Latest news with #StrangerThings:TheFirstShadow
USA Today
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Stranger Things' Broadway star Louis McCartney on why he reads critical Reddit comments
NEW YORK – Louis McCartney, who plays the tormented Henry Creel in "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" on Broadway, admits he sometimes lives in the comments. The actor confesses to reading "every review." Then he takes it a step further. "I also read the Reddit reviews because those (writers) are the real 'Stranger Things' fans," McCartney, 22, tells USA TODAY. "Somebody said that my epileptic fit (in the play) looked too stiff. I can sit here and say, 'No, I worked on that for months and I don't think it is stiff,' but I said, 'What if it is?' I'm always looking for better ways to do it." McCartney resigns to the fact that seeking feedback and affirmation can be a "double-edged sword" when it comes to acting. He recalls a conversation with his father, Michael, a screenwriter, after receiving a Tony Award nomination for his performance. "(My dad) was like, 'Great job. So proud of you. But don't take your foot off the pedal,'" McCartney remembers. "'Keep going.'" McCartney's dream is work with his father on a film that they both win Oscars for. His mother, Ruth, a holistic medium, also encouraged him to pursue acting. "(My mom) deals with the universe and I'm very spiritual myself," the actor says. "I attribute her to a lot of my personality and the way I approach problems and deal with stress. She's a cool mom." How the 'Stranger Things' TV cast responded to Broadway show "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" serves as a prequel to the hit Netflix series. McCartney portrays Creel, the main antagonist eventually known as Vecna. The actor praises the TV cast and crew, including Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Vecna on the show. "I literally have never had a moment where I've sat there and been like, 'Oh, you don't like us,'" says McCartney. "These guys have been going for 10 years now. We've been running for two years. It's nothing comparably. "We feel every right to be like, 'We're part of the "Stranger Things" family now.' And (the TV cast has) catapulted that. They've been really nice, especially Jamie." "First Shadow" began on London's West End before moving to Broadway. McCartney says he has yet to meet Millie Bobby Brown because she's been "busy Season 5-ing" but "pretty much everybody's came" to see the show. As for McCartney's next steps, he says he does not make an appearance in the fifth and final season of the Netflix series, which begins streaming Nov. 26. The Broadway gig marks McCartney's first time in the U.S. and he's enjoyed exploring New York City with his girlfriend. Even on show days, the actor will venture out to SoHo, Brooklyn or Ellis Island. He lives near Central Park, which has also proved a nice respite from the hectic city. "I've been doing watercolor," he adds. "I've been like just trying to wake up and have a good time and have a day before the show, not live for the show." McCartney says that eventually he makes his way to the theater and "locks in" for his show, which is probably helpful given that he'll eventually read a review or comment about it aferwards.
UPI
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
'Stranger Things: First Shadow' stars focus on humanity amid horror
1 of 3 | The stars of Broadway's "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" pose on the red carpet near Times Square on April 22. Left to right, Juan Carlos, playing Bob Newby, Alison Jaye, playing Joyce Maldonado, Burke Swanson, playing James Hopper, Jr., Louis McCartney, playing Henry Creel, and Gabrielle Neveah Green, playing Patty Newby. File Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo NEW YORK, July 27 (UPI) -- Burke Swanson and Alison Jaye say they focused on the humanity even more than the horror when playing teen versions of Hopper and Joyce in Broadway's blockbuster Stranger Things prequel, The First Shadow. Penned by Kate Trefry and directed by Stephen Daldry, the supernatural stage play takes place in the 1950s, in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., and offers origins stories for the beloved grown-ups -- and terrifying uber-villain Vecna/Henry Creel -- from the 1980s-set Netflix TV show. "Within the spooky, sci-fi nature of it all, there are real humans trying to figure themselves out and figure out what their community's like," Swanson told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. Even before Henry (Louis McCartney) arrives and unwittingly turns the town upside-down, Hopper and his classmates Bob Newby (Patrick Scott McDermott) and his adopted sister Patty (Gabrielle Nevaeh) are dealing with parent-related tension and trauma. "What was so special to me is that it wasn't shying away from those stories," Swanson said. "It's a big thing that we're doing here. There's a lot to tell and it almost doesn't fit within one show, but there's a willingness to explore not only the father-kid relationships, but the mother-kid relationships and how each different dynamic is processed." Patty's outsider status leads her into danger because the only person she feels connected to is Henry. "Patty has really been pushed to the side, not only within the community, but also within her family," Swanson said. "Bob did not support Patty in a way that she needed and she comes into her own as this really incredible, strong female lead," he added. "He gets this really powerful moment just to acknowledge, 'I messed up and i want to do better.' And I think those moments -- even within the sort of 'Mind Flayer' of it all -- are the things that really push us forward through that story." As for Hopper, he is leaning