STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW Will Arrive on Broadway in 2025

Broadway is about to be turned upside down. As BroadwayWorld first reported in March, Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions just officially announced that the critically acclaimed, Olivier Award-winning, play STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW will begin performances Friday, March 28, 2025 and officially open Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre.

Based on an original story by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne and Kate Trefry, and rooted in the mythology and world of the Netflix global phenomenon, STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW is a new play written by Kate Trefry, directed by Stephen Daldry and co-directed by Justin Martin.

Sign up now for first access to pre-sale tickets at www.StrangerThingsBroadway.com. Pre-Sale Tickets for those who sign up on the official website will go on sale for STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW at 11:00AM ET on Friday, September 13, 2024. Tickets for the general public will go on sale at 11:00AM ET on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.

STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW will feature set design by Miriam Buether, costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Paul Arditti, original music composition, orchestration, arrangements and supervision by D.J. Walde, illusions design & visual effects by Jamie Harrison & Chris Fisher, video design & visual effects by 59, choreography by Coral Messam, movement direction by Lynne Page, wigs, hair and make- up design by Campbell Young Associates, technical director is Gary Beestone for Gary Beestone Associates, casting by Jim Carnahan. Casting to be announced at a later date.

STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW opened in its world premiere production at The Phoenix Theatre in London's West End, where it is currently breaking box office records and is now on sale through February 16, 2025. The West End production recently won several awards including two Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment and Best Set Design, the Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Set Design and Most Promising Newcomer, and the WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play. Check out what the critics had to say.

Before the world turned upside down. Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy…and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.

Find out more about what we know so far.

From Netflix and the multi-award-winning Broadway producer Sonia Friedman Productions comes STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW. Winner of two Olivier Awards including Best Entertainment, this landmark production is brought to life by an award-winning creative team including director Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Inheritance, The Hours, The Reader) and co-director Justin Martin (Prima Facie, The Inheritance). With stunning special effects, extraordinary performances, and a storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this gripping, stand-alone adventure will take you right back to the beginnings of the Stranger Things story.

STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW is produced by Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions. The Duffer Brothers act as creative producers, with 21 Laps Entertainment as associate producer.

Bios:

KATE TREFRY (Writer and Original Story) is a writer and Co-Executive Producer on “Stranger Things.” She has had two Black List scripts: Pure O, and Revolver. She also wrote the final installment of Fear Street: 1666 for the R.L. Stine trilogy and wrote the award winning short film Souls of Totality. Her directorial debut short How To Be Alone starred Maika Monroe and Joe Keery and premiered at SXSW.

THE DUFFER BROTHERS (Original Story and Creative Producers) are the creators of the worldwide phenomenon “Stranger Things.” They are currently in production on the final season of “Stranger Things”, as well as serving as creative producers on the Olivier Award-winning West End production Stranger Things: The First Shadow. In 2022, they announced the launch of Upside Down Pictures with Hilary Leavitt. The company’s first project, the upcoming original Netflix series "The Boroughs," is set to begin production in the fall. Additionally, they have multiple projects in development, including a live-action series adaptation of "Death Note", as well as the psychological horror series “Something Very Bad is Going to Happen.”

