The Upside Down comes to New York City.
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is coming to Broadway in 2025, Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions announced Tuesday. The stage show, based on the mythology and world of the hit Netflix series, will begin previews at the Marquis Theatre on March 28 ahead of an April 22 premiere, making it eligible for next year’s Tony Awards.
“The First Shadow,” directed by Stephen Daldry and co-directed by Justin Martin, made its world premiere last fall in London’s West End. The sci-fi horror show, with illusion and visual effects design by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”), video and visual effects design by 59 Productions, and set design by Miriam Buether, won two Olivier Awards and is currently planned to run until at least early 2025.
“We’re going to blow people away,” says producer Sonia Friedman He told the Times last year“We’re going to terrify with some of the most amazing and extraordinary things with physical production.”
The prequel is set in Hawkins in 1959 and reveals how the fictional Indiana town from the series became a hotbed of supernatural activity. While the story involves some familiar characters, including those played onscreen by Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Sean Astin and Matthew Modine, the plot outlines the origins of Henry Creel, the villain also known as Vecna, who was introduced to TV viewers in season 4.
“It’s scary, like Stranger Things is scary,” said playwright Kate Trefry, who has also been a writer on the series since its second season. “There’s a bit of blood and gore, and there’s also real trauma — people dealing with real things.”
“The First Shadow,” based on an original story by series creators the Duffer brothers Jack Thorne and Trefry, was written while Season 4 was in development and has “clues of where it’s going to go” in its final season, Ross Duffer said: “I think when [Season] “When you put the five pieces together, we hope they all fit together.” (The Duffer brothers are creative producers on the stage show, with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen's 21 Laps Entertainment serving as associate producers.)
Pre-sale tickets available for those who register on the production websiteTickets for the show go on sale at 8 a.m. PT on September 13; tickets for the general public go on sale at 8 a.m. PT on September 17. Casting will be announced at a later date.
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” focuses on Henry Creel (played by Louis McCartney in the West End production).
(Manuel Harlan)
