Latest news with #MarquisTheater
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Late Legendary Drummer's Son Replaces Him in Side Band, Are Foo Fighters Next?
Chevy Metal, the veteran cover band co-founded by late Foo Fighters drummer , has tapped his son, , to fill the drum spot on the band's upcoming tour. The trek begins July 19 at the Marquis Theater in Denver and runs through Aug. 9 in Long Beach, Calif., the band announced on May 21. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Chevy Metal started around 2002, when Taylor Hawkins began playing gigs with bassist Wiley Hodgden, who served as his drum tech in the Foo Fighters. The band also includes guitarist Brent Woods. Aside from covering songs by such legendary acts as Black Sabbath, Van Halen, the Police, Queen, Thin Lizzy and the Rolling Stones, Chevy Metal has also been known to draw some special guests at their gigs. In the past, Mick Jagger, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett and several others stars have joined them on stage. The announcement has also amped up speculation that Shane Hawkins will replace his father in the Foo Fighters, who announced last week that it is parting ways with drummer Josh Freese, who was hired as the band's drummer in the wake of Taylor Hawkins death. Freese announced his dismissal from the band on social media on May 16 followed by a humorous post days later with the 'Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters.'The Foo Fighters have four tour dates booked and announced beginning Oct. 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia, followed by shows in Singapore, Tokyo and Osaka. The younger Hawkins has played with the Foo Fighters in the past. In September 2022, when he was just 16, Shane joined the Foo Fighters on a performance of their song 'My Hero' at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London. Less than three years later, there's speculation that he's ready to fill his dad's spot full-time in the Foo Fighters.
New York Times
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow' Review: An Origin Story for the Stage
If the economic point of entertainment franchises is to generate new forms of interconnected content, then theater is merely another logical outlet for a property, alongside movies, TV shows, comic books, video games and theme parks. So now here we are with 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow,' the latest pop-culture phenomenon to manifest into the Broadway dimension. As far as its plot is concerned, the play that just opened at the Marquis Theater fits neatly into the lore of 'Stranger Things,' a wildly popular Netflix series about a fictional Indiana town at the juncture of terrifying government experiments and supernatural forces. This production is big, loud, often ingenious and occasionally breathtaking, in a 'how the hell did they do this?' kind of way. In other words, 'The First Shadow' fulfills its franchise requirements in terms of spectacular art direction and compliance to the series' canon (to which it adds tantalizing tidbits). Whether it is satisfying as a piece of theater is a dicier proposition. Based on a story by the Duffer Brothers (who created the series), Jack Thorne ('Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' a co-creator of the current Netflix phenomenon 'Adolescence') and Kate Trefry, 'The First Shadow,' written by Trefry, is a prequel to the series. More specifically, it piggybacks on Season 4, which is set in 1986, and tells the origin story of that season's primary antagonist, Vecna — the teenager Henry Creel in 1959, when the main plot of the Broadway play takes place. If Vecna doesn't ring a bell, or if you don't know that Eleven is better than One, don't fret: It's possible to follow the show anyway, and to enjoy it. But it's hard to deny that audience members who understand those references will have access to more layers of 'The First Shadow.' In a rare switch of point of view for 'Stranger Things,' which tends to look at the action from the good guys' perspective, the play focuses on the troubled, lonely Henry (Louis McCartney, a transfer from the London world-premiere production from 2023). He just moved to Hawkins, Ind., with his parents (T.R. Knight and Rosie Benton) and younger sister (Azalea Wolfe at the performance I attended). We know from the start that Henry has some kind of telekinetic abilities that cause him great turmoil. He is both resigned to feeling different and anguished about it, so he is almost shocked to make a friend at his new high school: Patty Newby (Gabrielle Nevaeh), the principal's adopted daughter and another kid who feels like an outcast. Patty might not be in the Netflix series (at least not so far), but the play features a network of characters who will be familiar to TV viewers, albeit in their grown-up versions. They include Patty's brother, Bob (Juan Carlos), an ebullient nerd and the founder of the Hawkins High A.V. Club; the police chief's son, James Hopper Jr. (Burke Swanson); and Joyce Maldonado (Alison Jaye), the ambitious director of the school play. Here Dr. Brenner (Alex Breaux) is around as an adult, handsome and already diabolical. Easter eggs abound. The show starts with the kind of technically demanding, visually ambitious coup de théâtre most productions save for later — think battleship at sea, shrieks of pain and terror and, of course, paranormal dimensions. The director Stephen Daldry and the co-director Justin Martin can't sustain that intensity for almost three hours, but they sure do try: The production is pitched at 10, except when it's at 11. Even the scenes involving a school play ('Dark of the Moon,' a real Broadway show from 1945) have a semi-hysterical tone, usually set by the relentless Joyce. While there are some fun jump scares, they, by nature, come and go quickly. For the most part, the show doesn't mine the suspenseful, lingering dread that the series effectively deploys to keep you on the edge of your seat. The most potent source of tension is Henry, whom McCartney, in the show's standout performance, plays with a sense of existential torment. Henry exudes an eerie calm and a creepy determination, most evidently in his scenes with his overbearing mother and Dr. Brenner. 