Louis McCartney (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

By Julia Polinsky

First things first: you do not need to be at all familiar with the Netflix series to enjoy Stranger Things: The First Shadow, now on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre. You know zip, zero, nothing? That's fine, because the Broadway show stands on its own. It may not be an origin story to you, just a story, but that's quite OK. Plus, the cognoscenti in the audience will cue the important moments with gasps and ooooohs. I did not know why the advent of, for instance, Dr. Brenner (Alex Breaux) was gasp-worthy, but everyone around me did. (Didn't matter; he telegraphed Bad Guy like a champ.)

The thing about never having seen a single episode of Netflix's wildly popular Stranger Things series, is that you get to see the "origin story" on Broadway, with all the theatrical magic a human being could want, and then some. Visual effects come from Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, who also did Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with video design by 59. Scenic design by Miriam Buether, in all its variety, is superb, as is lighting design from Jon Clark, and Paul Arditti's knockout sound.

Seriously, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is as eye-filling, gasp-inducing, visually stunning as you could dream of, and in a Broadway season that had the superbly visual Sunset Boulevard, Picture of Dorian Gray, and Swept Away, that's saying a lot. Fortunately, it also has a story and a couple of characters to care about, because otherwise it's all splendid tricks.

In truth, the plot leaves "absurd" in the dust, tying together the opening, in which a WWII-era military project to make a battleship invisible goes horribly wrong and opens a portal to another plane, with the sad tale of teenage Henry Creel (the astonishing, superb Louis McCartney), just a kid who wants to believe he's normal. Spoiler: he's not.

Louis McCartney (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

That opening scene: gorgeous visuals of the huge ship in terrible distress, and weird demon/monsters that destroy the humans they encounter on their side of the rift. You'd think everyone would die. Someone survives, though, and he is Henry's father, and all else flows from there.

Poor Henry. It's 1959, years after the supernatural event during WWII. His family moves from Nevada, where something very strange has happened to Henry, to Hawkins, Indiana, to get a fresh start. As if that were not hellish enough, he has to be the new kid in a high school, which is it's own special kind of hell. Yet he somehow manages to land the lead in the school play, and get a boy-girl thing going with the good-girl daughter of the principal.

Gabrielle Neveah, Louis McCartney (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

The twists and turns of the plot defy synopsis, but it's easy in the first act to feel badly for this kid, to wish him well, to hope it all works out (not knowing the Netflix series plays out well here). There are so many subplots shoehorned into Stranger Things: The First Shadow that it's easiest just to relax and go for the ride.

There's the boy-girl thing. The casual cruelty of high school kids thing. The mystery being solved by the nerdy kids thing. The hey-kids-lets-put-on-a-show thing. You want horrible supernatural possession? Check. Teenage angst? Check. Family drama? Check. Who-am-I-really? Check. (Coherence? Well...) Eventually, things go horribly wrong, and in time-honored horror tradition, the government comes for Henry, to encourage him to use all of his powers and then to make him a weapon.

 Alex Breaux, Louis McCartney, Ensemble (Photo: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

The cast surrounding McCartney's Henry includes some standouts. So many of them are very young; the Playbill bios contain the phrase "Broadway debut" 20 times, but you'd never know these accomplished and polished performances came from newbies. In particular, as Henry's girl-crush, Patty Newby, Gabrielle Nevaeh is just splendid. Class president Sue Anderson (Ayana Cymone) and director of the school play, Joyce Maldonado (Alison Jaye) also stand out.

For two hours and 45 minutes, Stranger Things: The First Shadow takes you on a wild ride. Suspend disbelief and roll with it; enjoy the theatrical magic and the performances, and let the absurdity of the story be what it is: enormous fun.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

At the Marquis Theatre

210 W. 46^th St.

Tickets: https://broadway.strangerthingsonstage.com/