SPECTACULAR. COMPLICATED. FUN. OVERLONG.
DESTINIED TO BE A CULT CLASSIC.
STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.
Having never seen the enormously popular Netflix series Stranger Things, I no doubt missed many references to the source material in the new Broadway prequel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow. But even if I had been a Stranger Things aficionado, the show would have been too long and too complicated.
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) and Gabrielle Nevaeh (Patty Newby)
The production is directed by Stephen Daldry, with Justin Martin, and features Louis McCartney as Henry Creel, the teenager who wreaks havoc on his family and community. But the real stars of the show are the incredible sound (Paul Ardith) and lighting (Jon Clark), and spectacular sets (Miriam Buether), including a gigantic sinking ship.
T.R. Knight (Victor Creel), Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) and Rosie Benton (Virginia Creel)
Alison Jaye (Joyce Maldonado), Juan Carlos (Bob Newby), Burke Swanson (James Hopper, Jr.)
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) and Gabrielle Nevaeh (Patty Newby)
The script, written by Kate Trefry, who co-created the series with the Duffer Brothers and Jack Thorne, sets out to explain how a small Indiana town became prey to supernatural forces and government experiments trying to capture them. After an unusually long video introduction that includes menacing thunder and lightning, the audience meets Henry, who has just moved to Hawkins, Indiana with his alcoholic father, Victor (T.R. Knight), pill-addicted mother Virginia (Rosie Benton), and ill-fated sister, Alice (Poppy Lovell). Their dress and the strange radio Henry carries tells us this is 1959.
Alex Breaux (Dr. Brenner) and Louis McCartney (Henry Creel)
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) Photo by Manuel Harlan
The cast
Henry can listen to his parents’ conversations, thanks to the radio. He can also hurt and incapacitate people. He seems to be undergoing some inner struggle (convincingly portrayed by McCartney). He blinded a student in his last school. His mother keeps reassuring him he is normal, but it is obvious she has serious doubts.
The cast
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel)
The mood shifts dramatically when we see Henry on his first day at school. The play now seems more like Grease or Happy Days, with its oddball, wisecracking students and clueless principal. But Henry remains an evil and menacing presence, even when he attracts the unsuspecting Patty Newby (Gabriellle Navaeh), adopted daughter of the principal (Andrew Hovelson), an abusive and unloving father.
Gabrielle Nevaeh (Patty Newby), Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) and the Cast
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel)
The play has a host of subplots. Patty is searching for her mother, and Henry promises to help her. Joyce Moldonado (Alison Jaye) is a theater nerd who is directing “Dark of the Moon,” an extravaganza she hopes will get her the scholarship that will get her out of the stifling small town. Patty’s brother, Bob (Juan Carlos), a chubby tech geek and host of the Hawkins High radio station, ends up involved in both Joyce’s play and the attempts to save Henry. James Hopper Jr. (Burke Swanson) is in constant conflict with his police chief father (Ted Koch), who insists on calling him Junior.
T.R. Knight (Victor Creel)
Gabrielle Nevaeh (Patty Newby)
The first act is long (almost an hour and a half) but fun. The second act takes on a more serious tone and loses much of the buoyancy that kept the first act moving. The government has moved in, Dr. Brenner (Alex Breaux) has taken over and people are ending up dead or in the hospital.
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) and Alex Breaux (Dr. Brenner)
Louis McCartney (Henry Creel) Photo by Manuel Harlan
Throughout the show there are bells and whistles, smoke and mirrors and razzle-dazzle galore. But after a while, even the most dramatic sound and lighting effects get a little stale. Yet it is very possible this show may go on to become a cult classic. Stranger things have happened.
The cast
photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Marquis Theatre, 210 W 46th St.
2 hours and 50 minutes including one intermission
open run
for tickets, visit Stranger Things
for more info, visit Tudum
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I completely respect your opinion. I saw the show in London and had a very different impression. Here is my unpublished mini-review:
Underachieving in the Upside Down: London’s Stranger Things Brand Exercise Falls Flat
The much-hyped London production of *Stranger Things: The First Shadow* is theater as corporate strategy rather than artistic expression. This hollow brand extension manages the remarkable feat of making its source material worse through association.
The 1959-set prequel follows Henry Creel’s villainous origin alongside young versions of familiar characters, but any potential intrigue drowns beneath relentless fan service and technical showboating. Director Stephen Daldry seems unsure whether he’s mounting a sincere origin story or elaborate merchandise commercial, resulting in tonal confusion that even Louis McCartney’s committed performance as Henry can’t salvage.
Kate Trefry’s script avoids complexity like a contaminant, trading emotional connection for Easter eggs and nostalgia mining. The production values are undeniably impressive—special effects that would make Broadway veterans weep—but they only highlight the emptiness underneath. Other than the well-acted part of Patty, most characters remain mere placeholders for merchandise opportunities.
The calculated spectacle eventually reveals the production’s fundamental emptiness: this isn’t theater that moves or challenges, but content designed for algorithmic consumption. For all its supernatural pretensions, *The First Shadow*’s greatest accomplishment is transforming the Phoenix Theatre into the world’s most expensive gift shop lobby.
Don’t expect inspiration—expect noise, familiar touchstones, and Netflix-branded emptiness. Like most cynical brand extensions, its bank account matters more than your emotional investment.