[upbeat music playing]
[upbeat music continues]
[machine cranking]
I don't know how you've been feeling
I've been feeling upside down
I don't know how you've been feeling
Tonight is our night.
I've been feeling upside down
[Fallon] Get this. Today Netflix said
they're premiering a Stranger Things play.
Right now, a team of choreographers
is hard at work,
teaching a Demogorgon how to jazz hands.
- [audience laughs]
- [upbeat music continues]
[woman] You'll see
what the world thinks of us,
and most importantly,
you'll feel it in the house.
- We flew from Miami.
- Just for this.
- Miami, Florida.
- Honestly, I don't know what to expect.
How are they gonna pull this off
in the theater?
- [clamoring]
- The Upside Down
[upbeat music continues]
The Upside Down
- [camera shutters clicking]
- [indistinct chatter]
We will be reviewed,
so keep your wits about you.
[upbeat music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
please take your seats.
The show will begin in five minutes.
[upbeat music continues]
[man 1] Nerves on the first night
are the worst.
[man 2] I think I always like to think
I'm just like a k*ller,
that I don't get nervous,
but I think I probably do.
- [upbeat music continues]
- The Upside Down
- Have a good show.
- The Upside Down
- Let's rock and roll, baby.
- Yeah, baby.
Rock and roll.
That's what I'm ing talking about.
[man 3] People have tried to do horror,
tried to do monsters on stage,
and most of the time, it doesn't work.
[upbeat music continues]
[woman 1] It's the most nervous
I've ever been in my life.
- Gotta go.
- [indistinct chatter]
[upbeat music continues]
[music halts]
- [theme music playing]
- [audience cheering]
[cheering continues]
[theme music continues]
[cheering fades]
- [dramatic whooshing]
- [faint crackling]
[thunder rumbling]
[music halts]
[angelic music playing]
[woman] Hey, are we all here?
Okay, it's six o'clock.
We are all meeting for the first time
for Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
[cheering, applause]
It's probably the biggest, most technical,
most exciting design that I've ever seen
and I think that audiences
will ever experience.
So thank you to everybody.
I'm going to hand over to Stephen.
Uh, thank... Oh my gosh. Thanks everybody.
Uh, yeah, this is a bit like base camp.
Um, you know, we've been climbing up
from Kathmandu for some months,
and we've still got one mountain to climb,
but I'm delighted
that we've got to this point.
Matt and Ross,
I was trying to remember when
we first talked about this
all those years ago.
It was not that long after season one
Netflix mentioned that
Stephen Daldry was interested
in doing a play of Stranger Things.
We were like, "Wait. What?
What are you talking about?"
Like Billy Elliot Stephen Daldry,
The Crown Stephen Daldry?
And you've got Sonia Friedman,
who has I don't know how many shelves
of Tonys and Oliviers.
I don't know why initially we were like,
"Oh, Stephen's.... It's like gonna be
a musical of like season one."
Stephen's like, "No, you morons.
This is gonna be a new story."
[Ross] We started spitballing with Stephen
about what this story could be.
And that really is how
The First Shadow came about.
When it really kicked into high gear
was when Kate got involved.
And Kate is such an integral part
of Stranger Things.
She is really a secret weapon
for the show.
But like us, she knew nothing about
the theater world and nothing about plays.
But, uh, one thing I love about Kate
is just how fearless she is.
I read Kate's scripts, and I go,
"I don't know how we'd do this on film."
I don't know how in the world
you guys are gonna do this on stage.
But I can't wait to see. [laughs]
I just want to say once again
thank you so much
for entrusting us with your story.
We'll, uh, try to do you proud.
- [cheering, applause]
- [indistinct chatter]
[producer] Kate, why don't you,
in your own words,
tell me what The First Shadow is.
Okay. Um, this is this, uh... [blabbers]
Let me think about this for a second.
The First Shadow is
the Stranger Things play.
It's a prequel that's set in 1959.
[Kate] It's about
all of these characters from the show.
Who was Hopper before he was such a d*ck?
