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Earlier this year, we reported that Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a monster hit in London, was planning to turn Broadway Upside Down. Today, the show's producers made it official: The play will begin previews at the Marquis Theatre on March 28, 2025, and open on April 22.
Like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Stranger Things: The First Shadow expands the universe of the popular Netflix series with an original story set in a different decade—in this case, the late 1950s. The play depicts the early years of central series characters including Joyce Maldonaldo, Jim Hopper, Bob Newby and Dr. Martin Brenner; playwright Kate Trefry, a longtime staff writer for the TV version, has devised the story with series creators Matt and Ross Duffer and Cursed Child playwright Jack Thorne.
The West End production of Stranger Things: First Shadow, directed by Billy's Elliot Stephen Daldry, has earned many glowing notices. "Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a sprawling maximalist monolith, a gargantuan entertainment that goes beyond being a mere 'play,’" wrote Time Out's Andrzej Lukowski in his review of the London version last year. "As overwhelming in scale as as the show’s monstrous Mindflayer, it’s a seethingly ambitious three-hour extravaganza of groundbreaking special effects, gratuitous easter eggs and a wild, irreverent theatricality that feels totally in love with the source material while being appreciably distinct from it."
"In season four we learn about Henry Creel and his disruptive presence in Hawkins, as told from the point of view of his dad, Victor Creel, who's in the mental hospital," Trefry told Time Out in an interview last year. "This play is set about the same time, when Henry first arrives in Hawkins and things start to go really wrong. But it’s told from a more universal perspective. And so you really understand what happened and why it happened and how he ended up with killing his family and how he ended up with [another show antagonist] Doctor Brenner."
"It was really a joy to go back and try to reverse-engineer the characters," Trefry tadded. "And, you know, it's fun to tell a story about what people could be, knowing the tragedy of who they became."
The First part of the title is not just about the fact that the show is a prequel: According to Deadline, two more Stranger Things plays are "set to follow […] in two- or three-year intervals."
In addition to the appeal of the show itself, there is a bonus to the fact that it will be at the Marquis. Because of the production's elaborate design, it won't matter that the Marquis itself is one of Broadway's least attractive venues; if the show is a hit, it could keep the house busy for years to come, as Wicked and The Lion King have done for the similarly homely Gershwin and Minskoff Theatres, respectively.
The Broadway production will be produced by Netflix and Sonia Friedman and co-directed by Justin Martin; casting has not yet been announced. (The London cast includes Oklahoma!'s Patrick Vaill, whom our reviewer called "superb," as the creepy Brenner.) You can follow news about the production—and get early access when tickets go on sale—through its website, StrangerThingsOnstage.
