5/08/25: Stranger Things: The First ShadowWhat: The Broadway transfer of the West End hit, a prequel to the Netflix series where we see the full origin story of Henry Creel/Vecna.
And? Let's get through the bad stuff first so we can end on a positive note. To begin, I don't know why they keep trusting Jack Thorne with these (he's also responsible for Cursed Child and that mediocre Christmas Carol). His scripts are full of holes, character assassinations, and full disregard for canon. In this play, Henry Creel is the same generation as the adults of the TV show (Joyce, Hopper, Bob, etc.). Not only does this not align with his age on the TV show in relation to Brenner and Eleven, it also raises some pretty big questions. Questions like "How come when Will disappears in Season One, Joyce and Hopper act like this is the first supernatural occurrence? Do they not remember that time in high school that a bunch of pets were murdered gruesomely during electrical surges?" Or "How come no one talks about Bob's sister almost being murdered by that weird kid that we never saw again?" Does everyone in Hawkins have Sunnydale Syndrome? The story itself isn't necessarily terrible, but trying to nest it in existing canon and timeline without actually respecting that canon or timeline is just plain stupid.
And it didn't need to be this way. They could have gone the Cloverfield route. They could have gone to the Hellmouth in Cleveland. They could still have used Dr. Brenner as a young man if they want to keep their shadowy government villain the same, but the rest of this just doesn't play out.
Oh! And. They make a point of being lightly racist against one of the characters (she's adopted, parentage unknown, so they call her Mystery Meat), but meanwhile the casting of the show is largely colorblind. It's just odd to have them be racist against a light-skinned mixed race character but be totally chill with a dark-skinned Black girl (who is also class president) standing right next to her. In 1959 in Indiana. You can be true to the history of racism in America, or you can say fuck it and go colorblind casting. I'm fine with either approach. But you can't do both at the same time.
My other complaint is just a weird disconnect between me and a lot of the audience: there were some spectacular special effects (more on that later), but often attached to devastating, horrible things. So while I was sitting there feeling the horror of the moment, the audience around me burst into rapturous screaming applause at the amazing spectacle of it. So it comes off a bit like they're applauding the full manifestation of Vecna, or a teenage girl being murdered.
Let's do the positives now! Holy shit, you guys, the design of this show is incredible. Under the direction of Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the collaboration of scenic designer Miriam Buether, lighting designer Jon Clark, and illusions & visual effects designers Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher (and video & visual effects of 59), it's uncanny what they're able to portray on the stage. I don't really want to say too much and spoil things, but if you were transported by the magic effects in Cursed Child, it's the same team and they've only gotten better (though: warning for the squeamish, this is gory). Even more uncanny though is the performance of lead actor Louis McCartney as Henry Creel. Small and withdrawn at the beginning, he's able to turn menacing almost imperceptibly. And then his physical control as he battles with the darker shadows within him is astounding. I don't know how he does everything he does, managing his physical contortions with such present emotional honesty throughout, but in my opinion he should be the front-runner for the Tony (I have no idea what the actual buzz is, prediction-wise).
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The company of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Photo by Matthew
Murphy and Evan Zimmerman. |
What: La MaMa presents Sophia Gutchinov's solo piece about how to be a living monument to the history of her ancestors and a staunch advocate for her existence here today.
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| Sophia Gutchinov. Photo by Rani O'Brien. |
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