Billy McEntee

Broadway is about to get a little stranger—or, to be accurate, a whole lot stranger. “I think this show will blow people away,” says Justin Martin, the co-director of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. “We had to let our imaginations run wild.” Conceived as a prequel to the spooky Netflix series, The First Shadow takes audiences back to 1959 in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, when adult characters from the TV show are still in their teen years. So is newcomer Henry Creel, who moves to Hawkins in hopes of a fresh start—though his supernatural abilities make it hard for him to blend in. (He is fated to become Vecna, a psychic monster who rules a fearsome alternate dimension called the Upside Down.) Creel’s powers go full tilt in this mesmerizing stage spectacle, which is packed with illusions, stunts and special effects. Reviewing the show’s West End premiere last year, Time Out London called it “visually stunning,” adding that “it’s as close to the Upside Down as you’re going to get without having your head bitten off by a demogorgon.” Martin, who oversees the production alongside the celebrated English director Stephen Daldry (The Hours), echoes that sentiment in describing it. “The play is everything the series is,” he says, “but without the screen to protect you.” “It’s blockbuster theater,” agrees actor Alex Breaux, who plays the younger version of Dr. Martin Brenner, the villain played by Matthew Modine on TV. “We’re doing stuff I never thought I’d see on stage or be