Jack Thorne’s (Original Story) plays include When Winston Went To War With The Wireless (Donmar Warehouse), The Motive And The Cue (National Theatre and West End), After Life (National Theatre), A Christmas Carol (The Old Vic/Broadway/The Old Vic: In Camera), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End/Broadway /international), Sunday (Atlantic Theatre), The End of History, Hope (Royal Court Theatre), King Kong (Broadway), Woyzeck (The Old Vic), Mydidae (Soho/West End), Stacy (Tron/Arcola/West End), Let the Right One In (West End/Dundee Rep/Royal Court Theatre), Junkyard (UK tour), The Solid Life of Sugar Water (Graeae/National Theatre/UK tour), Bunny (Nabokov/UK tour/New York), and Stuart: A Life Backwards (Sheffield Crucible/UK tour). His television includes Best Interests, Help, Then Barbara Met Alan, CripTales, The Eddy, The Accident, His Dark Materials, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, Kiri, National Treasure, The Last Panthers, Don’t Take My Baby, This Is England, The Fades, Glue, Cast Offs. Film includes: Joy, The Swimmers, Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2, The Secret Garden, The Aeronauts, Dirt Music, Radioactive, Wonder, War Book, A Long Way Down, and The Scouting Book for Boys. His work for television has won him five BAFTAs. He received an International Emmy Award for Help, which also won Best Drama at the 2021 Rose D'Or Awards. In 2022 Jack was the recipient of both the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing, and the Royal Television Society’s award for Outstanding Contribution to British Television. In 2023 the National Film and Television School awarded him their honorary fellowship. Jack is a patron of Graeae Theatre Company, an associate artist of the Old Vic Theatre, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is a founding member of the pressure group Underlying Health Condition.

Stephen Daldry (Director) is a multi-award-winning Theatre, Film and Television Director & Producer. During his 40-year career he has directed theatre productions for London's West End & New York's Broadway, including Billy Elliot, THE Inheritance & An Inspector Calls, winning multiple Olivier & Tony Awards. In December 2023, Stranger Things: The First Shadow opened at London’s Phoenix Theatre to critical acclaim and won the 2024 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment Play. Stephen has directed 6 major feature films which have all been nominated for major industry awards including Oscar nominations for Best Picture & Best Director. His 2021 film Together, about the Covid-19 Pandemic, won the TV BAFTA for Best Single Drama. Netflix’s global success, “The Crown,” which he served as Executive Producer, released the 6th & final season in December 2023, with Stephen back directing the last ever episode. Stephen served as Producer on the opening & closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympics and was Artistic Director on Vogue World London in September 2023.

Stephen is the Chairman of refugee arts charity Good Chance and was the director of their award-winning sold-out production The Jungle and their most recent sold-out political drama Kyoto which premiered at the RSC in Stratford Upon Avon in June 2024. He serves on the board of The Perlman Performing Arts Center in New York.

Justin Martin (Co-Director) is a multi-award winning director working in theatre, film and television. He recently co-directed the Olivier Award winning, Stranger Things: The First Shadow with Stephen Daldry currently playing in the West End. In 2023 Justin’s award winning, West End production of Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer transferred to Broadway breaking box-office records at the Golden Theatre and earning 23 awards on both sides of the Atlantic including The Olivier for Best Play and Tony and Olivier Awards for Jodie Comer. The NT Live/Empire Street film of Prima Facie smashed box- office records becoming the highest-grossing event cinema release of all time. It returns to cinema’s in September. Justin’s television series The Lovers for Sky, AMC and Sundance, and written by award winning writer David Ireland, premiered to five star reviews and was named in the top shows of the year by the Daily Telegraph and the BFI. The series stars Johnny Flynn, Roisin Gallagher and Conleth Hill. In 2023 Justin’s award winning production of The Jungle (Young Vic/National Theatre) returned to New York and toured to Washington DC. It sold out in 25 minutes. The production previously played in San Francisco (2019), following sellout seasons at St Ann’s in New York (2018), the West End (2018) and at The Young Vic (2017). The show garnered awards including an Obie, a Southbank Sky Arts Award and a Broadway World Award for Best Direction. This year Justin reunited with the team behind The Jungle to create the hit play Kyoto for The RSC and Good Chance. Later this year he is directing Adrien Brody in Lindsey Ferrentino’s adaptation of the much lauded documentary The Fear of 13 at the Donmar. In 2021 Justin co-directed the BAFTA award winning film Together with Stephen Daldry for Sonia Friedman Productions, BBC Films, and Shoebox Films (starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan). His critically acclaimed production of Low Level Panic sold out twice at the Galway Theatre Festival before touring throughout Ireland and to a sell-out season in Australia. Other theatre credits include: Last Chance: A Plea For the Unaccompanied Children of Calais (Young Vic) starring Carey Mulligan, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave and Samuel West; The Nether (Seymour Centre, Sydney); Far Away (fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne); Fifty Two (Leicester Square Theatre); Good Chance/No Chance (as part of the Southbank Centre's Festival of Love); Harvey and Frieda (Arcola Theatre); Street (Mick Laly Theatre - Galway Theatre Festival), The Kitchen (HM Theatre, Victoria) and Skintight (fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne). Justin has a long collaboration with director Stephen Daldry. He was theassociate director for Daldry’s award-winning production of The Inheritance (Young Vic/West End/Broadway) for which Daldry gave him the Olivier for Best Direction. He was the associate director for both Skylight and The Audience in the West End and on Broadway. He also worked with John Tiffany and Steven Hoggett on The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Let The Right One In (Dundee Rep/Royal Court/West End/St Ann’s, NY/US Tour). He was an associate director on Billy Elliot The Musical working on Broadway, throughout North America, Korea, Amsterdam and Australia. Other screen credits include: the first two seasons of the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, the upcoming Netflix film The Beautiful Game, as well as overseeing successful and record breaking NT Live performances of Prima Facie, Skylight and The Audience. Justin is an associate artist with Good Chance Theatre - a company dedicated to making work with and about refugees. He has directed a number of works for them, including on a number of promos for The Walk - a theatre festival spanning 8000km from The Syrian border to Manchester. He has won numerous awards including being the inaugural recipient of the Roger Leach Award, multiple Broadway World and Southbank Arts Awards, a BAFTA and an Obie and has been nominated twice for an Olivier Award for Best Direction (Prima Facie and Stranger Things) and for a Drama Desk Award (The Jungle). Justin continues to develop work with some of the worlds most renowned theatre, film and tv companies. He is attached to direct upcoming new plays in London, Sydney and New York and is developing film and television projects in Ireland, The US and the UK.

