DC Theater Arts: A new stage prequel to the popular Netflix series created by the brothers Matt and Ross Duffer in 2016, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now making its Broadway debut in an open-ended run at the Marquis Theatre following its Olivier Award-winning world premiere on London’s West End. Like the TV show, it combines sci-fi, mystery, and horror with 20th-century small-town nostalgia, a coming-of-age high-school story, and over-the-top special effects reminiscent of a theme-park ride, while adding many touches of juvenile humor to lighten the inherent creepiness.
3 comments:
I've been super excited to see this musical since I heard of it opening on the west end in London. I've seen a few pictures of this scenery and lighting for the show and it sort of reminds me of a theme park style but I think if anything it would remind me of Pirates of the Caribbean. These Scenic pieces do look very big and extravagant and cool to look at. If it weren't on a Broadway stage I would definitely visit it if it were at a theme park. I'm very excited to see the show when I come home because of its extravagant scenery and lighting. It looks very cool and Stranger Things is one of my favorite shows so I'm interested to see how they would represent that on a stage and all the different locations in other worldly stuff happen on a stage. What specifically looks super cool is the snippet and to the upside down with that massive ship coming out of it and then the other scene looks like the demogorgon towering over the stage.
I have heard that this show is a marvel to look at but I guess I havnt seen this many pictures of it because oh my god. This looks stunning. The article mentioned that some of the sets are practical and some are projections. I am very curious as to know which are which because I cant imagine how they would practically do the shadow monster, but that photo makes the thing look so real and practical that maybe I am wrong, maybe the monster is practical. When I first heard that the world of hawkins and the upside-down were moving to the stage I was really caught off guard as I feel like there are so many special effects that it requires real movie magic to produce, as we can see because each season of stranger things takes years to produce. However, it really looks like they did a great job and did it justice.
Every year i understand more and more why folks were acting like Beauty and the Beast on Broadway was the end of the world as we know it. Seriously, who is this for? The same fandom that cringed so hard at cosplayers singing a song together that it effectively melted? The will be another footnote in the IP slop with the best tech money can buy binder. Modern media is cannibalizing faster than it can even finish the initial vision. Stranger Things as the base content itself fell victim to the “More is more let’s tack on another season even if it ruins the story” logic. No one remembers Supernatural as the show that was sound in plot and story, only as the “wow another season?” show that should have stopped when it was intended. Star Wars has all but ruined it’s legacy. And if one tired theater troupe didn’t lose you it’s also a play in a play! Write what you know of course but maybe a reason live theater hasn’t really brought in new viewers outside of people who already care about theater is because all theater is also about theater now. Did that suck to read cause it sucks to experience too. Hamilton didn’t become popular outside of the theater-sphere as a fluke. It got popular cause it’s a well made show about not theater that doesn’t sound like every other musical ever. Theater became its own genre instead of a medium and it’s been too terrified to break out of it for a decade. Anyways back to the main point, i genuinely love Stranger Things. It’s a story that resonated with me and kept me hooked. This has made it even more painful to watch it disintegrate into money grab mush. Broadway can’t bring in new customers from being interesting anymore so it’s trying through IP fomo. Mainstream theater needs a renaissance and soon.
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