Who was Joyce before she was so neurotic?
- [Jonathan Byers] Mom.
- What?
[Kate] And who was Bob before he died?
- [loud screech]
- [Bob yells]
It's the origin play.
We see a bit of the start of the story,
really explaining the backstory to Henry,
also known as Number One,
also known as Vecna.
[Ross] He meets Patty,
who is the sister of Bob Newby.
It's both a love story and also,
of course, because it's Stranger Things,
uh, a supernatural story.
So, really, like the show,
it's juggling multiple storylines,
and it's all building hopefully to
a surprising and emotional conclusion.
And listen, there are also,
you know, some not-so-subtle hints
as to what is to come
in season five and beyond.
[music halts]
[indistinct chatter in background]
[Stephen] Welcome to this crazy room
that we're in.
This is a workshop process where
the play is developed with the actors.
[Oscar] Essentially,
it's like pre-rehearsals.
We will get together a bunch of actors,
uh, who may not necessarily be the actors
who end up doing the full play,
kind of reading it aloud
for the first time
so it's not Kate just, you know,
being every character in her bedroom,
which I'm sure she did before this.
So I'm Justin. I'm one of the directors.
- I'm Stephen. I'm one of the directors.
- I'm Kate. I'm the writer.
I'm Louis, workshop Henry Creel.
I'm Amma.
Uh, not sure today who I'm playing.
- [Justin] Mum. Patty's mum.
- Patty's mum.
- [Justin] Slash scary mum.
- Scary mum.
[chuckles]
- [producer] You pointing at me?
- Yeah.
[laughing]
Okay, I'm G. I'm, uh, filming this.
[chuckles]
[Stephen] So should we have a little read
of this in your play scripts?
And we'll see what we can come up with.
[man 1] I have some very exciting news
for you today.
We finally had a breakthrough
on the blood work.
A subject survived the transfusion.
[Kate] I didn't know what a workshop was
before I arrived.
I felt pretty good about the script.
I had no idea the amount of work
that I still had to do on it.
It's time for you to meet your brother.
What happens now is that
we all just sit here and think about it.
[chuckles]
And then we go, "What the
are we gonna do now?"
And eventually, we manage to get it
on its feet and start to have a go.
But we... we sort of, um...
We have to, um, imagine it a bit.
- Hello.
- Hello.
Um, let's just move
our chairs to the side,
and then I'll try to work out an idea.
- [Kate] All right.
- [Stephen] I'm not sure about this idea.
Yeah?
You should start singing but sing softly...
- [woman] Okay.
- ...so we know it's just on the radio.
[woman] Said you'll tell me...
- Is that in the room or in my ear?
- It's in the room.
[laughs]
What he's doing is he's bringing Henry
out of the... somewhere in the lab, yeah?
Somewhere nicely downstage.
[upbeat music playing]
[Kate] When you first throw it up,
everything's a mess, and it looks crazy.
And you think that
you didn't do anything right.
[upbeat music continues]
It sounds dumb. It looks dumb.
This isn't a play.
I don't know what this is, but I hate it.
And then, Stephen and Justin,
who are these mad scientists,
come in and do their magic.
[Stephen] Has anyone seen my hat?
So harmonized bee sound.
Mmm! Bees are looking for the honey.
[laughter]
[vocalizes]
[Kate] They're crazy but in the best way.
...here. More stuff can go here.
Or we could go over here.
Maybe I can create something funny
with this trunk at the end of the scene.
- This is the game. Ready?
- This is the game?
Watch it, watch it. Ah-ah! Don't touch it.
- [mumbles]
- [chuckles]
- Everybody's gonna bring their chairs on.
- [woman] Woo-hoo!
[Stephen] Sneaky witches in a bush.
Sneaky witches in a bush.
[Kate] I mean, it's chaotic.
[shrieks]
[Kate] But I also... I love chaos.
The little thing is going,
"Beep, beep, beep." Oh whoa!
- Why have I got the cat?
- To k*ll it.