'You're definitely not the Devil,' Patty reassures her new friend. 'You're just a weirdo.' What she doesn't know is that Henry is a weirdo who uses his powers in terrifying ways. The fate of Henry's victims ranks among the most arresting moments in a show that has quite a few of them. The production is at its technical best when seamlessly combining Miriam Buether's set, which includes a diner where the kids hang out, with mechanical and digital wizardry, while the theater occasionally rattles with infra-bass for extra mood. It's worth highlighting the teams that brought the dark side of Hawkins to life: the illusions and visual-effects design is by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher (both of whom worked on 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'); the video design and visual effects are by the 59 company; Paul Arditti did the sound design and Jon Clark the lighting. Except for the cheesy rendering of an animatronic-like Mind Flayer, it's all rather impressive. But it also feels a little hollow. A major reason for the success of 'Stranger Things' is that you don't walk away thinking just about battles in parallel realities, but about the emotions and relationships of people who feel very real in a town that also feels very real. It's grounded in an intimacy and details that are mostly absent here. In the making-of documentary 'Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things the First Shadow,' Trefry (who is also a writer on the series) says that you can't do a close-up, a montage or a hard cut onstage. The thing is, you can, but it requires resourcefulness and craft that are different from the ones involved in making spiders look realistic or a person fall in slow motion. Because it is locked into an operatic volume, 'The First Shadow' never quite finds the grace notes and tonal variations that would bring out the show's sadness and horror.
New York Times
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How ‘Stranger Things' Scaled Up for Broadway
The cold open: In television, it's a scene that begins an episode before the title sequence, often without leading characters but almost always with foreshadowing hooks to confound or set a mood. Theater doesn't really have much of a cold open tradition. The expectation is that you introduce the main characters and get moving. Not so for 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow.' The new Broadway play, based on Netflix's hit horror-science fiction series, starts with a bold five-minute cold open of loud gunfire, marauding Demogorgons and no leading characters. It's a coup de théâtre, and it swiftly signals that the lead producers, the Broadway heavy-hitter Sonia Friedman and Netflix, are betting their big-money gamble will knock theatergoers' socks right off. 'We always wanted to open with a big scene and a big moment, something that's going to shock the audience,' said Ross Duffer, who, with his twin brother, Matt Duffer, created the 'Stranger Things' series. Both are credited as the play's creative producers. The play is a prequel to the 1980s-set TV series, and gives an origin story about a shy teenager named Henry Creel (played by Louis McCartney) who became an important figure in Season 4. It's set in small-town Hawkins, Ind., mostly in 1959. But the prologue takes place in 1943, and acts as an omen of the supernatural elements that drive the series, including the Upside Down, a sinister realm that parallels our own. Friedman credited the cold open to Stephen Daldry, the Tony-winning director who, with Justin Martin, directed 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' on Broadway. 'The instinct of most directors would be to leave that to a little bit later and build up to it,' Friedman said during an interview at the Marquis Theater, where the show is in previews before opening on April 22. 'Stephen was like, no, no, I want it right at the beginning.' The show overall and the cold open in particular were beasts to birth, said Friedman, even more so on Broadway than in London, where the play originated in 2023. The Marquis has about 600 more seats than the West End's Phoenix Theater, where the show is still running. 'I say this without exaggeration or hyperbole: It's the most technical and challenging physical production that's probably ever been onstage,' Friedman said. And this is coming from a producer of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' which required a costly redo of the Lyric Theater and featured a slew of illusions that cost a pretty penny. And the bombast isn't cheap. 