Amid an incredible, Olivier Award-winning run on the West End, the Upside Down is heading for Broadway, with the Stranger Things play set to debut next year.
Based on an original story by Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things: The First Shadow blew audiences away in London after premiering at the Phoenix Theatre in Dec. 2023. A technical marvel and Netflix's stage debut, the play will open at Marquis Theatre in New York on Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2025.
Directed by Stephen Daldry with Justin Martin, the play was written by Stranger Things writer and co-executive producer Kate Trefry, with a narrative based on a story by Trefry, the Duffer Brothers, and The Cursed Child's Jack Thorne (a lotta folks involved).
The Last Shadow takes you back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story in 1959, 20 years before the events of the series. At Hawkins High School, Indiana, you'll meet younger versions of residents Jim Hopper (played in London by Oscar Lloyd), Joyce Maldonado (Isabella Pappas), Bob Newby (Christopher Buckley), and Henry Creel (Louis McCartney), who's struggling to get through high school let alone eventually becoming the villainous Vecna. Casting hasn't been announced for the Broadway run, but the cast I saw in London, who I've put in brackets here, were absolutely phenomenal.
Technically, the show is a true stagecraft wonder — there's a lot of The Cursed Child alumni here, including technical director Gary Beestone, and illusions and visual effects designers Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher. Plus, Broadway audiences will be wowed by the gorgeous, Olivier-winning set design by Miriam Buether.
As I wrote in my review of the London premiere: "All in all, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is an exceptional achievement in technical stagecraft, boasting a talented, engaging cast, and showing us an earlier side of Hawkins we're only given glimpses of in the series. It's really a story for fans, so newcomers to the franchise might be left a little confused starting with the play. But Netflix's first stage show proves that Netflix money can transcend mediums, provided a talented group is behind it."
It's obviously the next question, right?
You can now register for priority access to tickets from strangerthingsonstage.com — signup closes Sept 12, 11:59 p.m. ET. People who have signed up for presale tickets will be emailed with more information on Sept 13. General sale will be Sept 17, 11 a.m. ET.
Tickets to the London show were not cheap and sold extremely quickly, so expect a pretty penny for these. At present, the West End production has extended its run to December 2024.
