Stranger Things: The First Shadow at The Marquis Theatre

TV’s biggest franchise has branched out, originally premiering in London’s West End, the successful theater show now comes to New York, packed full of teenagers doing the darnedest things, conspiracy theories, monsters, mystery, and of course, military experiments.

Set in Indiana 20 years before the events of the Netflix show’s first season. A military test headed by the US Navy in 1943 successfully hides a ship, the USS Eldridge, by temporarily teleporting it… somewhere else.

Five Stars! ‘THE WEST END THEATRE EVENT OF THE YEAR’ – DAILY TELEGRAPH

Stranger Things: The First Shadow Tickets

BEFORE THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN…

The brand-new theater production introduces you to a much younger Henry Creel, a shy, awkward teen, and old fans of the TV show will know that this is the teen that becomes the villainous monster Vecna in the fourth season. But right now, it’s back to Hawkins, in 1959, a younger, less bearded, Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, and Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously while Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town… And there’s a new student in town, Henry Creel, and his family is finding it challenging to settle in… and the shadows of Hawkins past have a very long reach…

This production contains gunfire audio, loud noises and explosions, haze and smoke, flashing lights and strobe, and strong language. There are depictions of various mental health conditions and disorders. A good guide would be to check if you and your party are comfortable with the level of content from the original TV show.

“If you haven’t watched ‘Stranger Things,’ then this is a great opportunity for you to have an introduction because it’s a prequel,” Louis McCartney, who reprises his role as Henry Creel on Broadway, says. “It is its own standalone story, and it’s got everything in it that will make you love ‘Stranger Things’ again.”

The Production Team

Stranger Things: The First Shadow comes from Netflix and the multi-award-winning Broadway producer Sonia Friedman Productions. The production is brought to life by an award-winning creative team including director Stephen Daldry, creator of The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Inheritance, The Hours, and The Reader, and co-director Martin, Martin responsible for Prima Facie, and The Inheritance. The show was directed by three-times Oscar-nominated Stephen Daldry and the script was written by Kate Trefry, a writer from the original TV show, as well as Jack Thorne, co-writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the original TV show runners the Duffer Brothers.

During the show’s West End debut run in London, it won Best New Play at the WhatOnStage Awards and was nominated for five Olivier Awards, eventually taking home two for Best Set Design and Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.

‘STRANGER THINGS THE PLAY IS A MEGA FIVE-STAR HIT’ – Sunday Times

Stranger Things: Netflix’s Biggest Hit

The original Television series has become an international phenomenon, over 4 seasons it became Netflix’s biggest global hit. Making famous its teenage cast Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, and 21-year-old Sadie Sink, who plays “Max” Mayfield. And older actors such as Winona Ryder, as Joyce Byers, and David Harbour, as Jim Hopper, have also seen boosts to their careers.

Stranger Things collected 10 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and 4 Golden Globe Award nominations from its second season. Meanwhile, the first season cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, with series leads Ryder, Brown, and Harbour each earning individual awards and nominations.

The television production was ranked as the third-best TV show of the year in 2016 by The Guardian and Empire, while The Atlantic placed it on their best TV show of 2017 list. And in 2021 BBC Culture polled 206 “critics, journalists, academics and industry figures” to come up with the 100 greatest television series of the 21st century, Stranger Things landed at a very respectable number 68.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is expected to be released in 2025.

‘THE SPECTACLE IS A REMINDER OF WHAT THEATRE, AT ITS MOST MAGICAL, CAN DO’ – Daily Mail

Review

“Energetic but reflective,” from Neil Armstrong for the BBC.

“To say more about what actually happens would be to spoil it. Indeed, at times it is difficult to properly take in everything that’s happening on stage. Netflix is sometimes accused of stretching shows out into, say, eight episodes when they might be better served by six. Here, it feels as though there’s enough material for at least two plays.

The First Shadow manages to capture the hectic, adolescent energy of the TV show at its best but does balance that with more reflective moments. There’s also a surprising amount of great comedy and a song-and-dance number that I didn’t see coming. A wide variety of locations – a school locker room, the police station, a sinister laboratory, the woods, a creepy attic – are skillfully evoked, and excellent use is made of a revolving stage. The immersive sound design weaves in musical themes and motifs from the series.

Much will be made of the visual special effects and, yes, they are very impressive but what really makes this play work is exactly the same thing that makes any play work, be it a spectacular, big-budget West End extravaganza or a two-hander in a tiny studio theatre: it’s the characters and the actors’ portrayal of them.”