'Don't even ask me how much 'Stranger Things' is going to cost,' she was recently quoted saying in The New York Times. A Complex Sequence Afloat on a darkened stage are two rectangular boxes that look straight out of a graphic novel. Inside both boxes and in the aisles are crew members of the U.S.S. Eldridge, a battleship anchored in the harbor on a quiet night. Suddenly, screeching sounds break the stillness as the lights flicker, then go out. As stage fog washes over the first rows of the theater, the massive, fully realized hull of the battleship appears with a shock, tilting under an angry orange sky. From the murky waters — or is it from the otherworldly skies? — Demogorgons, the signature otherworldly monsters of 'Stranger Things,' brutally feast on an officer amid desperate screams and rapid gunfire. Then, in a moment that elicited cheers at a recent preview, the title sequence of 'Stranger Things' (the series) is projected onto a screen the width of the proscenium. Dramaturgically, the scene is rooted in the Philadelphia Experiment, a conspiracy theory that's long been a reference point for the Duffer Brothers. It posits that during World War II, an American ship traveled to another dimension after the U.S. government started experimenting with electromagnetic energy in its attempt to render ships invisible. Some of the crew were said to have gone mad in the 'jog across dimensions,' as the show's playwright, Kate Trefry, put it. In directing the cold open, Martin said he was inspired by the movie 'Alien,' specifically 'that moment of quiet in which you're building suspense, which is all about what you don't see.' He also pointed to a more theatrical and unusual source for a horror inspiration: The first minutes of 'The Lion King' on Broadway, when life-size puppet animals parade down the aisles and onto the stage. 'It's really punchy,' he said. 'You never forget it.' Much of the responsibility for painting a dramatic stage picture in so little time fell to Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, the illusions and visual effects designers. Harrison said that from the initial concept to the Broadway stage, the open — the 'most complex sequence' he's put onstage — took about two-and-a-half years to perfect. About 40 crew members, including stage managers and dressers, 'have been rehearsed to within a millisecond of their existence,' Harrison said, to help deploy some 75 cues that involve 'a whole lot of engineering,' including pulley systems and automation technology, on Miriam Buether's set. Benjamin Pearcy, a video and visual effects designer, said one of the biggest challenges in making the ship appear out of nowhere was ensuring that audiences couldn't tell the difference between the physical scenery and light that creates the illusion of space. To do so, several projectors installed around the auditorium work in tandem with a massive upstage LED wall to toy with depth perception. 'We're hiding where the real ship stops and where the extension of that ship is on the screen behind it,' he said. There's an entire set piece — a painted backdrop of an empty sky — that the audience sees for just seconds before it disappears, never to be seen again. 'The audience isn't going to necessarily even remember that they saw that for a moment,' Pearcy said. 'But if that hadn't been there, the appearance of the ship itself would not be the dramatic moment that it is.' Also at play is the retention of vision, a magic principle in which the magician flashes a coin in the light a second before it vanishes. The flash pushes the coin into the audience's mind just before it's gone and significantly heightens the effect. In the opening scene, the principle is used with stage lighting to reinforce an empty space just before it is filled. Harrison, who has a background in magic, said that in that moment the audience 'perceives more depth than perhaps there actually is.' What kept — keeps — the designers up at night? Making sure the effects and illusions, the kinds of things you only need to get right once for television, work on Broadway eight shows a week. Gary Beestone, the show's technical director, said the weight of the scenery presented structural challenges in the theater itself, which is inside the Marriott Marquis hotel and above a Levi's store. 'We found that there was a beam in the store that we needed to access in order to sign off getting the show to work,' Beestone said. Harrison said an unspecified 'supermassive structure' that weighs about 1,300 pounds has to move safely and quickly. 'That's about as much as I can say without being sued,' he added, laughing. 'Driven by Character and by Story' A 'live spectacle event': That's how the Marquis marquee describes 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow.' It's a boast that the producers hope will drive word of mouth. But it could also send the message that the show disfavors character development for 'cheap thrills, expensively made,' as Houman Barekat put it when he reviewed the London production for The New York Times. A writer also for the series, Trefry said the open strikes the same narrative balance as the rest of the show, between appealing to theatergoers who know nothing about the series and to 'Stranger Things' aficionados eager for a glimpse of what may come in the show's fifth and final season, which debuts later this year. (The play is based on an original story by Trefry, the Duffer Brothers and Jack Thorne.) Martin sounded confident that the show would not be the kind where people say: 'We've seen five magic tricks. When's the next one?' 'What we do is driven by character and by story,' he said. And by old-school theatermaking. Surprisingly, the Duffer Brothers sounded most animated when talking about a costume — just one way, Ross said, that the Broadway play is returning their baby to its humble first-season roots. 'The Demogorgon in Season 1 was a guy in a suit,' he said. 'To go back to doing that? It's a thrill.'