[meows]
Then you'll come down here
and go like that.
[Kate] Stephen is almost like superhuman.
And then the key line is,
"I'm not gonna hurt you." [chuckles]
Stop. You're going around
the back of the locker
as you're coming in that way.
[Kate] And it is like a full sprint
just to keep up.
[upbeat music continues]
Are we running the shuffle?
New scene 14.
I don't think you need a lot.
I think you need a tiny bit.
The scene is gonna change a little bit.
[chuckles]
- So who sings which line? I've forgotten...
- [Justin] So...
[Kate] I'm too busy
to think about the pressure.
I can't see past my fingertips.
[yawns]
[indistinct chatter]
[Stephen] Are you all right?
I think it's ing great.
That seemed great to me.
I think we're done.
[Justin] And there's something
at the end of that.
- Well done, everybody. Well busked.
- [Kate] Well done.
[Stephen] Everybody's stressed
because there is never any time.
There is not enough time.
[dramatic music playing]
[Sonia] At 7:00 p.m. on December the 14th,
the curtain will go up.
[Justin] Right now, we are in the workshop
trying to work out
the stage language of the show.
And, uh, Kate's working
a lot on the script,
so we're sort of refining everything.
It's made more complicated by the fact
we're also in the middle of casting.
[Sonia] So then the rehearsals are
the actual cast.
And we have six weeks together
to explore the play.
[dramatic music continues]
So next, the entire company
moves into the theater
for what we call technical rehearsals.
This is when
everything starts to come together.
The illusions, the music, the costumes,
the set, the automation, everything.
It's a very stressful time.
Then after four weeks of tech,
that's when the public join us
for previews.
There's this understanding
that the work is still in progress.
And it may very well change and go wrong.
After four weeks of preview,
we open the show.
And we start getting the reviews in.
[Stephen] Could be we open in London
and we shut ten days later
because nobody wants to come.
That might be the case.
[dramatic music builds]
[music fades]
There's a shitload of stuff to do.
Yeah, overall, we are behind in design
both on the theater,
and we're behind on the trips.
Those are our big areas of worry.
[Sonia] Can I just ask about the script?
Kate, you're still
furiously rewriting every day.
[Kate] Yep.
[Sonia] It's just keeping on top of it
because I have to send it to Netflix
'cause they haven't seen a draft for ages.
[indistinct chatter in background]
[Kate] TV and theater,
they are completely different mediums,
and I am just being bombarded
with that truth every day.
We have a joke in the writers' room
that, like, every new scene
in a Stranger Things script
starts with "joom."
[Dustin Henderson] Oh my God,
that was priceless!
[Kate] Or, like, "zoom."
[Kate] Like, "car tires on the road."
[sizzling]
[Kate] And ends with shared looks
between people.
Shared looks.
Nancy and Jonathan share looks.
And you literally can't do
either of those things on stage.
There's no close-up,
and there's no montage,
and there's no hard cut ever.
Three, two, one. Go.
[man] Oh, pretty good.
1.8... [chuckles]
...so we've cut off .2 of a second.
Pretty good.
There's a lot of pressure because
there are huge expectations around this.
It's Stranger Things, and we've got
to deliver something incredible.
I think that's our challenge,
is that we do need to try and create
the magnitude of effect
that you see on the show
live on stage
happening eight times a week.
[mysterious music playing]
[Chris] We work with prop companies,
special effects companies,
so we've been designing certain things
and tasking companies to try and create
these 3D effects that we can then put into
a world mixed with lighting,
mixed with video.
[mysterious music continues]
[Jamie] It's gonna be an open wound,
and some spiders' legs will pop out.
[Chris] When Jamie and I worked on
Harry Potter, we pushed the boundaries
of what has been achieved on stage.
And I think we both felt at the time
we'll never get a chance to do this again.
And then suddenly, here we are working
on Stranger Things. It's really exciting.
[G] What's the illusion
you're trying to make here?
The story, um, point is that
there's an experiment happening,
the Philadelphia Experiment.
