Theater review
STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW
Two hours and 45 minutes, with one intermission. At the Marquis Theatre, 210 West 46th Street.
The Mind Flayer has come to Broadway.
I don’t mean the giant, spider-like creature of Netflix’s science-fiction series “Stranger Things” — though that nasty fella is here, too — but the entire beastly play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”
The non-musical show, which shrieked open Tuesday night at the Marquis Theatre, is supersized and monstrous.
My mind? Flayed.
Nothing is left unscathed. Jump-scare noises blow out your eardrums. Blinding lights andrainingsparks make you crave Anna Wintour’s indoor sunglasses. And there’s so much billowing haze that on the evening I attended, a family in the front row sprinted up the aisle after five minutes as though their house had caught fire.
Of course, if you’re in the market for watching (fake) animals being mutilated onstage, run don’t walk.
Some of the blaring special effects in director Stephen Daldry’s dizzying andsometimesnauseating production from London are impressive, though they’re nothing you haven’t seen before. The coolestone,whena huge ship materializes magically, unfortunately happens in the first 10 minutes.Prime ribfor the appetizer, lettuceto follow.
5
Many others are theme-park-ride cheesy.At one point in Act Two, I half-expected to be sprayed by water canons. But all of theexpensivevisuals are in service of a throwaway play in which the real villainain’t Vecna — it’sthe writing.
As you become increasingly bored of thecruelly stretchedplot, in whichwhat should’ve been a 20-minute TV flashback is padded out into a nearly three-hour schlep to the inevitable,you’re waterboarded by the stagecraft.
Series writer and producer Kate Trefry’s freshman stage drama is a prequel that gives Henry Creel — the baddie from Season 4 — the Darth Vader treatment. The question: Howdida well-intentioned boybecome “One,” the freaky forefather of Millie Bobby Brown’s “Eleven”?
5
Henry’s journey starts when histroubled family, including his dadliquor-guzzlingVictor played by T.R. Knight, movesto Hawkins, Indiana,in 1959. As soon asthe loner(Louis McCartney) arrivesin the sleepy town, local pets start getting violently offed.
Psychic and telekinetic Henry isa bit of a maleCarrie White —Stephen King’ssupernatural classroom outcast — except weirder with fewer layers and no hope.Bloodshed? About the same.
Curious as to what killed the cat, Joyce (Winona Ryder’s character, played by Alison Jayeapparently with the same bangs for 30 years),Hopper (Burke Swanson)andBob Newby (Juan Carlos)investigate the gruesome crimeslike hyped-up Hardy Boys. All the while,Henry’s powers — and hormones —getsupercharged.
He starts crushing on Bob’s sister Patty (Gabrielle Nevaeh), and their flirtation forces the audience to endure a mystifying Vegas showgirl dance number with pink feathers. It’s the strangest thing.
5
Speaking as a longtime fan of the Netflix series, the boy’s sad storyand dull subplots surrounding it arenotvigorousenough to sustainsuch a longsiton Broadway. And if you don’t know who Dr. Brenner or the Demogorgon are, beware the Marquis escalator.
Trefry, who thankfully has trimmed about 20 minutes since I first saw it in 2023, tries tobringsome lightnessto the drearwith acringyplay-within-a-play maneuver.
Joyce and thetheater kids put on a silly show, in part, to trap theanimal murderer, like we’re watching “Hamlet” and not just hams.These over-excited high-school students behave like they’re in a bus-and-truck tour of “Grease.” Though our refrain is definitely not “Tell me more! Tell me more!”
5
What lifts “The First Shadow” out of the Upside Down is the fully devoted and altogether enthralling performance from the gifted newcomer McCartney.
He takes a creepy part that’s a lot of twisting and shouting and turns him into a terrifying psychological case study — a ‘lil Hannibal Lecter.
McCartney, a young star,seems genuinely anguished as he writhes like an electrocuted ballet dancer. The script preventsthe characterfromeverbeing a likable person, but thanks tothe 21-year-old from Northern Ireland,he’sa hypnoticallywatchableone.
5
But there’s only so much one actor can do, no matter how talented.
The material, screechy and heartless, bares little resemblance to its warm source. Part of what makes the series work, by the way, is the alchemy of its casting.Without the original kidsand their1980s garb andsweet bond,the soul of “Stranger Things” is missing.
What’s mostly left is dumb and Duffer.
