A lot could go wrong when you bring one of Netflix’s biggest franchises from the screen to the stage. With dangerous fight sequences, ambitious set pieces, and an enormous cast, one wrong move or technical issue could send a performance in the wrong direction. However, at the new play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which just opened at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre last night, the company is working hard to make sure everything goes according to plan. “It’s such a huge cast, 34 people on stage,” Burke Swanson, who plays James Hopper Jr. (a teenage version of David Harbour’s Chief Hopper), says. “We are a community coming together trying to tell this story, as massive as it is.”
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which originally premiered on London’s West End in 2023, serves as a prologue to Netflix’s juggernaut television series. Set in 1959, over two decades before the events in the Netflix series, the play focuses on Henry Creel and his first contacts with the Upside Down. Fans will recognize many characters, including Hopper, Joyce Maldonado, Bob Newby, Victor Creel, Dr. Brenner, and more. They’ll also experience the same thrills and jump scares, but don’t expect an exact replica of the TV series or West End production. “One of the really incredible aspects of it is that [the creative team] was not interested in carbon copying what they’d already done,” Swanson says. “They were interested in elevating and taking the next step.”
A group of charismatic youngsters are at the core of the show, much like in the television series. While they’re often at odds with one another, they work together to unpack the mystery of Henry Creel, played expertly by Louis McCartney. He and Swanson are joined by Alison Jaye, who plays Joyce (originated by Winona Ryder); Juan Carlos, who takes on the beloved Bob Newby (made famous by Sean Astin); and Gabrielle Nevaeh, who embodies a new character in the Stranger Things universe, Patty Newby.
The characters’ relationships are tried and tested throughout the show—as Demogorgons lurk in the wings. We won’t spoil it all here, but the technical aspects are so impressive that Netflix released a documentary about the making of the West End production. If you thought sci-fi and theater don’t mix, think again.
Below, a day before opening night, the cast came together to discuss their time in the Upside Down and how they plan to celebrate this massive moment on Broadway.
What does it mean to each of you to be part of the Stranger Things universe?
Juan Carlos: I grew up being such a big fan of Stranger Things, as I’m sure we all did. Before I even knew I wanted to act, I was just so obsessed with the show. For Christmas the year it came out, I got a Hawkins AV Club shirt. It’s crazy that now I’m [playing] the guy who created the Hawkins AV Club. We’ve been so hard at work and have not had a lot of time to process all of this. It’s good to just keep our heads down in the work, and then every now and then be like, “Oh shoot, I’m in Stranger Things on Broadway.”
Burke Swanson: I’ve been watching this since the beginning, 2016. [With my] sister on the couch, one episode a night, really dragging it out, coming up with theories along the way. I think back to that time, and I would never have even fathomed that it would’ve made the jump to Broadway, let alone me being a part of it in some regard. Even when I got the audition, I was out on the road with Back to the Future: The Musical, and I really just didn’t foresee it even in my wheelhouse.
Louis McCartney: It’s insane. Just totally mind blowing. It’s so much fun and changes daily. [My character,] Henry Creel, has so much to give. I absolutely love him. I was already a super nerd of Stranger Things before all this, and to get the upper hand on season 5 lore, and keep all the secrets, makes me feel like a lucky little kid. Working with a play that redefines what it means to put a play on a stage, grounded in the mythology of Stranger Things, and using some pretty insane tech, is just a dream come true.
Alison Jaye: Right before I got on the Zoom [for this interview], I was writing a card to Stephen [Daldry, co-director]. I was extremely emotional writing these cards, beginning to reflect on the journey. I started working with them three years ago on the workshop and played Joyce back then. It really has felt like, in a weird way, that I’ve grown up through this. The thing that feels the most moving about this job is the endless creative freedom. When you’re working in such a large IP, it could feel very heavy and that you’re bombarded by expectation. This environment has been really not that. It has been the most freeing, large celebration of self.
Gabrielle Nevaeh: I grew up watching Stranger Things. I would’ve been one of the nerds at the stage door dressed up like a Demogorgon. It was a really surreal experience to have the opportunity to even audition for the Duffer brothers [who created Stranger Things] and Netflix. Then on top of that, growing up I was an extremely shy kid. So, to actually be here and to be opening on Broadway with a show that I grew up watching, it’s surreal, it’s exciting, it’s thrilling. I had all these ideas of what it was supposed to be, how I was supposed to feel, and then it just ended up kind of being the complete opposite. I thought it was going to be this hard strenuous thing, but it was such a loving environment and such a peaceful and calm experience of being exactly where I was supposed to be at the right time.
How did the world of the Netflix show or the West End production affect your interpretation of your character?
JC: Something that our co-director Justin [Martin] told me is, “We cast you guys because there was some of the characters in you. We don’t need you guys to do impersonations of the characters, we saw that already in you.” I think it’s impossible to not feel the pressure to do a good job in any job like this, especially one of this scale, but I’ve been put so at ease with the audience reception to it. I feel like I’ve been met with nothing but love. Some people who saw the production in London have come to see our production, too, and have seen every episode of Stranger Things. It’s such a supportive community. We’re able to just have a lot of fun out there.
