‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ Review: West End Play Brings Netflix Series Thrillingly to Life
variety.comDavid Benedict “We need something a little theatrical.” Boy, does excited Bob Newby (Christopher Buckley) get his wish. He’s trying to solve a staging problem in “The Dark of the Moon,” the school play he and the other kids are secretly putting on in Hawkins, Ind., in 1959.
But audiences watching “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” will likely greet the line with a wry smile because immense, intense theatricality is there for all to see.
Are the three plot-driven hours of virtuoso, state-of-the-art stagecraft always matched by sustained drama? Not quite. Does that matter?
Not at all. At the time of the opening, 55% of audiences were first-time theatergoers. This neatly underlines the idea that no one going to see this theatrical spin-off from Netflix’s four-season phenomenon is looking for a well-made play.
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