STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW Reviews — Page 2

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 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

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

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

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?

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

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 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,

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.

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.

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 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.