into his "bad-boy mentality" when the audience first meets him, but he matures a bit throughout the play as he tries to help his friends and neighbors, Swanson noted. "In classic Hopper fashion, he's got a really sentimental heart," Swanson added. "What continues to be learned in this show is the power of community and the power of friendship and Hopper believes that he will be better off alone. His relationship with his father is not good. There's no communication there and I think what we see is the glimpse of the hope of who Hopper can become when he chooses community." Just as the Netflix series is famous for tapping into the nostalgia of the 1980s, the stage production perfectly re-imagines Middle America in the 1950s. "It's been a blast getting to dive into the music, into the aesthetics and costumes. We really got to emphasize the color, the dynamic of that time period, visually," Swanson said. "What's really, really fascinating about the '50s -- and this has been touched on by many different art forms -- is what happens when that facade begins to crack because the sleepy little town of Hawkins, Indiana seems to have begun to experience some very spooky things much earlier than we thought." Hopper may be decades away from becoming the sheriff who will date single mom Joyce, but the two do know each other quite well at this point, even if they don't travel in the same social circles until they team up to solve the mystery surrounding Henry. While Hopper is a loner, teen Joyce is a bubbly theater kid obsessed with directing the school play. "With this version of Joyce, there is a real questioning and push and pull of, 'Is this the life I'm going to choose? Or am I going to be able to get out of here and escape and become something bigger than this town?'" Jaye said. The actress loves that -- even though the play has spectacular special effects -- the characters live in a low-tech era guided by their instincts and moral compasses as opposed to cell phones or computers. "These kids don't have that. All they're leaning on is each other. If we're talking about the trio of Bob, Joyce and Jim [Hopper], we wake up every day and just knock on each other's doors and continue investigating, just like we kind of see [kid characters do] on the TV show," Jaye said. "There's that buoyancy and that fervor, that rigor to: 'We've got to dig. We've got to solve this problem.' They put all that energy on each other, instead of on technology, and connect that way, which is, I feel like, a big difference between what we're living in now." Although many fans of the Netflix series have been rooting for grownup Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) to hook up for years, others cheered when Joyce finally seemed to have a brief but stable romance with nice-guy Bob (Sean Astin) before he was attacked by Demodogs while protecting Joyce and her sons. Teen Bob is shy, earnest and clearly in love with Joyce. "When I watch the series, that was immediately one of my favorite characters who, unfortunately, didn't last that long. But he provides such a grounded sense of being," Jaye said about Bob. "They are so different, but, yet, it is the softness of Bob that softens Joyce. I feel like we do get to see that and celebrate that in the early moments of the show together." Jaye said she has been overwhelmed by support from fans who get a kick out of learning more about their favorite TV character by watching the play. "People of all ages have been like: 'Oh, my gosh! Of course, Joyce is a theater kid! How did I not put that together?' There's no nod to that in the series at all, but Kate created this back story for her," Jaye explained. "There's a nerdy tenderness and, also, a major headstrong authority to her that somehow makes it all make sense to me perfectly."
Express Tribune
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
What secrets does Stranger Things hide before Eleven? Broadway's chilling prequel finally reveals all
Before the Upside Down was opened, before Eleven's powers, and before Hawkins fell to supernatural terror, there was Henry Creel. Broadway's Stranger Things: The First Shadow takes fans deep into the hidden past of the Netflix universe, delivering an eerie, emotional origin story that has already claimed four Tony Awards and left audiences stunned. Set in 1959, the play centres on teenage Henry (played by Louis McCartney), a troubled boy grappling with horrifying visions in the seemingly quiet town of Hawkins. Audiences familiar with the Netflix series know what he becomes, Vecna, the show's ultimate villain, but The First Shadow dares to ask what drove him there. Opposite him is Gabrielle Nevaeh's Patty Newby, a new character who sees Henry for who he is beneath the nightmares. Together, they form the heart of a story that's as tragic as it is thrilling. The stage production's visual feats are already the stuff of legend. Gravity-defying illusions, seamless transitions, and supernatural effects recreate the terror of Hawkins with an intensity that cinema rarely matches. Critics have called it unlike anything Broadway has seen, and fans agree. One audience member even screamed 'NO WAY' during a pivotal reveal, proof of how deeply this play grips viewers. Written by Kate Trefry with the Duffer Brothers and Jack Thorne, and directed by Stephen Daldry, the play serves as a prequel to the TV series but stands entirely on its own. With characters like Dr Brenner, young Bob Newby, and a host of familiar surnames from the Netflix series, the connections run deep, but it's Henry and Patty's bond that makes this more than a horror story. 'I connect with Henry through music,' McCartney said. 'He's a good kid, but broken.' Nevaeh added, 'Patty sees the light in him. That's what makes this story so powerful.'