AJ: In my head as an actor, I feel overwhelmed by the idea of, this is Winona Ryder. There are no bigger shoes, Jesus Christ. But, I think the thing that [the creative team] has done really well is to look at me and to look at all of us and go, “Well, what’s the truth? What would you do?” I think that removes the large IP above us and helps us hone in on the art and honor what we’re doing. Hopefully, that truth connects, like there’s a little string between me and Winona Ryder moving somewhere in the universe that hopefully we can connect one day.
Have you talked to Winona? Have any of you had conversations with your television counterparts?
AJ: I’ve not spoken to Winona, but I’ve journaled a lot of the questions that I have. Through that, I was like, “Maybe we’re channeling something here, me and my notebook, and is she answering for me?”
BS: It’s been a beautiful collaboration of unspoken words. They’ve done their work, right? If we were to have that conversation with them, they would want us to explore the character in the way that we felt needed to happen as well. The collaborative nature that the Duffer brothers have established in season 1 of that TV show has bled into this. We hope to have those conversations one day, but I think that really this is a celebration of continuing to explore these characters in a way that we’ve never seen them before. I’m not playing David Harbour. I’m playing James Hopper Jr. at 17, 18 years old. He’s in a very different place. That’s pre-Vietnam, pre-New York City cop. There’s a lot of things that can happen in 30 years. This is a kid with very different problems.
JC: I love what you mentioned, Burke, about an unspoken conversation just from us watching the TV show. My in for Bob is his earnestness and genuine ability to see the world at its best, and frustration when it’s not that. He has to constantly choose every day to see the brighter side, even when times are low.
This is a physically demanding show. What is your fight rehearsal like?
GN: The Demogorgons do take part in the fight call. Everyone’s stretching together. Everybody’s warming up together. It’s a unique experience, for sure, if you show up to the theater about an hour before the performance—watching a Demogorgon is quite special.
AJ: Period. Nobody else respond to that.
What is your personal warmup process like?
AJ: It has been extremely helpful wearing knee pads the entire show. Joyce is constantly tripping. Taking care of our bodies has been of the utmost importance, especially as we’ve been getting into our first eight-show week. There’s a lot of vocal expectation, and I feel like keeping that healthy, warming up the proper ways, stretching the proper ways, just like an athlete would do, we’re really doing that every day.
JC: There’s no other option. It’s a very physical show, it’s a very vocal show. I just got suction-cupped for the first time the other day at physical therapy and have all these marks around my body. I’m like, “This is so weird, but I guess it’ll help me feel better.”
BS: You have to choose again and again that not only you can do it, but we can do it collectively. What it means is that there’s not a lot of room for ego. It’s a vulnerable place to be physically when you have three turntables moving at any different direction at any time, explosives going off all of the time, multi-ton set pieces coming in and out, and oh by the way, you need to make sure you say thank you to your dresser and you need to make sure that you say, “I’ve got your back,” to the person who you just cut in front of. It is a dance, and to be in that dance, you have to really surrender to the fact that we are doing this together.
GN: It is beneficial for us all to kind of take care of each other’s mental healths, that way we can continue telling the story in Hawkins.
How has the audience reacted to this production?
GN: The audience is the last cast member of the company. If we have a quiet audience, that show’s going to look one way; if we have a rowdy audience, that show’s going to look another. Overall, it was a really calming experience for me, because I didn’t know what that was going to feel like. There’s nothing like that audience reaction of when a Demogorgon is jumping at you, you hear them scream, and you’re like, “Yeah, we got them.”
What are you looking forward to about opening night?
JC: My family’s flying in tonight to come see me open a Broadway show for the first time. It’s my mom and my three siblings, and all we had growing up was each other. We were on food stamps, we were a working class family. All I have is my family. To have them there in the room tomorrow is going to be mind-blowing, and I’m so excited for that. I can’t wait to hug my mom after.
GN: I’m excited to cross the threshold and start a new chapter.
AB: I want to take in the village that this show is built on. That’s the most important thing to me. The village extends far beyond the people we’re even seeing tomorrow. I just want to breathe that in.
LM: Honestly, just showing people what we’re proud of. We’ve worked our butts off, and I can’t wait for people to see this play. I’ve been working on Henry Creel, and he’s been growing with me. I really hope that the fans feel like we’ve given them the experience this play demands.
BS: We’ve got 34 people on stage; that’s understudies, covers, swings, everybody on stage every single night. Of those 34, 20 are making their Broadway debut in this show alone. This is the next generation, and you have an opportunity to see that for the first time. Anybody who is questioning whether or not Stranger Things: The First Shadow deserves to be on Broadway will have a really pleasant surprise when they come see this show.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now playing at the Marquis Theatre. Tickets can be purchased here.
