Stranger Things Spoilers Only

[c4ndyc4ne]

Dec 1, 2023 23:43:32 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Nov 24, 2023 23:49:02 GMT gmoneyoutlaw said:

Saw tonight’s performance.

1) Couple in row in front arrived late and saw the first act on video in a lounge. Be on time people or expect to watch a tv with what’s happening inside the Phoenix

2) The actors do come up to the dress circle during 2 scenes. That’s not immersive.

3) I was sorry for the audience in the stalls. To be covered in stage fog 3 time is not fun. It does look great from the dress circle. Be sure to sit in the dress circle.

4) all the characters are well introduced after the boat scene. It’s similar to a singer introducing all the band members with a fun fact about them. Maybe that will help the newbies.

5) I was not impressed by the ship. Based on what I heard, it should have been 3 times larger. Maybe that writer sat up close in the stalls.

6) Joyce has to be a smoker. If not throughout, obviously when she takes the diner job in the last scene.

7) Why introduce 11 and she doesn’t do a darn thing?

8) Catch this in London. I came over from New York. With the massive cast it will never be performed over there.

Oh how wrong you are. They have already booked the theatre for its NYC transfer next year.

But Sonia Friedman has never put a new play with a big cast on Broadway! 

Oh wait- 

[mattnyc]

I spoke to house staff tonight and they said this week they’d cut 30 minutes off the show, some of which was the demogorgon scene which really, I’m not too upset about not seeing but yes very very strange to cut it after using it to advertise

[gmoneyoutlaw]

Dec 8, 2023 0:04:07 GMT mattnyc said:

I spoke to house staff tonight and they said this week they’d cut 30 minutes off the show, some of which was the demogorgon scene which really, I’m not too upset about not seeing but yes very very strange to cut it after using it to advertise

I'm surprised they'd cut any of the special effects.  They could tighten up the opening scene and the dance.  

[dillan]

From seeing it 3 weeks ago and then again on Tuesday, I'm pretty sure nothing in the first act is cut, it was still 90 minutes on Tuesday.

My memory of every scene isn't amazing but yes, the demogorgon is gone as we all know (really don't know why but anyway) and I think a few scenes from the play/ musical the school does has been cut.

[marob]

Having seen it today I think if they’re going to cut anything it should be from the whole play-within-a-play thing. Even as a regular theatregoer I’ve never heard of The Dark of the Moon, and wouldn’t have known it was a real play if there wasn’t a piece on it in the programme. Or Bob’s radio show since they must be paying to license all those songs only to use about six seconds of them.

Have only seen up to season 2, so some of the secondary characters may have been a bit lost on me, but I still really enjoyed the play. Loved the ship effect at the start.

[Ade]

I have so many thoughts on this after seeing it. And I’m finding myself in that weird place of coming out having enjoyed it but also being overly critical of it. For the most part I think a lot of my criticism boils down to the fact that it’s feeling like it has a bit of identity crisis in trying to appeal to both traditional theatregoers as well as avid fans of the tv show. For example the pacing and the staging does a massive shift between the first hour set predominantly in the school and then the last 30 mins of act one set in and around the house. For me it was the slower paced school scenes that worked better.

I’ve been disappointed with the lack of staging spoilers on here so trying to be explicit there are plenty of spoilers ahead so stop reading now if it’s not your thing.

The opening ship scene actually left me disappointed given the comments on here and essentially there’s a sudden reveal of the bow of a ship that appears to come from nowhere. Other than that there’s some projection work around the ship and there is a demogorgon in the form of someone in a costume hidden amongst the smoke. It’s over in a few mins.

A more effective set piece for me was the appearance of the shop with the cat in it. It genuinely does look like it comes from nowhere and follows a build up with the projection of a second Henry prior.

The big finale in act one takes place in the house attic. Honestly this fell pretty flat for me, with lots of obviously filler littered between the tense scenes that gave them chance to swap actors with stand-ins and get people on wires. The problem was that the filler well and truly killed the vibe. I also found it mildly irritating that they abandoned the atmospheric attic scene used prior for a completely different set piece in the name of making the effects easier to achieve. The most frustrating thing for me on this was the appearance of the people in hazmat suits in the audience straight after, which literally did nothing other than to give them time to reset the stage - it’s pretty inexcusable pacing imo. And randomly the only scene that comes after is a single one of Henry and his mum on a bed which could easily have done differently to avoid the filler being required.

In terms of narrative the second act is where I can only assume the cuts have been made as it just felt like it was jumping all over the place. It also seemed to have fewer wow moments. There’s a scene where Henry goes into dark mode and parts of the proscenium open to reveal tendrils - but they come and go in virtual darkness and I’m sure parts of the audience probably didn’t even notice they were there if they couldn’t see the very top of the stage. Were they perhaps used at another point as well as they seemed to add little for the effort involved.