Time Magazine
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
The Writer of the Stranger Things Play on Working on Season 5 at the Same Time
It should come as no surprise that Stranger Things, the wildly popular Netflix show that premiered in 2016, now has a prequel. But in an unexpected twist, the new saga is not a television series or movie but a Broadway play. Stranger Things: The First Shadow serves as an origin story for Henry Creel—better known as Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower)—a major antagonist who is introduced in Season 4. Like Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven, Henry was born with telekinetic and psychic abilities and was subjected to cruel experiments by Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine), a scientist intent on harnessing those powers. But unlike Eleven, Henry chose to channel his connection to the Upside Down for evil rather than good. But The First Shadow offers a sympathetic backstory for Henry before he became a killer. Set in 1959 Hawkins, Ind., the story follows a young Henry as he attends high school alongside teenage versions of familiar characters like Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper. Much like a season of the beloved show, the play serves up a long mystery—as well as some jokes, high school drama, and deep dives into nerd culture—as the citizens of Hawkins attempt to understand why people around them keep dying. Though longtime Stranger Things writer Kate Trefry had never written a play before when she agreed to take on First Shadow, the creators of Stranger Things—twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer—were adamant that the stage production needed to mimic the tone and style of the series and align with its mythology. They believed only someone from the Stranger Things writers' room could effectively bridge the world of the streaming series and the live show. Working from a story she co-wrote with the Duffers and writing vet Jack Thorne (Adolescence, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Enola Holmes), Trefry crafted the script for The First Shadow while co-writing the fifth and final season of the Netflix phenomenon. The hope was to create a live experience that deepens the story of the final season of the show—set to premiere in three batches this fall and winter—without revealing any major spoilers. After premiering in London in December 2023, the show moved to Broadway in April 2025. Louis McCartney, who played Creel in both productions, was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. The show was nominated for a handful of other Tonys, and won a special award for the show's jaw-dropping special effects. We talked to Trefry about how she dealt with a constantly changing Season 5—which was still being edited—and the surprising popularity of those demogorgon plushies. With something like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, your co-writer Jack Thorne was writing a prequel based on a completed text. What were the challenges of writing a prequel to a show that is not done yet? It sounds like everything was changing even as you were writing the play. It was trying to create a past for something whose future was not finished yet. It was really hard and a unique writing challenge. It needed to be something that agreed with everything that happened in Season 1-4 but also enhances Season 5—without giving away anything that happens in Season 5. And also you can't have needed to see the play in order to understand Season 5. It was this tiny keyhole to fit the story into. I was working on Season 5 and the play at the same time, so I was able to massage both sides to try to make them both as satisfying as possible. But it was probably too much. I never thought about anything else. How did you become the writer of the play? It was crazy of them to choose someone who had no playwriting experience. I had only ever worked on TV shows. But the goal was to make a play that felt like the show, and the only way to do that was to have someone who writes for the show work on the play. I don't think that anybody could come in from outside the show and understand the tiny nuances, not only of the mythology and the characters but straddling the upcoming season, being up-to-date on how things were changing moment to moment. The end of Season 5 would change between the morning and afternoon of a single day. And I was embedded in both places. Did you run into any problems with Season 5 changing? There was one thing I can't talk about. We actually sort of snuck it in the play. If you know what you're looking for you can see it. It's still there. Vecna doesn't show up as the Big Bad of this franchise until Season 4. When did he emerge as a character that the writers thought merited an entire play dedicated to his backstory? We had so many conflicting ideas for him. There was a lot of debate: Is he like Michael Myers—like inherently bad? Is he Damien from The Omen—like an evil boy under the influence of the Mind Flayer in a way that we don't understand yet? Who is the puppet master and who is the puppet? We had so many debates in the writers' room about what kind of Big Bad he was that it was easy to say, let's write an entire story answering that question. I would describe the audience as not your typical Broadway audience. People were screaming every time an easter egg was revealed. People were trying to film the play. It was like being at Disney World. I happened to see Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal in their respective plays in the few weeks before I saw First Shadow and those movie stars were not eliciting wild reactions quite like this. What is it about the show that provokes such an ecstatic response? It's funny, actually, that you say that. The girl who plays Eleven, obviously this is her Broadway debut. She's nine years old. And when she comes out on stage for a few minutes people stand up and start clapping and screaming, which is not the usual reaction to a debut Broadway performance. It's a lot of things. The audience skews really young and really green. The last statistic I heard was I think 65% of the people who come to The First Shadow have never been to a Broadway show before—excuse me, have never been to a play before. Wow. And so people are being introduced to the medium for the first time through the lens of a show and a piece of IP they really like. I think the response you