New York Times
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow': What to Know About the Broadway Show
After a critically acclaimed premiere in London's West End in 2023 — where it is still running — 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow,' a play that serves as a prequel to the popular Netflix series, is set to open on April 22 at the Marquis Theater on Broadway. Of course, fans of the show, which is set to release its fifth season later this year, are excited (though it's small consolation for having to wait more than three years between seasons). But what if you can't tell a Demobat from a Demogorgon? Can you plunge right in? Here's what you need to know about the TV series, how it informs the show and more. What is the TV series about? Set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., the Netflix series follows a group of friends as they try to get to the root of supernatural forces and secret government experiments in their town. They discover an alternate dimension — the Upside Down — filled with monstrous creatures, who are not content to sit back and leave them well alone. Over the course of four seasons, a cast anchored by Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Chief Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven, a young girl with mysterious powers) and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) save one another from the jaws of death while navigating the complexities of their relationships. (And, in Eleven's case, eating lots of Eggo waffles.) Where does the play fall in the timeline of the TV series? It's a prequel set in 1959 — 24 years before the start of the Netflix series — and centers on a character introduced in Season 4: Henry Creel, a troubled teenager with telepathic powers who will later become Vecna, the show's primary antagonist. Who wrote the play? Kate Trefry, a writer on the TV show, wrote the script based on an original story she developed with Matt and Ross Duffer, who created the series, and with Jack Thorne (a Tony winner for 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' Thorne also wrote the recent Netflix hit mini-series 'Adolescence'). The director is Stephen Daldry, a three-time Tony winner, for 'The Inheritance,' 'Billy Elliot,' and 'An Inspector Calls'; Justin Martin is the co-director. Which characters from the TV series are in the play? You'll meet high school versions of a number of familiar characters from the series' adult cast, including James Hopper Jr. (Burke Swanson), Joyce Byers née Maldonado (Alison Jaye) and Bob Newby (Juan Carlos). A younger version of the scientist Dr. Martin Brenner (Alex Breaux) is also in play, having been tasked with studying Henry Creel (Louis McCartney). What is 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' about? Henry Creel and his family have just arrived in Hawkins, seeking a fresh start — which proves more difficult than they expect. Meanwhile, the rebellious young Jim Hopper, the son of the town police chief, can't seem to do anything right; the spunky Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and leave town, stat (but still has a thing for bad boys); and the tech nerd Bob is hopelessly in love with her. (She is oblivious.) Soon enough, this tangle of typical teenage troubles butts up against a sinister alternate universe, the Upside Down. A wave of gruesome crimes strikes the town, which Jim, Joyce and Bob set out to solve, as Henry reckons with his troubled past, dark powers and the nagging suspicion that he has something to do with all of it. Is the play canonical to the TV series? Yes. Trefry, who wrote the script while also writing Seasons 4 and 5 of the TV series, has said the play acts as a bridge between Season 4 and the forthcoming Season 5. The plan is to reintroduce elements from the play in Season 5 so that everything will still make sense to people who haven't seen the play. Are any of the actors from the TV series in it? No, but you can catch Sadie Sink, who plays the tomboyish skateboarder Max Mayfield, starring in 'John Proctor Is the Villain' one block over at the Booth Theater. What if I haven't watched the TV series? The show's creators say the story is designed to be able to stand alone. But, having seen the show in London, I would strongly advise that you watch at least a few episodes of the series first — going in blind is akin to attending 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' a stage sequel that relies on knowledge of all seven books or films, without having any knowledge of them. You will only be getting part of the story. Is it scary? Like the Netflix series, the play balances horror and comedy. (Justin Martin, the play's co-director, has cited 'The Woman in Black' as an influence.) If you like jump scares, this show is for you! What did critics in London think? British critics were mostly enthusiastic: In The Sunday Times, Dominic Maxwell wrote that it was 'a tremendous technical feat that is also moving, amusing and surprising,' while in The Daily Telegraph, the critic Dominic Cavendish called it 'the theatrical event of the year.' The production also won two Olivier Awards — the