Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton and more were in attendance at the opening of ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’
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This opening is an Eleven out of 10!
Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the play based on the hit Netflix series, welcomed a few starry guests at its Broadway opening night on Tuesday, April 22.
Those in attendance at New York City’s Marquis Theater for the special occasion include Stranger Things stars Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, best known for their respective portrayals of Will Byers, Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers in the series.
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Additional guests from the small screen spotted on the red carpet were Jamie Campbell Bower, Cara Buono, Matt Modine, Brett Gelman and Priah Ferguson, along with Stranger Things creators, directors and executive producers Matt and Ross Duffer.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow was conceived by the Duffer Brothers, as well as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child scribe Jack Thorne and Stranger Things writer and co-executive producer Kate Trefry. Three-time Tony winner Stephen Daldry directed the work with Justin Martin.
Its Broadway premiere follows its successful London opening in December 2023, where it is still playing.
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The play takes place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., in 1959, decades before Mike Wheeler, Eleven and the young stars at the center of the 80s-set TV series were born. It focuses on high school-aged Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado and Bob Newby — the characters played on screen by David Harbour, Winona Ryder and Sean Astin — as it dives into the origin story of Henry Creel.
Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions produced the show, alongside associate producer 21 Laps Entertainment. The creative team includes Miriam Buether (set design), Brigitte Reiffenstuel (costume design), Jon Clark (lighting design), Paul Arditti (sound design) and D.J. Walde (original music composition, orchestration, arrangements and supervision).
The cast is led by Burke Swanson, Alison Jaye and Juan Carlos, who step into the roles of Jim, Joyce and Bob, respectively. Other principal roles include Rosie Benton (as Virginia Creel), Alex Breaux (as Dr. Brenner), Andrew Hovelson (as Principal Newby), Emmy nominee T.R. Knight (as Victor Creel), Gabrielle Nevaeh (as Patty Newby) with Louis McCartney reprising his role as Henry Creel from the West End.
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Completing the cast are Janie Brookshire, Kelsey Anne Brown, Malcolm Callender, Ta’Rea Campbell, Antoinette Comer, Robert T. Cunningham, Ayana Cymone, Tom D’Agustino, Victor de Paula Rocha, Ian Michael Dolley, Dora Dolphin, Nya Garner, Logan Gould, Shea Grant, Rebecca Hurd, Ted Koch, Poppy Lovell, Jamie Martin Mann, Patrick Scott McDermott, Sean Mikesh, Stephen Wattrus, Maya West, Eric Wiegand, Graham Winton and Azalea Wolfe.
Trefry, who has written for the Stranger Things series since season 2, previously told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that the play and the anticipated fifth and final season are cut from the same cloth.
