bergasse, SMASHCamille A. Brown, GypsyChristopher Gattelli, Death Becomes HerJerry Mitchell, BOOP! The MusicalPatricia Delgado and Justin Peck, Buena Vista Social Club
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in TimeWill Aronson, Maybe Happy EndingBruce Coughlin, Floyd CollinsMarco Paguia, Buena Vista Social ClubDavid Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sunset Blvd.
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13 minutes ago
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'Sunset Blvd.' on Broadway Mandy Gonzales Norma Desmond interview
Vivid Seats is the New York Post's official ticketing partner. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase. Featured pricing is subject to change. A desperate young screenwriter stumbles into the mansion of a nearly forgotten actress. Fate unfolds, and the two rustle up a plan to rewrite her script — his chance at catching a break, and hers at reclaiming the spotlight (though, we're not sure if she noticed it was gone). You might think you know how that story ends, but Jamie Lloyd Wright's electric, theatrical revival of 'Sunset Blvd.' at the St. James Theatre stretches the imagination in ways we'd never expect. And, yes, there's still a love triangle — that ends in a pool of blood. If you haven't been yet, 'Sunset Blvd.,' which netted seven Tony nominations, runs Tuesday through Sundays at Broadway's St. James Theatre until July 13. As of now, tickets are available for all remaining performances. At the show we attended, Mandy Gonzales guest starred in Nicole Scherzinger's role as silent-film star Norma Desmond. She led the ensemble alongside Tom Francis who plays down-on-his-luck writer, Joe Gillis. Their performances are a blur between Broadway and film noir; thrilling, dark, foggy, sparingly staged, yet so fleet of foot you'll barely have time to blink. We spoke with Gonzales on manifesting her role in 'Sunset Blvd.,' how she resonated with Norma's fight to endure in a demanding industry, and the art of balancing acting and motherhood. 'As a woman in this industry, once we hit a certain age, (we're told) it's done. I think as women…we just get more and more interesting. I think that's the truth,' Gonzales teased while describing her character. Before unpacking 'Sunset Blvd.' with Gonzales, we had to find out exactly what the Tony-nominated show that's stopping traffic on 47th Street was all about, so we grabbed some seats at her May 20 performance. What we thought of 'Sunset Blvd.' on Broadway A slow burn has its place, but not here. Wright's characters leap into their roles sooner than the lights drop. Hannah Yun Chamberlain (young Norma) opens the show with an ethereal ballet — graceful, haunting, and a bit beguiling — her scenes float like memories in motion. Joe rises from a body bag in a flash of foreshadowing and Norma sweeps in with her first musical number, 'With One Look.' It's 1950s Hollywood. Joe's chasing a break, Norma's in need of a comeback, and the price is yet to be determined. An 18-piece orchestra hums under all of this, but for almost two hours and 35 minutes, it's mostly Gonzales and the rest of the cast who grip the audience, sprawling the stage with spinning, psychological choreography and spoken-sung-style vibrato that divulge Norma's delusions. There are no bad seats in the St. James. Line cameras track the actors for cinematic close-ups, mere inches from their faces, plastered across a slanted, larger-than-life screen behind. These intimate, raw projections magnify them under a lens, granting watchers access to every twitch of emotion — grief and desire, fear and isolation, Norma's spiraling obsession with Joe, and her fading career. It's a glimpse into her split reality. In Act II, the story doesn't pick up, but spills over and outside. Cameras chase Joe as he weaves down from the top of the dressing rooms, catching flickers of backstage banter, through chaotic corridors and dimly lit dressing rooms. By the time he reaches the ground, it's like you've brushed shoulders with the entire company. You begin to wonder, are you watching the play, or are you in it? The live sequence follows Joe and the cast as they transcend the theatre and take the streets of Times Square, where they belt 'Sunset Blvd.' to a crowd of unsuspecting tourists who just found free, front-row seats. It's loud, grand, and more than a bit voyeuristic. This is envelope-pushing art that can only be expected by an accomplished contemporary visionary, such as Jamie Lloyd. Without spoiling the story, we'll say that Norma and Joe do find a final moment under the lights, though the nature of this departing act wasn't what either had in mind when the curtains first drew back. And, with that, we couldn't wait to chat with the magnetic Gonzales about her work in the show, career and love of all things Broadway. What attracted you to the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd.? I grew up in California, and, for some reason, my public middle school was really awesome. For a field trip, they took us to see 'Sunset Blvd.' with Glenn Close… I think the following year we saw 'Phantom of the Opera' and I absolutely fell in love with Andrew Lloyd Webber's music. I loved Sunset Blvd. so much. We bought the cast album and I listened to it all the time. When you're a kid, and then your twenties and thirties — you're like 'oh, well, that kind of part seems too far away.' [So] when this came up, it was like 'yes, absolutely, I want to sing that!' and then when I met with Jamie Lloyd and saw how he was challenging me as an actress and a person, I just thought this is going to stretch me in my artistry… I would say I manifested it. I don't know, but maybe I did. Does Norma's story resonate with you on a personal level? Norma is definitely a fighter and a survivor. In my own life, I went through breast cancer in 2019 while acting in 'Hamilton' and wanted to show people I could still do it — like this was just a part of me, and wanting to fight and still be a part of things. Even though inside, it was a very dark place. I think that really helped me understand Norma. If you're in this business long enough, you go through so many ups and downs and so many people. I've been lucky that I've been in shows that have been hits, and shows that have been the biggest misses. One of those shows was my first original Broadway