saw is the pure shock and pure joy of seeing something performed live for the first time. If you've been watching stuff on your computer your entire life, and then you go to the theater and all of the sudden, action is happening and you can't figure out how it's happening because we have this spectacular illusions team getting into your brain—that's pretty visceral. It's pretty primal. I think that's a huge part of it. I think the other thing is, we've seen delays with Season 5 of Stranger Things with COVID and then the writers' strike. It goes on and on. I think people are excited to be stepping back into the world again for the first time in years. I saw the show dozens of times in London and New York, and it's the same whether you go to a Wednesday matinee or a Saturday night. It's the same level of absolute chaos. And it's wonderful to see kids coming with their parents and grandparents who have maybe never seen Stranger Things. It's an amazing way to introduce a new generation to theater. I saw that they were selling Demogorgon plushies. I don't know that I would want to fall asleep holding that thing. My kids have one, and they also have the breakable Prancer cat [a cat that unfortunately suffers the wrath of Henry Creel and has its bones broken in the play]. Oh! It's quite twisted. I did not know the show skewed so young. Obviously as the characters have matured, the show has gotten scarier over time. What is the demographic you were writing for when working on Season 5? Is it the same age group as almost a decade ago when the show began? And is it the same demo you were writing the play for? That's such a good question because I was writing the play at the same time as Season 5, so I conflated those audiences, for better or worse. Think of Season 1 as The Goonies. Over the seasons we've sort of aged up with the actors and audience into those high school years. So the show and now the play is kind of like, maybe a dark PG-13, like an 80s PG-13. Freshman and sophomore year of high school are, to me, a turning point for so many of us. Your identity is solidifying. So if you are going to tell the story of someone becoming evil, going through the major emotional crossroads that happen through puberty, the play can't be about 11-year-olds. It has to be about 15-year-olds. I also think people underestimate kids. I have a six-year-old, and she's like a teenager. I don't think you should take your six-year-olds to the show, but I've certainly seen them at the show. I think 10, 11, 12, is kind of the sweet spot, even if the show is about 14, 15, 16-year-olds. My toddler is only interested in older kids. Yeah my three-year-old is always copying the six-year-old, so I have two teenagers. They both call me, 'Bruh' now. I didn't realize that 'bruh' was still part of the cultural vernacular. Their generation is bringing it back. So I actually am pregnant with our second right now and during the opening scene of the show, which involves all these flashing lights, fog, and intense music—all part of a cinematic set piece involving a World War II ship—the baby was going crazy in my belly. How early in the process did you know you wanted to open the play with the sort of stunt that might appear on the TV show? From the jump. I didn't know how to write a play because I had never done it before. And they were like, 'Don't write a play. You don't know how to do that. Write the show.' Every season of the show starts with a cold open that introduces a supernatural element. Then we go into the mundane world of the everyday, and we explain how those things are connected to each other. So the idea of doing the Philadelphia Experiment [a fabled event from World War II in which the military made a ship disappear from the radar and supposedly transported it to another dimension] is something that we've talked about in the writers room for years. That conspiracy theory was top of mind. So when they threw down the gauntlet for me and said, 'Write whatever you want to write, and we'll figure out how to stage it—maybe we won't, but we'll try to make it feel like a TV show,' I was like, 'Okay, what about a real battleship on stage that disappears and goes to another dimension? You asked for it. Here you go.' And it's Stranger Things so we want people in awe. The play ends with the little Netflix 'Next Episode' button popping up on the stage. It felt very on brand for Netflix. Are they thinking about the play as a proof of concept for future stage productions? No. There were no strings attached, no expectations. I had pretty much complete creative control of what the story was. If there was any studio meddling, nobody ever came to me. They just kept saying yes.
Time Out
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Kids and teens can get free theatre tickets all summer as London Kids Week booking opens for 2025
The school summer holidays are famously a nightmarish month-and-a-half of trying to amuse children unaware of the fact that you're desperately trying to keep them entertained during a break that is longer than all your annual leave put together. Still, there are some bright spots, especially living in London, and a big one is London Kids Week. Run by the Society of London Theatre, it's nothing so vulgar as 'a sale', but is rather an initiative to get children into a theatre during the school hols by offering under-18s free tickets when accompanied by a paying adult. In addition, up to two further children's tickets can be booked at half price by the same adult. It's a damn good deal with no real catch (there isn't even a booking fee), beyond the fact that inventory is limited, although rarely massively so. Get in early, though, and you might be able to snag (free) tickets to one of the special workshops or other activities laid on as part of the 'week', which you can book for now and runs the length of the summer hols, from July 21 to August 31 (a strange definition of 'week' but whatever). It's always a good showing and runs the gamut from full on kids' theatre like The Smeds and the Smoos and The Tiger Who Came to Tea – clearly aimed at younger audiences – to much more adult fare like Stranger Things: The First Shadow and the Rachel Zegler-starring Evita that will theoretically allow you to impress teens at an affordable price. To book, and for the full list of shows – which includes the liked of Wicked, Tina and Mamma Mia! – head over to here to book. The best kids' theatre in London.
