Stranger Things The First Shadow stage show blew audiences away when it debuted in London’s West End back in December 2023 with an instant upgrade to Broadway not long after but where did it all begin? Introducing the Netflix Behind the Curtain Stranger Things show which sheds some light on this incredible production.
Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things is a feature-length documentary that takes viewers behind the scenes of production on a unique story in the Stranger Things timeline that sees all of our iconic characters at a much younger age as the backstory of Henry Creel (who would later go on to become Vecna) becomes more apparent.
We see Hopper and Joyce at a young age, not to mention Bob Newby, Ted Wheeler and more as the show perfectly sets up Season 5 with a prequel tie-in with little secrets given along the way.
Seeing the blood, sweat and tears that goes into making a production like this was a joy to see but the documentary seems to be very audition heavy as we learn less about the struggles of production and more about auditions, scripting and other more, let’s say laborious departments of a theatrical production.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a technological masterpiece and I was certain that the documentary would dive more into just how these incredible stage illusions were created or at the very least how they were planned.
Whilst we do get a sneak peek of this it’s very brief and for me a nice blend between the technology and the nitty gritty stuff would have made for a much more watchable documentary because at times this certainly dragged.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the stage show, I love the series but I didn’t feel as though the documentary really captured the essence of the show and certainly focused too much on the dailies of cast auditions, scene-setting and the like.
For a more theatrical background-minded person this would be a dream, for me as a general viewer I wanted something a little more interesting that would cover a wider variety of the production.
The First Shadow takes place at Hawkins in 1959 and follows Henry Creel who gets experimented on by Dr. Brenner of Hawkins Lab. The play has been in motion since Season 1 with the Duffer brothers discussing the project from a very early stage.
The play was written by them along with veteran Stranger Things writer and producer Kate Trefry.
An origins story that will feed the hungry fans more and more fan service ahead of the highly anticipated Season 5 as we learn a thing or two including a major spoiler for Season 5 that was cut from the theatre show 13 weeks before its opening night.
It was great to see the majority of the original Stranger Things show cast in attendance for the opening night of the West End and it’s certainly an interesting watch if you’re more technically minded but for me, sadly, it just lacked the core focus of what I wanted to see and whilst I enjoyed the tidbits I was fed, the show as a whole just sadly wasn’t as appetising.
For our full review of Stranger Things: The First Shadow theatre show CLICK HERE
Our Rating
Summary
Whilst I wanted to love it and in parts I did sadly this documentary spent too long focusing on the more laborious parts of the audition process, scripting and not enough time on what makes Stranger Things so unique such as the groundbreaking technology, the illusions and its connection to the fanbase. Sadly, whilst this documentary may appeal to more theatre enthusiasts specifically I sadly couldn’t get invested despite loving the stage show so much.