[dramatic sting]
A ship, the USS Eldridge, um, vanishes
and jumps to another dimension.
[dramatic sting]
It's almost like we're in a close-up
if it were a film.
We're with them on the bridge,
and the whole bridge,
including the crew, vanish.
[man 1] Stand by, please, everybody. Now...
[Jamie] It's one thing being able
to make something vanish.
It's another thing doing it
in the speed that we are.
[Jamie] Okay. And three, two, one. Go.
[loud rustling]
- [man] Was that two seconds?
- [laughter]
- [man] Was that two seconds?
- [Jamie] Okay.
And then the big reveal after that
is we make the ship appear afterwards,
in another dimension, we hope.
[laughs] That's the next phase.
[clock ticking]
[tense music playing]
[Sonia] What's happening
in the auditorium?
It's one of our notes,
one of my big conversations
about what are we doing
about the auditorium
because we do...
[Sonia] Stranger Things
is the biggest challenge
of my career to date.
[man] Yeah.
[Sonia] This sort of horror,
thriller, sci-fi genre is
untried and untested in theater.
I'm concerned that the critics coming
won't have a bloody clue
about Stranger Things,
alongside delivering on
the expectations of the fans
who are coming
for a Stranger Things experience.
I think that is
quite a hard thing to crack.
Now, have we got...
You've got really... Have you all...
We might need new pages.
Have we... Have we got new pages?
If it says scene 17 is the first thing,
ignore that and go to scene 18.
[Stephen] Thank you.
[Kate] I've rewritten
this play 100,000 times.
I would say top-to-bottom at least,
like, 25 times or something like 35.
I don't know. And it's just, uh...
It's very much a living, breathing thing.
[actress] Don't touch me!
Get away from me!
[Stephen] All right. Okay, they're off.
Now we've got to work out
what we're doing with Henry.
I don't know. I was trying to work out
if he says anything in that,
just so that
we get the attention back on him.
[Sonia] Unbelievable challenge
to put on stage a boy, Henry,
who ends up being a serial k*ller...
[dramatic rumble]
[Sonia chuckles softly]
...and for us to care about him.
Oh! You're... you're bleeding.
Henry, let me help you.
[Sonia] Which is why the play
has just kept on being written
and rewritten and rewritten and rewritten.
[Kate] This story, like,
fundamentally is close to my heart.
I was a dark cloud of a teenager,
and things could've turned out
differently for me.
And I'm... I'm desperate to get it right.
And I think we will.
I think we're on our way.
[high-pitched ringing]
[ringing fades]
[Kate] I had been grinding in Hollywood
for, like, ten years,
and, I mean, I was making snow cones.
That was my job.
I wrote, and I made snow cones
for fancy child birthday parties.
And I was kind of, like, over it,
and I was moving back to Alaska,
where I'm from.
[pensive music playing]
The Duffers called me up
and brought me on to the show.
First and foremost,
they are story geniuses,
narrative geniuses,
and I, like... I miss them.
Like, don't tell them I said that,
but, um, I miss them
and their incredible brains.
Okay. Okay.
[Kate exhales]
[clock ticking]
[Justin] We've cast Patty,
who's one of our leads.
[Ella] I'm so, so, so excited
and happy to be here.
This is my first professional theater job,
and I feel so lucky
for that to be Stranger Things.
I was in elementary school
when it came out,
and so the first season
absolutely terrified me.
- [yells]
- [distorted whirring]
Obviously, my friends are all wondering
why I moved to London,
and I'm like, "Oh, I can't tell you."
Listen to me. My whole life,
I've been the girl from nowhere,
the one nobody wants, but...
but then I met you, and I swear to God,
for the first time, I felt--
[man] Connected.
That's right.
And as of today,
hopefully, we've cast our Henry.
[tranquil music playing]
[Louis] I'm sh**ting
a soap opera up north,
and, uh, they've been flying me out
on my off days
doing these audition workshop/things,
not knowing what's going on.
