As this is written, I just got back from a sunny beautiful New York City, center of the universe.
A Saturday night with busy crowds and life abounding, and we sat in a Broadway theater enjoying Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Not sure where people reading this are from or how far a quest to New York City would be for you but should you happen to have the spare jingle and time it would serve your needs if you’re a Stranger Things fan to see this.
From the moment the play opens it blows you away. You’re told by staff to silence your phones and you’ll be admonished if you’re not doing that, but because of the intensity and immediacy of the action you don’t even think about recording it.
A lot of people have given a lot of five star reviews and influential publications have said that they were blown away by this live performance of The First Shadow.
The group I saw with and the audience I saw it with clearly were blown away. A couple of kids who were perhaps a bit too young were taken from the audience because of the intensity of some scenes but everybody else respectfully laughed when they should have, jumped when they didn’t know what was coming, and cheered in an enormous round of applause for the actors in this play. You probably already know a bit about The First Shadow.
The play serves as a prequel to the Netflix series and takes audiences back to Hawkins in 1959, long before the events of the television show.
The production first premiered in London’s West End before making its way to Broadway where it has quickly become one of the most talked about live theatrical experiences in recent memory. Critics and fans have praised the production for somehow capturing the cinematic scale of Stranger Things while still feeling like live theater, with many reviews singling out the visual effects, sound design, performances, and shocking stage illusions as something audiences have rarely seen before in a Broadway production.
Perhaps what was the most amazing of all was the first few minutes. I’m only going to spoil it in this way, when the play opens up it’s immediate action. We’re thrown back into the teenage years of our favorite adult cast from the Stranger Things Netflix series. Isabella Pappas as Joyce is spot on and she and Louis McCartney as Henry Creel steal the show. And once that opening sequence, a very loud opening sequence mind you, happens we immediately are immersed into the opening song with the stage showing the famous Stranger Things logo appearing just like it did on the Netflix show. It suddenly feels like we’re not watching a play but instead we are in the actual world of Stranger Things itself.
Going to Broadway or theater or plays will do that but the action, the animatronics, the screens, and the set design and tricks played by this show’s staff morphs you into a silent observer in the world of The First Shadow. It feels like you’re there with Henry Creel as he discovers his powers and evil takes itself over. The only other thing I’ll sort of ruin for you is not the ending of the play itself because again, you may have already ruined that for yourself and read about it, but expect to be in awe of a very famous character making an appearance at the extreme end. And what I really loved about it is as we see the post show song play on the screen in front of us on the stage appears that famous little Netflix clickable item of either watching the credits or clicking on the next episode. It gave our audience a laugh while we cheered and instead of the next show playing since the play was over we watched the credits as the cast and crew came out to a roaring lengthy ovation.
I will say the play seemed flawless. Of course there’s errors that the random viewer may or may not really pick up on but that’s fine, they perfect them as they continue doing plays. But for the audience that saw it today we were in awe and I could have sat through three more hours. Watching this play actually gives you a certain sense of sadness about how season 5 actually was. So many things from the youth of our adults get referenced but not expanded on during season 5. And perhaps it’s just because there was not enough time and the congruity of everything working together doesn’t really flow but, if you have the abilities and means to get there it’s highly advisable that you see The First Shadow on Broadway.
The cast broke a leg and with Henry Creel in action, many many legs..
