STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW Reviews- Page 2

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 12:35pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Looking at availability starting next week, this show seems to have sold almost nothing, which is bizarre."

I sat on buying tickets over a week out because it was mostly unsold when I looked. Two days later, half the stock was unavailable. A day after that, even less; to the point that I had to bite the bullet and purchase online instead of going right to the box office to avoid fees like I wanted. There’s almost no predicting how ticket sales work these days, and they’ve definitely been holding back a lot of stock for TKTS and official third-party sellers as dates get closer.

Updated On: 4/23/25 at 12:35 PM

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 12:14am

I went tonight and, as expected, all sizzle and no sausage.

I have never seen a show that has tried so hard to dazzle me with details while it actively baffles me with bull****.

Some of the special effects were cool, but it seemed to just be a lot of breaking bulbs and jump scares. The rest just seemed like standard theme park fare that would be better suited in an actual theme park. Other than that, the plot basically just felt like a modern version of “Carrie” with some extra sociopathy thrown on top. I got a lot of pushback from my friends who were like “You NeEd to HaVe BaCkGrOuND on ThE ShOw”. If I have to do four seasons of homework for a nearly 3 hour play, then the playwright didn’t do his job.

My only positive note is that Louis McCartney is doing WORK on that stage and I was quite impressed with his physicality, even though he’s basically seizing like someone in the electric chair for 80% of the show. But that aside, this is just a loud, headache-inducing pass for me.

P.S - it looked like around me a few families with younger children left at intermission because this was CLEARLY not a show for anyone under 13

[MezzA101]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 8:36am

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is the worst Broadway show I’ve ever seen

 

https://slate.com/culture/2025/04/stranger-things-broadway-first-shadow-netflix-play-review.html

Hedges and adds "might be" in the headline.

 

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 3:30pm

MezzA101 said: "Stranger Things: The First Shadow is the worst Broadway show I’ve ever seen



https://slate.com/culture/2025/04/stranger-things-broadway-first-shadow-netflix-play-review.html

Hedges and adds "might be" in the headline.

"

That about nails it 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 11:38pm

I honestly wasn’t even that impressed by the special effects. The script is horrible with a lot of yelling and padded nonsense. It’s a bit too long but it’s entertaining enough. I won lottery tickets and I had incredible seats, seventh row center.

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 4/26/25 at 9:52am

Saw this last night and oh my it was rough. The script is written so poorly - probably the most obvious and clunky exposition in one of the first scenes, as the one girl introduces Henry to all the students one by one in about 5 minutes. The entire thing is just the worst version of fan service, designed to introduce you to characters from the show. The audience was one of the worst of my theater going experience. People being seated late 30+ minutes into Act 1, folks coming and going from the bathroom like they are at a movie theater. And every time there was a jump-scare it would take a few minutes for them to calm down i.e. 'OMG THAT MADE ME JUMP!!!' or 'TTHAT ONE REALLY GOT ME!".

 If you've ridden a ride at Disney or Universal in the past 10 years I don't know how the effects would be impressive. At a certain point early on, you realize it's basically all just video screens, projections and exploding light bulbs.  The giant puppet is cool but once it's out in full view they can't do anything with it and it just goes away. Every time a new set piece would come out I was thinking 'ok let's see what this one does'. On the other hand thank god for the effects because it was virtually the only source of entertainment.

This was easily the worst show of the season for me (I still haven't seen Boop or Smash). I would say if you are still curious about this one get a rush or lottery seat. I would have been pretty upset if I had bought a full priced ticket.

EDIT: I forgot to mention I have never had flash lights shone in my eyes more than I did during this show. It was insane. Please teach your actors how to move them around without blinding the audience all night.

Updated On: 4/26/25 at 09:52 AM

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/26/25 at 10:27am

Also, the environment of the show seemed to foster a notion that taking videos and photos were okay. 

There was absolutely no preshow announcement about turning phones off and I’ve never seen ushers spend so much time running the aisles to flag patrons. If I’m being honest, if they didn’t want spoilers, THIS of ALL shows should be the one using Yondr pouches

[Kad]

Posted: 4/26/25 at 10:46am

This is really not looking like the surefire hit it seemed to be coming in. 

[rachelfran]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 12:58am

quizking101 said: "Also, the environment of the show seemed to foster a notion that taking videos and photos were okay.

There was absolutely no preshow announcement about turning phones off and I’ve never seen ushers spend so much time running the aisles to flag patrons. If I’m being honest, if they didn’t want spoilers, THIS of ALL shows should be the one using Yondr pouches"

 

I saw it last night with my adult son and our usher specifically told every single person to put their phone away before the show started.  I didn’t see anyone using phones where we were - lottery tickets orchestra right M 6 & 8.

 

 

 

[Skip23]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 1:28pm

I saw this yesterday and I have no idea what was going on. I’ve never seen the TV show and all the descriptions online don’t give full details. Who is this kid and why is he dangerous and why should we care?

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 1:36pm

Skip23, Stranger Things is a Netflix series about kids in a small town menaced by monsters. By season four (mild spoilers)

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

the leads were in high school. Their peers were being slaughtered by a supernatural being called Vecna. Sort of a cross between Pennywise and Freddy Krueger. They eventually learned that Vecna was actually Henry Kreel. A psychic boy who went on a killing spree until he became trapped in a parallel dimension. By the end of the season he had escaped, setting up a cliff hanger for season five. The play tells Henry's tragic backstory, though the details don't quite line up with what we were told in the show. 

