“Stranger Things,” Netflix’s enormously popular sci-fi drama, is coming to Broadway.
The three-hour drama, already running in London, is a prequel of sorts, set in 1959, 24 years before the streaming series begins. The play’s full title is “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”; like the Netflix series, it takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., and features some of the supernatural streamer’s adult characters when they were high school students.
“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is to begin previews March 28 and to open April 22 at the Marquis Theater.
The lavish, spectacle-heavy production opened in London in December. British critics were enthusiastic: In the Sunday Times, Dominic Maxwell called it “a tremendous technical feat that is also moving, amusing and surprising,” while in the Daily Telegraph, the critic Dominic Cavendish labeled it “the theatrical event of the year.” But in The New York Times, the critic Houman Barekat was unimpressed, calling it “a gaudy, vertiginous fairground ride of a play.”
The London production has been successful and will continue to run. The producers say the show has attracted a high number of first-time theatergoers and those who rarely go, drawn by their interest in the “Stranger Things” story. The show also won two Olivier Awards, for best new entertainment and for set and video design.
The play is written by Kate Trefry, who is also a writer of the series, and it is based on a story by Trefry; the Duffer Brothers, who created the series; and Jack Thorne, a playwright who won a Tony Award for “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The play is directed by Stephen Daldry, a three-time Tony winner, for “The Inheritance,” “Billy Elliot,” and “An Inspector Calls,” and co-directed by Justin Martin.
The creative team is considering making some changes to the narrative and technical elements of the show as they bring it to Broadway.
Netflix is a lead producer of “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” along with Sonia Friedman, a prolific producer on Broadway and in the West End.
Read More: A ‘Stranger Things’ Prequel Is Coming to Broadway Next Spring