NETFLIX (Producer) is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with 278 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.

Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) (Producer) is an international production company responsible for some of the most successful theatre productions around the world. Sonia Friedman CBE has developed, initiated, and produced over 300 new productions and together with her company has won 63 Olivier Awards, 48 Tonys and 3 BAFTAs. Current and forthcoming productions include: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Global); The Book of Mormon (West End, UK and International tour); Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a co-production with Netflix (West End); Mean Girls (West End); Oedipus (West End); Juno and the Paycock (West End); Shifters (West End); Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith); Stereophonic (Broadway); The Hills of California (Broadway); Funny Girl (US Tour); Bust (The Alliance Theatre); Millions (The Alliance Theatre) and Paddington – The Musical (UK). Visit soniafriedman.com for full details.

Shawn Levy & Dan Cohen FOR 21 LAPS (Associate Producer). Founded in 2006 by filmmaker Shawn Levy, 21 Laps Entertainment is known for its prolific storytelling through genre-spanning projects rooted in character, humanism, and heart. 21 Laps films have grossed over $3.7 billion in worldwide box-office, and their projects have consistently garnered massive global appeal. 21 Laps' works include Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman and directed and co-written by Shawn Levy. The film just broke records for the largest R-rated opening of all time and the sixth largest opening of all time. Additional notable films and series include Netflix’s Most Streamed Series, the groundbreaking and Emmy®-winning “Stranger Things,” Levy's hugely popular The Adam Project, the PGA, DGA and Golden Globe® -nominated Netflix limited series “All The Light We Cannot See,” Levy’s Free Guy, which was the highest grossing original film of 2021, Arrival, nominated for eight Academy Awards, The Night At The Museum franchise, Real Steel, The Spectacular Now, Date Night, Cheaper By The Dozen, Shadow And Bone, Last Man Standing, and Unsolved Mysteries. Upcoming projects include Lionsgate’s Never Let Go, starring Halle Berry and Netflix’s limited series “The Perfect Couple,” based on the NY Times best-selling novel, directed by Susanne Bier and starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber. 21 Laps has an overall TV deal with Netflix and is rigorously committed to empowering filmmakers’ voice and vision, while remaining devoted to crafting stories built for audience connection and delight.

Photo Credit: Manuel Harlen