[Louis] When your father
used to lock you in the closet
and the spiders would come...
[Louis] I'm here. I'm biting my nails,
and about three days ago,
I got the call, and they said, you know,
"Congrats. Well done. You got the part."
This is my first stage performance.
[Ella] I'm not afraid of you!
[Louis] Well, it feels, um,
otherworldly, like Stranger Things.
It feels like I've been transported
to the other side. It doesn't feel real.
The fear had already taken root.
It has been eating you for years,
and now your mind is so weak,
so fragile, so soft.
Where's your sweet little boy now?
[Louis] There's something twisted
deep inside Henry Creel,
and I'm able to,
I don't know, hopefully connect to that.
Patty, we have to stop.
You get out of here!
[Justin] Louis's got that danger
and that troubled kid,
which is really great for Henry.
Then Ella has the sort of sunshine.
So we've got two really strong leads,
and it's exciting to go,
"Okay, we've got the tentpoles
of our show."
And then, you know,
you just start seeing it come together.
[clock ticking]
We're here at Sadler's Wells Theatre,
and we're auditioning many,
23 roles, actually, today.
It's quite tense 'cause
it's our penultimate day of auditions,
and we still have how many to cast?
- [Justin] Twenty-three.
- Twenty-three actors to cast.
Only 23.
- [Sonia] It's easy.
- [Kate] I'm not worried.
I'm not worried at all.
[laughing]
If Kate's not worried.
[G] Exciting to see it all come together?
- Just don't even start with me.
- [chuckles]
- [Justin] All right, let's get going.
- [Sonia] Yeah.
- I'm just gonna move this chair.
- [Sonia] Do whatever you like.
Yeah, I might start sat,
and is it okay if I get up if I want to?
[Justin] Of course.
[woman] You're bossy, obsessive, shrill.
Oh, shrill?
Shrill.
- Shrill.
- Shrill?
You're a self-aggrandizing...
Egomaniac meathead.
You're a phase girls go through
to realize the big secret.
All men are just scared little boys.
That is the dumbest thing
I've ever heard. Wow, okay. Wow.
That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Is this about the play,
or is this about the boy?
Joyce, I have something to tell you,
and I need to tell you now.
Otherwise, I might lose my nerve.
[Sonia] We've seen so many,
and you've turned down them all.
So we don't actually know
what it is you're looking for.
[pensive music playing]
What we want is, um...
We want Daniel Day-Lewis.
[woman] The other day
he was ranting about demons.
- Wow.
- Wow.
Wow.
That is a lot to take in.
[Stephen] He should be
in The Walking Dead.
He should be running away from zombies.
You're always gonna get that from him.
[indistinct chatter]
[woman] I heard you made out
with your cousin last summer.
[laughs]
That is a g*dd*mn lie, Patty.
- [Stephen] Could be a good Demogorgon.
- [Kate] He's the right height.
Cut it out! Save it for the big day, John.
I'm in love, okay?
I'm in love. Okay?
- [Stephen] Great.
- [laughs]
[Stephen] We'll let you know.
Hey, team.
It's just been announced.
We are in the cast of...
Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Whoo!
[woman] No shock whatsoever. No concern.
- [indistinct chatter]
- [woman] Whee!
[indistinct chatter continues]
[Justin] Thanks, guys. Let's be where
we're gonna be. Shut that door.
[Stephen] Okay, thank you, guys.
All right.
[Justin] And here we go.
And let's roll, please. Let's roll.
So I'm Oscar Lloyd,
and I play Jim Hopper Jr.
in Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
My name is Isabella Pappas,
and I play Joyce Maldonado.
Hi, my name's Christopher Buckley,
and I play Bob Newby.
Well, my name is Lou McCartney,
and I'm playing young Henry Creel.
Uh, my name is Patrick Vaill,
and I play Dr. Brenner.
Hi, I'm Ella Karuna Williams,
and I play Patty Newby
in Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
[G] What was your reaction
when you found out you were cast?
Oh, I lost my mind.
I was on a flight, and I found out,
and the plane took off.
