When I first heard about a Stranger Things play, I wasn’t certain what to exactly expect. Especially since Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a play created by the series’ showrunners, the Duffer brothers, and intended to exist as part of the franchise’s canon. Compellingly adding to canon in a way that isn’t stymied by trying to mold a story into a narrow space can be a complicated prospect. Additionally, so much of Stranger Things‘ story hinges on the addition of the nefarious Upside Down, a monstrous dimension that slides into ours. Could a Stranger Things play that takes place in front of a live audience truly capture the magic of that hours of carefully constructed VFX work does?
Happily, Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway heard all these concerns and used them to bolster an incredible two hours and forty-five minutes of spectacle. The story is riveting, the characters are familiar yet distinct from the ones we know, and the special effects of the stage play are simply astounding. Never have I seen a play so mesmerizing and technologically advanced. Stranger Things: The First Shadow would be wonderous on a screen, but in person, it achieved truly monumental feats.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow takes us back to a different decade than the series, as we trade the ’80s for 1959. The show aims to immerse its audience right from the very first moment it enters the theater. Before the curtain even rises, period-appropriate music plays from the speakers, and we learn it comes courtesy of our radio station host, Bob “the Brain” Newby. The radio plays us ads that reference names familiar to a Stranger Things-loving crowd, such as one for Henderson’s liquors, and another that proclaims, “Maldonado will set you straight for your date.” And that referential, yet in a way new to the audience, energy continues throughout the entire show.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of it, I feel the opening sequence is worth highlighting. The lighting and staging truly transform the space. We get the feeling we are witnessing two different levels of a huge military ship all at once, and it really does feel like watching an episode of TV on a massive screen that’s actually in front of us. And then, when disaster strikes and the ship accidentally crashes into the Upside Down, a HUMONGOUS ship hull appears from nowhere and pierces through the stage. My jaw literally dropped. It was set design on a massive, massive scale, brought to its highest heights with blinding lights, incredible costuming, and even those drifting particles we know to be a sign that things have gone very wrong.
The rest of Stranger Things: The First Shadow follows two interlocking paths: the story of Henry Creel’s descent into darkness, and the story of Joyce, Bob, and a young Hopper (not to be called Junior!). The division here is very effective. The first storyline allows a place for a truly horrifying narrative to unfold in Stranger Things: The First Shadow. It offers this play space to explore what it truly seems to take pleasure in doing, and that’s creating a story full of psychological horror and genuine terror.
Meanwhile, the latter storyline, which features Joyce putting on a play at Hawkins High and then the trio trying to crack the mystery of (trigger warning) why pets are dying everywhere in Hawkins, is more light-hearted. This arm of the Stranger Things play emulates the familiar feeling of “The Party” but doesn’t directly mimic it. Still, those looking for that kind of The Goonies energy that Stranger Things is so known for will be able to find it in these moments.
Creating horror in any medium is a challenge. Scaring an audience effectively is one of the hardest tasks in fiction. How do you keep terror building? But especially in the constraints of a play, it feels like a monumental undertaking. But Stranger Things: The First Shadow was genuinely scary, and that’s because all the many different facts that came together in concert to perfectly perform terror in real time.
Two of these elements are light and sound. Harsh orchestration and flickering, almost dizzying lights would come from nowhere to create disorienting scenes that took the audience out of reality alongside the characters. Stranger Things: The First Shadow also enjoyed blinding the audience at times, which greatly added to the level of immersion in the performance. The Stranger Things play additionally made incredible use of shadow, mutilating the shapes that its shadows cast into fear-inducing figures. (That on occasion resembled the fully grown Vecna.)
These combined perfectly with the savage, almost animalistic acting that poured out of Louis McCartney in the scenes where the call of the Upside Down became too much to resist, contrasting his equally menacing, quiet, skulking demeanor outside of them. Putting the cherry on top were the special effects of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. In one disturbing scene, enormous spider-arms seemed to grow from Henry Creel’s body, distending, real and terrifying from his form. I’m still not exactly certain how these were achieved. In another, an endless flood of spiders suddenly skittered across portions of the stage. Again, the mechanism behind this eludes me.
The Upside Down is also brought to life in its full glory more than once. It comes with, as we mentioned, disgusting, cloying particles floating in the air, exactly as they do on Stranger Things, an angry, almost lava-like sky, and all manner of creatures from Demogorgons to a HUGE rendition of the Mind Flayer. And when I say HUGE, I mean HUGE!!! Whatever you’re imagining, but bigger, and suddenly floating down from nowhere in all its menacing glory.
Of course, the story of Henry’s psychological struggle is the show’s most critical feature. We learn a little bit about the answer to the question of whether Henry is just pure evil, or whether there were greater forces at work manipulating him. This is all done in a way that does not absolve the character in Stranger Things, but does round him out a little bit more. His romance with Patty Newby (played by Gabrielle Nevaeh), one of the most important relationships in the play, is both beautiful and chilling. It almost humanizes him. And it contrasts perfectly with his interactions with Dr. Brenner, played by Alex Breaux. The two are the angel and devil on Henry’s shoulder.
Patty’s importance to the greater Stranger Things world and whether she will appear in Stranger Things 5 remains an unanswered question, although she is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and emotional aspects of the play. Meanwhile, Dr. Brenner is the true villain of this tale, and his callousness is as horrifying as anything we find in Henry Creel’s solo scenes.
The Stranger Things play is also not afraid to GO THERE. I would say society considers animal, especially pet, death as taboo, even in horror movies, a scare used sparingly and only for maximum effect. But in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, visceral animal/pet death is displayed constantly without remorse and is one of the main fixtures of the plot. It’s truly shocking and incredibly bold.
Meanwhile, the scenes at Hawkins High add a fun levity to the world of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. In these outings, we get more of the normal high school adventures that we might want from our gang of familiar figures. We get to meet Dustin’s dad (who is the worst), Lucas’ parents, and even Ted Wheeler and Karen Childress. Ted Wheeler, we will say, has never been more likable than in the Stranger Things play. We couldn’t forget Eddie Munson’s dad, Alan Munson, of course. He’s a surprisingly sweet figure for all the talk we hear about him in Stranger Things 4. All these Easter eggs will surely delight long-time fans.
Looking to the core three, Joyce Maldonado played by Alison Jaye, is the perfect younger version of Joyce Byers: dramatic, stubborn, and single-minded. Bob Newby, played by Juan Carlos, is just as adorable and full of heart as his later iteration. And Hopper, played by Burke Swanson, he’s grumpy and snarky, as always, but with that current of something softer that we enjoy seeing.
The Stranger Things play really fleshes out some of their hopes, dreams, and motivations. (Most of which don’t come to pass.) And give us just a little more insight into how the adults we now know came to be. This trio has incredible chemistry, and they make for just a delightful set of characters to follow together. (As we’ll see later in their lives.) This storyline also comes together to flesh out for us just how Victor Creel came to be known as a mad killer so many years later.
As for the major question that folks might have. Do Stranger Things‘ main characters appear in Stranger Things: The First Shadow (aside from the adults and Henry). The answer to that is yes, one does. But only very slightly. But the good news is that we don’t need any of Stranger Things‘ main characters to appear in the play. It stands very worthy on its own, a new and engaging story in Stranger Things world. (And yes, it does come complete with “Chapter” headings and Netflix’s signature “Watch Credits/Play Next” screen.)
Tickets for Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway are available for purchase now.
Content shared from nerdist.com.