show, 'Dance of the Vampires,' which I starred in opposite Michael Crawford. I was about 23 years old, and the show was panned all around. At 23, I had somebody come up to me and say, 'well, you're probably going to leave the business now because this is it,' and it was just like, 'why would I do that— I've only just begun.' René Auberjonois, who was also in that show, said, 'the only place to go is up.' What did you learn from being told your career would be over at 23 years old? Back at that time, I was like 'why me,' but I look back and think that really taught me a sense of how strong I was. To read things about yourself, or about people you care about in a show, that are really horrible — it allows you to go, 'oh, I can either believe that or I can just keep going and keep fighting.' I think Norma is exactly like that. I think she is the ultimate warrior. Norma's a complicated character. How did you capture her emotions? She's not just a caricature. As I've gotten older, I see that more. Her vulnerability is real. She's always being watched by somebody in her mind. Whether the show is in her imagination or whether the show is really happening, I think that's a really beautiful thing, and nobody really knows. As women in this industry, once we hit a certain age (we're told), it's done. I think as women… we just get more and more interesting. I think that's the truth. When you're so isolated, and that's all Norma has — her career and her past — that can be a very dangerous thing. Norma never learned the balance of things, or how we try to balance different parts of our lives. She always put her career first. How did you practice for the close-ups on the screen? I come from a theatre background and worked in television and film. But theatre is what I love. During the rehearsal process, they had a small screen and they were rehearsing with the cameras, and there was one moment when I turned and was like, 'Oh, that's really close. That's very triggering.' As women, we look at ourselves and say, 'oh, there's that wrinkle, and there's that,' and Jamie just said, 'We never look into the screen. We never look at it,' and I have not looked at it. It's all coming from my heart. It's not coming from how I think I should pose, so I'll look better in front of the camera this way or that way. It's very freeing as a woman not to think about the screen. It's like not thinking about the mirror, and being like 'I am the most beautiful woman in the world.' Was there anyone in the cast you grew close to over the course of the production? Tom Francis. I was able to rehearse with the company for the first few weeks of rehearsal here in the States, so I was able to be Norma for everybody. Tom came in early, so we could work together and develop our show together, which I really loved and appreciated. He's so fantastic. It's really the entire company. That's what I love. I love community, I love putting it together. Eating lunch together. Hearing what everyone's talking about. I feel like it's a family and nothing happens on that stage without the other person. What about that pivotal scene where Joe leaves the theatre — how do they do that? Is it recorded? That's all live! I'm lucky. I just get to sit there on stage and watch it all happen, and I've watched through all of it. Through winter in New York, through snow, sleet, and rain… But, Tom… it amazes me every night that I get to see it. He's seamless. He makes it, he tells the story, and he gets those lyrics out. That's all live, the orchestra is playing live, and all the camera operators are out there. They have a great security team and he has people around him, so people won't come up to him and interfere with filming. It's just this thing that has never been done before, and it's thrilling. The way that Jamie Lloyd has used space, he's expanded beyond the theatre to create this story. That's what I love, pushing beyond the bounds of what we think is possible. I'm so impressed by actors who can flip between roles. How do you do that? We're women, and we multi-task very well, and I think it's just that. It's about survival, and when you're an actor, it's like, 'Oh, okay, like this is where the job is, and you've got to do it.' You've got to figure out a way to do it, to make it happen… You don't get home from the show until 11, and then you stay up until 2 in the morning, and then you've got to get up for your kid at 6. That's just part of it. When did you first get the Broadway itch? It started early for me because I had a grandmother who lived in the Valley, who loved musical theatre. She especially loved big Torch Singers, so I grew up listening to Judy Garland, Eydie Gorme, and Liza Minelli. I fell in love with any musical they were in because my grandma would play them for us, and I was really the only grandchild who sang back. My grandma was the one who said, 'Mandy has talent. She's really loud, and she's going to hurt herself, so we have to get her into lessons,' and little did she know that that loud voice would someday help me. What's next for you? I am going to be making my Carnegie Hall solo debut in the Fall. As well as with the Boston Pops, I will be with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. I am going to be doing a show that I created and have been working on with my dear friend Lin-Manuel Miranda's music catalog. Any other Broadway shows you've enjoyed recently? Any Tony's predictions? I just saw 'Buena Vista Social Club,' which I absolutely loved, and I think so many things about that show are just so incredible — from Saheem Ali's direction to Justin Peck and Patty Delgado's choreography. I also just saw 'Stranger Things,' which I thought was fantastic. The entire ensemble completely blew me away, as did the show's set design. Last question. Give us one word to describe Norma and one for Mandy. For Norma, I would say, limitless. For me, I would say fearless. This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity. Huge Broadway musicals Already seen 'Sunset Blvd?' Here are five more hit shows on the Great White Way you won't want to miss live these next few months. • 'Death Becomes Her' • 'Just In Time' • 'Maybe Happy Ending' • 'Buena Vista Social Club' • 'Dead Outlaw' What else is running in Midtown? Take a look at our list of all the biggest Tony-nominated shows going down on Broadway to find the one for you.
