Behind the Curtain: “Stranger Things The First Shadow,” was an informative documentary of what really happens behind the scenes of a Broadway show. The documentary specifically focused on the hard work put in by the whole cast, not just the actors. I really enjoyed learning about the process and what the behind-the-scenes people go through when making a play.
The Tony-winning Broadway play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is set in 1959 Hawkins, Indiana, and based on the events that occur in the show “Stranger Things.” “The First Shadow” explores Henry Creel’s backstory before he became Vecna.
Since “The First Shadow” was written by Kate Trefry, the documentary heavily focuses on what she went through in the writing process. Trefry was the original screenplay writer for “Stranger Things” and decided to take on the challenge of writing the entire play after having no prior experience with playwriting.
I personally enjoyed hearing the experience of the writer in the process rather than the actors. It was eye opening to hear Trefry discuss multiple times throughout the documentary how different it is writing a play rather than for a TV show.
I also was entertained to listen to how many times she had rewritten the play throughout the whole process. Days until opening night, the play was still being rewritten. Problems with the scripts meant that the actors were confused on where they were supposed to come in for lines and even when they were supposed to do quick changes.
It goes to show that a change in the script, no matter how big or small it is, can mess up the whole process.
The documentary talks about every aspect of the process in a sequential order. There are workshops where people read lines as characters to test out if the script works and can be acted out. Once they finish the workshop phase, the team must make final cast decisions after auditions are held.
This is where they casted all the main characters: Louis McCartney as young Henry Creel, Patrick Vaill as Dr. Brenner, Ella Karuna Williams as Patty Newby, Isabella Pappas as Joyce, Oscar Lloyd as Jim Hopper Jr. and Chris Buckley as Bob Newby.
McCartney excelled at portraying Henry’s transition from being naïve to becoming sinister. I really enjoyed how all the actors in the play took a new spin on the characters they were portraying.
The next step was traveling to the Phoenix Theatre in London, England, and running through technical rehearsals when they worked out problems with the script, special effects and much more.
I thought the attention to detail in the small snippets that were shown from the play were amazing! I enjoyed seeing all the special effects being incorporated to make the story come to life on the stage.
At the very end of the documentary on opening night, the original actors who played in the TV show David Harbour who played Hopper, Cara Buono who played Karen Wheeler, Matthew Modine who played Dr. Brenner and Jamie Campbell Bower who played Henry even came to watch the play and congratulated the cast on a great opening night.
The most noteworthy part of the ending was Winona Ryder sending flowers to Isabella Pappas for doing such a great job playing Joyce.
Overall, the documentary was entertaining. For all “Stranger Things” fans out there, if you’re looking for another part of the franchise to watch, definitely check out “Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things The First Shadow” on Netflix and the play, “The First Shadow” at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway in NYC.