 

Updated On: 4/27/25 at 01:36 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 2:13pm

Skip23 said: "I saw this yesterday and I have no idea what was going on. I’ve never seen the TV show and all the descriptions online don’t give full details. Who is this kid and why is he dangerous and why should we care?"

 

Maybe a bit of research before going would have helped if you knew nothing about it. We have the world at our fingertips. Then maybe you would have realized why a lot of people care about this kid. JMO

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 2:22pm

Skip23 said: "I saw this yesterday and I have no idea what was going on. I’ve never seen the TV show and all the descriptions online don’t give full details. Who is this kid and why is he dangerous and why should we care?"


girl lol

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 3:32pm

uncageg said: "Skip23 said: "I saw this yesterday and I have no idea what was going on. I’ve never seen the TV show and all the descriptions online don’t give full details. Who is this kid and why is he dangerous and why should we care?"



Maybe a bit of research before going would have helped if you knew nothing about it. We have the world at our fingertips. Then maybe you would have realized why a lot of people care about this kid. JMO

"

As I said before, If I have to do four seasons of homework for a nearly 3 hour play, then the playwright didn’t do their job. Stranger Things does not nearly have the cultural omnipresence of a Harry Potter (which a lot compare this to CURSED CHILD) and so much deeper diving into the lore is required 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 3:35pm

Why in the world would anyone see this show if they haven’t watched the series? This isn’t King Lear, it’s a Netflix cash grab. It’s not high art, it’s fan service.

[Skip23]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 6:50pm

TotallyEffed said: "Why in the world would anyone see this show if they haven’t watched the series? This isn’t King Lear, it’s a Netflix cash grab. It’s not high art, it’s fan service."


Well, then somebody should’ve told me before I went in. I figured that the show itself would give me all the information I needed. Not that I needed a 50 hour study course before buying a ticket,  

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 7:00pm

Skip23 said: "TotallyEffed said: "Why in the world would anyone see this show if they haven’t watched the series? This isn’t King Lear, it’s a Netflix cash grab. It’s not high art, it’s fan service."


Well, then somebody should’ve told me before I went in. I figured that the show itself would give me all the information I needed. Not that I needed a 50 hour study course before buying a ticket, "



That’s a highly unintelligent assumption.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 7:22pm

quizking101 said: "
As I said before,If I have to do four seasons of homework for a nearly 3 hour play, then the playwright didn’t do theirjob. Stranger Things does not nearly have the cultural omnipresence of a Harry Potter (which a lot compare this to CURSED CHILD) and so much deeper diving into the lore is required"

I would not expect anyone who has not watched all of Harry Potter to understand Cursed Child. That's insane. They're both IP Plays. If you've not invested that time into those things, what are you doing here? Why are you spending such crazy prices for something you're unfamiliar with? Why would you not do your own research, I assure you plenty of people have done summation of Stranger Things or even specifically Primer videos for First Shadow on YouTube. If you walked in blind and were confused and then upset about it? Diva, you did that to yourself.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 7:41pm

Stranger Things is a (currently) 4 season TV show that is largely very pulpy. The lore isn’t that deep. 

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 4/27/25 at 7:45pm

To be fair, the playwright really does care about the characters and wanted to create a stand-alone play. She gives honest interviews about the story and the parallels to her own troubled youth. But her background is in screenwriting. This was her first time writing for the stage and it seems to have overwhelmed her.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/28/25 at 12:51pm

Skip23 said: "TotallyEffed said: "Why in the world would anyone see this show if they haven’t watched the series? This isn’t King Lear, it’s a Netflix cash grab. It’s not high art, it’s fan service."


Well, then somebody should’ve told me before I went in. I figured that the show itself would give me all the information I needed. Not that I needed a 50 hour study course before buying a ticket,"

 

The series overview on Wikipedia and any article on the play should be about 10 minutes reading, tops.  A few minutes of reading and you would have been caught up. I have friends that went in, not having seen the series, and are now watching it. But they familiarized themselves with it before going in as they knew how popular the show is. And the entire series doesn't run 50 hours. You are being dramatic. Bottom line is that you didn't bother to familiarize yourself with a play that is the origin story for an IMMENSELY popular series, paid for a ticket (or not), didn't get it, and jumped online to complain. So maybe next time you will do your 50 hour study course. Or not.

 

 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 4/28/25 at 7:40pm

TotallyEffed said: "Why in the world would anyone see this show if they haven’t watched the series? This isn’t King Lear, it’s a Netflix cash grab. It’s not high art, it’s fan service."

This is supposed to be a prequel to the series and many have said that you don’t have to know all about the tv show to understand this play. 

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 5/2/25 at 2:37am

Why this wasnt nominated for best play is beyond me. It is one of the most innovative works on Bway. 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 5/2/25 at 3:04am

DrMonicaDeMoneco said: "Why this wasnt nominated for best play is beyond me. It is one of the most innovative works on Bway."


Say what you want about the production but the play itself is quite horrible.

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 5/2/25 at 3:34am

DrMonicaDeMoneco said: "Why this wasnt nominated for best play is beyond me. It is one of the most innovative works on Bway."

But that innovation is being recognized -- they've got a Special Tony for the effects already. And that's all anyone is really talking about with the production (and Louis McCartney's performance). It was a strong year for plays, and the technical side wasn't enough to sail it through.