Yahoo
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'Simpsons' Icon Dead at 84 After Private Health Battle
'Simpsons' Icon Dead at 84 After Private Health Battle originally appeared on Parade. The Simpsons icon, Emmy-winning composer , is dead at 84 after working for 27 years on the beloved show. On Thursday, May 29, Clausen died at his Valley Village home in Los Angeles, Calif., according to The Hollywood Reporter. His death came after he was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) in 2017. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 In 1990, the composer joined The Simpsons for Season 2; his work continued on the show until Season 28 in 2017. Clausen won two Emmys and was nominated 21 other times for his music in the animated Fox series. In addition to The Simpsons, Clausen's work appeared in Moonlighting and ALF. Fans took to social media with touching tributes in the wake of Clausen's death. One X user wrote, "RIP to Alf Clausen an incredibly talented man who did so much for @TheSimpsons." Another fan shared via X, "This one's a really sad loss. Alf Clausen, who scored every episode from seasons 2 to 28, has passed away. I could go on and on about how much his tunes for the show have lived rent free in my head." Someone else commented, "He will be greatly missed. I really love his compositions in the show," alongside a dove emoji. A different X user replied, "His composition in the episode 'Colonel Homer' was some of the best. May he rest in peace." Meanwhile, yet another fan declared, "RIP Alf Clausen, former Simpsons composer. Was truly one of my favorite composers of all time," adding a red heart emoji. Next: 'Simpsons' Icon Dead at 84 After Private Health Battle first appeared on Parade on Jun 2, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Gibson Launches A Search for The Iconic 'Marty McFly' Guitar From ‘Back to the Future'
The guitar that Marty McFly famously played at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in Back to the Future has been missing for decades, and hopefully it won't take a DeLorean and a flux capacitor to find it. Gibson — the guitar brand behind the iconic cherry red ES-345 Michael J. Fox wielded in the movie — announced that it's on the hunt for the guitar, with the company sharing a callout Tuesday asking for anyone who may have details on its location to reach out with tips. 'Have You Seen This Guitar?' Gibson's poster reads, accompanied by a still from the movie of Fox playing the instrument. The search — and if all goes the way Gibson would like, the re-discovery — will be featured in an upcoming documentary the company is producing called Lost to the Future. More from The Hollywood Reporter Tate McRae, Mariah Carey and Ed Sheeran Heading to Vegas for iHeartRadio Music Festival Taylor Swift's Old Album Streams More Than Double on Spotify After Catalog Deal Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" Passes 1 Billion Spotify Streams Gibson posted a video Tuesday with Back to the Future stars Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd — along with Huey Lewis, who cameoed in the film and whose 'The Power of Love' was famously featured in the movie — all calling on the public to send information to their website, or to call the 800-line Gibson has set up. 'We need your help, we're trying to find the guitar I played in Back to the Future,' Fox said in the video. 'It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum, or it's in some teamster's garage.' The company initiated the search and documentary this year to tie the efforts to Back to the Future's 40th anniversary, and Gibson is also featuring an interview with Michael J. Fox on Oct. 21 ('Back to the Future Day') and will release custom guitars modeled after the original Gibson they're searching for, Gibson said. 'We've been looking into leads and rumors for a long time, and as you can imagine, we're talking 40 years ago, so memories fade,' Lost to the Future director Doc Crotzer tells The Hollywood Reporter. 'We weren't in the era of digital trails, or of receipts and things like that. There are conflicting reports too. You can find about as many different rumors as you can people.' Indeed, there are several different stories about what happened to the guitar. The Back to the Future team first rented the instrument from Norman's Rare Guitars, a famous guitar shop in Los Angeles, when they were filming the first movie. They'd returned the guitar after they finished shooting, and per Crotzer and Mark Agnesi — Gibson's director of brand experience and Norman's former GM from 2009 to 2019, that's where their trail currently goes cold. Crotzer first asked Agnesi about the guitar around a decade ago when Agnesi was still working at Norm's, and several years ago, after Crotzer first spoke with Back to the Future co-creator Bob Gale, he'd approached Agnesi again at Gibson. Agnesi and Crotzer list off several rumors, like that the guitar was headed to auction in the '80s but never made it there for a sale. A likely scenario, they say, is that someone simply bought it from Norm's and the origins of the sale have been lost. Norman's owner, Norman Harris, has given several interviews in the past, suggesting he sold it to a friend, who eventually sold it to a woman who came back to his store years later and offered $1 million to sell it back. But Harris had also suggested in the past that it'd been sold to someone in Japan. Needless to say, so far Gibson and Crotzer haven't tracked the guitar yet. Aside from the public inquiry, Crotzer says the film is taking them through prop houses and guitar shops as well. 