British equivalent of the Tony Awards — for best entertainment or comedy play and best set design. But in The New York Times, the critic Houman Barekat was unimpressed, describing it as 'a gaudy, vertiginous fairground ride of a play.' (Reviews for the Broadway production will come out April 22, when the show is slated to open.) Is this the same show that's running in London? Mostly, yes. The characters and plot are the same, though the show is 15 minutes shorter — two hours and 45 minutes on Broadway compared with three hours across the pond — after the creative team did some nipping and tucking. They are also making some changes to the physical production in previews, including adding a couple of illusions and reworking scenes to take advantage of a bigger theater. The cast — with the exception of Louis McCartney, who reprises his performance as Henry Creel from the original West End production — is different as well, and the characters are not carbon copies of their West End versions. Hopper, for one, has much more vulnerability here, Martin, the play's co-director, said in a recent interview. 'You're seeing a second draft,' he said. 'This time around, having all the knowledge from the West End, it was about, how do we now push this idea further, or how do we achieve this illusion that didn't quite work?' 'It's the same story,' he added, 'But I just think it's richer and deeper.' Where is the show? 'The First Shadow' is at the Marquis Theater on West 46th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The theater is inside the Marriott Marquis Hotel, on the third floor (enter through the lobby, then take the escalators up). Looking for the stage door to meet the actors after the show? It's on 45th Street, across from the Minskoff Theater, where 'The Lion King' is playing. How do I get cheap tickets? Same-day rush tickets are $40 and available in person at the Marquis Theater box office on a first-come, first-served basis, up to two per person. The box office generally opens at 10 a.m., and you'll want to get there before then — possibly well before then — to join the line. The show also has an online lottery, which offers $45 tickets for every performance, up to two per entry (you can enter once per day). It opens at 10 a.m. the day before each performance and closes at 2 p.m. that same day. In both cases, you can increase your odds of winning by trying on a day when there are two performances scheduled (generally Saturdays). I just want to know: Will I hear that earworm-y theme music? Yes. Rest assured, the play makes liberal use of the Netflix show's signature electro-ethereal theme music. (The floating red letters also make an appearance.)
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow' Trailer: New Netflix Doc Chronicles Making Of ‘Stranger Things' Stage Show
Netflix has released a trailer for its new documentary about the making of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the stage adaptation that was a hit on the West End and begins Broadway previews tonight. Check out the Netflix trailer above, and some first-look images from the Broadway play below. The Broadway production officially opens April 22 at the Marquis Theater. More from Deadline 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' Coming To Broadway In March; See Trailer Released Today Sarah Snook Goes Fantastically Wilde In 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray' – Broadway Review Viral YouTube Dating Series 'Pop The Balloon' Lands Live Netflix Order, Yvonne Orji To Host Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow will debut on Netflix on April 15, and goes backstage to detail the creation of the play during its 2023 development in London. The documentary, directed by Jon Halperin, depicts the cast and crew of the London production as they prepare for the play's debut at the Phoenix Theatre in London. The film's synopsis: 'With special behind-the-scenes access, follow the cast and crew of Stranger Things: The First Shadow as they race against time to prepare the ambitious, boundary-pushing stage show for its West End debut amid mounting fan and critic anticipation.' The doc is produced by Angus Wall, Kent Kubena, Terry Leonard, and exec produced by Matt Bell. 'The challenge is to create a visceral experience for the audience, where they feel shock and awe, surprise and delight,' says Stephen Daldry, the director of the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. 'You have to deliver that. The fusion of television and theater is about the speed of narrative and how you create it … There are moments in the show where you will think, 'I don't understand how they did that.' 'The first time we saw the play, we were blown away,' says Ross Duffer, who created TV's Stranger Things with brother Matt Duffer, who adds about the stage show, 'They pulled everything off, and then some. It was one of the most thrilling experiences of our lives.' Here are some first-look images from the Broadway production. Both photos depicted actor Louis McCartney as Henry Creel. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery '1923' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