Outside of that there’s a nice moment when Henry sends the doctor flying through the ceiling of his cell, though that is ruined somewhat when you then see the doctor climbing back down the rear of the truck. And the last big moment using powers sees a main character fall in slow motion from a bridge which is actually quite nicely done because they tease you and make you think it’s going to play out differently with standard wire work. However, as per act one it’s completely ruined by the fact that they then have well over a minute of projection on the curtain to give them time to reset the stage.

All in all, as others have said there’s lots to enjoy in the staging but just nothing very new and by the end I got a bit bored of projection and screen work being used to create the more atmospheric scenes. I also really didn’t like a lot of the lighting design with some scenes coming across quite under-lit and not in the name of stage trickery. It’s a very enjoyable show and there’s plenty to enjoy and plenty done well but the book feels like it either needed massively trimming back before making it to the stage or to be given more time for all of the points to develop by making it a two parter. I moaned on the main thread that the tv series suffers from having too little editing but I can’t help feel that more exposition would actually have helped here.

[marob]

Dec 13, 2023 0:39:41 GMT kit66 said:

This is a weird one.It's staged like a musical but with all the musical numbers missing except for the "Busby Berkley" number in the 1st half (please cut!) and the "villagers" number in the 2nd.
P.S I wonder if the demigorgon merch is sold BEFORE the show as it ,in fact, only makes a "guest appearence" through the fog in the first scene...blink and you'll miss it...which must effect sales.Perhaps it would be difficult to take seriously if seen more of e.g as in "Stranger Sings".

It appears in one of the boxes too in that sequence.

[ntherooh]

Does Vecna feature in the show?

[ontheridge]

Henry Creel is / will become Vecna. If you are referring to Vecna as he appears in ST4 - then not as such... but in dream-like sequences Henry has a vision of Patty pulling out her hair then tearing off her scalp to reveal a fleeting glance at Vecna - and in a later scene Patty's birth mother also appears as Vecna (for a second or less)... so it creates a sense of foreboding and premonition as to what Henry will become. The effects are smart as they are fleeting but effective. There is also a scene in the school bathroom mirror where Henry is staring at himself and it cracks... from where I was sat (second row stalls... a bit too close) I couldn't make out if he saw a vision of Vecna or someone/thing else in his reflection prior to it smashing. The Mindflayer makes several appearances. Apologies if I have missed or misinterpreted anything... so much happened in 3 hours there were elements I missed. My partner was super freaked out by the spiders... I missed them!

[AddisonMizner]

I went to see last Sunday’s matinee (11th February). I am a fan of the TV show, and have seen all four seasons (Season 4 is brilliant).

Visually, it is incredible. The opening sequence is breathtaking, and sets the scene perfectly for what is to come. The whole first act zips along.

However, the second act is not quite as strong. The slow motion element near the end is brilliant though.

Based off of this, I have some theories for Season 5 (hence why I have put this in the spoiler thread).

I am assuming that Patti will show up at some point in Season 5. She seems to be Vecna/Henry‘s only weakness, and so could hold the key to defeating him.

Does the blood-type play an important role, as this is a piece of information that we have not had before? It is certainly not mentioned in the TV series.

The same goes for the cave mentioned in Nevada. Could this be some sort of clue to the denouement of Season 5?

All in all, this was still a 5 star experience for me.

[stuart]

The slow motion fall at the end. I can’t stop thinking about it.

[stuartmcd]

Right can someone explain to me how they did the mouse? I could have sworn it was real. I was literally sat there wondering about the logistics of using a real animal night after night and then it exploded.

[dillan]

May 19, 2024 20:31:50 GMT stuartmcd said:

Right can someone explain to me how they did the mouse? I could have sworn it was real. I was literally sat there wondering about the logistics of using a real animal night after night and then it exploded.

I was 99% sure during previews when I saw it, sitting front row, that the mouse was real (and I still think it was.. maybe..) but when I went for the 3rd time in December and sat 3rd row, it looked 100% fake.

[Ade]

May 19, 2024 22:19:43 GMT dillan said:

May 19, 2024 20:31:50 GMT stuartmcd said:

Right can someone explain to me how they did the mouse? I could have sworn it was real. I was literally sat there wondering about the logistics of using a real animal night after night and then it exploded.

I was 99% sure during previews when I saw it, sitting front row, that the mouse was real (and I still think it was.. maybe..) but when I went for the 3rd time in December and sat 3rd row, it looked 100% fake.

My assumption was that it’s a mirror and the lighting switches from allowing you to see the real mouse to instead seeing the blood and guts. Does it count as pepper’s ghost if there’s no ghost?

[stuart]

I think there’s some sort of screen built into the wheel. Either the entire scene is done via video inside the wheel, or the screen only kicks in when the mouse blows up.

[dollybm]

I definitely think there’s a real mouse for the majority of the scene, from Row E stalls, there was a very slight lighting change I spotted right before it exploded.

With both Cursed Child and Stranger Things a subtle change in lighting usually indicates when the ‘trick’ kicks in.

[craigbowker]

It's not a real mouse, I've seen the show 6 times and it does the exact same movements each time. It's a puppet.