'I knew that guitar came from Norm's, the first day on the job, I was looking in cases,' Agnesi says. 'Every time I'd go to storage to Norm's warehouse, I was checking ES-cases to see if he still had it. I've been looking since 2009, 15 years of looking for this thing. It's cool we're going to let the world know we're looking for it and everyone gets to join in.' Gale tells THR that he 'never gave it that much thought' on what happened to the guitar before he was told it was missing in around 2019, but that since then he's become more invested in tracking it down. 'It's like we want to put it on milk cartons, 'have you seen me,'' Gale says with a slight chuckle, describing the search efforts. 'We rented the guitar again for Part 2, but I've learned that guitar might not have been the one we used in the first film. So the question is, what happened to the original?' Back to the Future's high school dance scene is one of the most memorable guitar scenes in the history of the film business, as Marty McFly unintentionally inspires the creation of Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' by performing the song with the band on stage, eventually losing the crowd as his performance devolves into a Van Halen-style guitar solo. Artists, including John Mayer and Coldplay's Chris Martin, have called that scene in the movie instrumental in inspiring them to pursue music. The scene almost never happened, as Robert Zemeckis contemplated going straight from the kiss to the scene at the clock tower, but it stayed in after testing at a preview when the audience reacted positively to it. 'We had no idea it would be part of the film's legacy, the Johnny B. Goode scene is the only scene in the entire movie which doesn't really advance the character or plot. We were basically doing what they do in India, where we stopped the movie for a musical number,' Gale says. 'It's been amazing over the years to discover how important that particular scene was to people. It inspired so many people to pick up a guitar and be a rock and roller.' Gibson says the guitar in the movie was likely a 1960 or 1961 ES-345 (Its use in the film was a historical inaccuracy, given most of the movie was supposed to take place in 1955 and the 345 didn't hit shelves until three years later). An early '60s 345 on its own could already fetch $25,000 to $50,000 given how sought-after vintage Gibsons are, but its place as one of film's most iconic guitars makes it priceless. Gibson and the doc team don't have the guitar's serial number, which would be the easiest way to identify a specific instrument. Luckily, they say, the guitar has a key identifier that makes it stand out. Usually, the ES-345 models would have a split parallelogram inlay going completely down the fretboard, but on the guitar in the movie, the 12th fret had a single sold bar marker on it instead, a rare anomaly that would make the guitar more unmistakable. 'That's the smoking gun if we're being honest,' Agnesi says. 'It's that inlay on the 12th fret that's really going to let us know that we found it.' Overall, the team feels confident their search will be successful, even if the search has to go well outside the country. Agnesi has a 'Japan theory' for the guitar's whereabouts, given a vintage guitar boom that hit the country in the '80s. He said Gibson's international teams in Japan, China and Europe will help spread the word as well. As for what they'll do if they actually do find it? That's still to be determined, though Crotzer said, 'there's something poetic about the idea of reuniting this guitar with Michael J. Fox, whether it's for an hour, or forever.' 'My hope would be whoever has this guitar is enough of a fan of the movies to allow that to happen. There are a lot of possible scenarios. Does the person who has it want to be found? Do they want to, say, lend us the guitar?' Agnesi says he'd like to get the guitar in a place it can be showcased for 'as many people to have a chance to see it as possible.' 'If that means Gibson buys it for their collection and puts it in the vault, I am absolutely 100 percent ready to start talking with anybody who comes forward who might have the guitar about potentially buying it,' Agnesi says. Still, as Gale says, the focus remains on finding the guitar right now. 'At this point, we just kind of want to know it's in good hands and is being well taken care of,' he says. 'Everything else you figure out after that, but let's solve that mystery first.' 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