I can't and still cannot believe
that I'm... that I'm here right now.
And I was just, like, scream...
I wasn't screaming,
but I wanted to be screaming so badly.
If I wasn't on a plane, I would've been.
I still haven't been able
to really tell anyone.
I mean, I did tell my mom. I told her.
I don't know if I was allowed to do that.
I didn't tell anyone else.
She hasn't told anyone else.
[synthwave music playing]
- Oh!
- Hello! Damn.
- Damn.
- [Ella] Remember we started laughing!
Kemi! Look at you.
- Wait, is it hot in here or something?
- Yeah.
[clock ticking]
- Hello.
- Good morning.
- [G] Morning. How are you?
- Morning.
Oh my God, stop. I'm joking. [laughs]
We are starting rehearsal
for Stranger Things: The First Shadow,
which is so exciting!
It's a powerful handheld radio.
They used them in the w*r
to communicate with the front.
Oh, okay, okay! So you're saying
that if someone in Hawkins was using one...
[Kate] We just started rehearsal,
so, you know,
the pressure's kind of
starting to turn up.
But we have our whole cast now,
so it's, like, a relief
to have the people who are actually
gonna be doing it doing it.
[Isabella] Oh my God, you are...
And anyway, just because
you get it with a guy,
make it with a guy,
doesn't mean you have to marry him.
Ew, Karen, that's nasty.
[Kate] Something that I kind of
worried about was that
people would try to do impressions
of the characters in the show.
[Oscar] Greater Indiana
Nerd Rescue Scholarship...
[Kate] But they've all come at it
with totally fresh, more raw versions
of what we know and love.
- This is not just a play!
- [Christopher] Yeah.
- This is a revolution!
- [crowd] Yeah.
So if you're here to make out
in some high school musical...
[crowd] Yeah!
...you should leave now!
[Isabella] The realization
I'm playing this character
really only just hit me.
I get to play young Winona Ryder.
That's amazing!
I never thought I'd be able to say that.
She's such a huge inspiration for me.
I mean,
I always looked up to her growing up.
Can someone get me a ing lighter?
Every scene I have,
I think I'm probably yelling at someone,
which is really fun.
It's great. It's very cathartic.
- [upbeat music playing]
- [grunts]
Why am I holding an axe?
Keep track of your props, people!
g*dd*mn it!
[man] Junior! Stop screwing around
with that piece of sh*t!
- You're gonna miss the bus.
- Don't call me that.
[Oscar] We're meeting Hopper at 18.
He hasn't dealt with
the death of his daughter,
so we're seeing
a very different side to him.
- Don't call me Junior.
- [murmurs]
[Oscar] What David Harbour does
is incredible and untouchable,
and I'd fail
if I tried to do an impression.
Okay.
[upbeat music continues]
[Oscar] Thousands of different actors
have played Hamlet over the years,
or Romeo, and I guess this is my Hopper,
rather than trying to do David Harbour.
News flash! Awooga! Awooga!
A little paper was just published arguing
for the existence of extraterrestrial life
in our universe. Crazy?
- [horn blows]
- Maybe.
[Christopher] It's wild to be stepping
into the shoes left by Sean Astin
'cause he's been an idol of mine
since I was, like, a kid.
So what I did
with my character work for Bob
is look back at Season 2,
see what Sean does,
but not try to imitate,
sort of see what sort of person
would start out in maybe a different way
and end up like Sean in the show.
[music fades]
[clock ticking]
[indistinct chatter]
[Louis] Kate has been working
on the script a lot,
and this morning,
she delivered a whole new script to us.
Henry's journey is much more clear.
- [indistinct chatter]
- [soft music playing]
[Louis] It's a really sad story,
getting to see
this little boy be broken down
and basically made into this monster.
[dramatic music playing]
[breathes shakily]
[Louis] Jamie Campbell Bower,
he does a spectacular job
at playing this psychotic evil
sort of lurking deep inside,
but that's the TV show.
What we're trying to explore here
is this sort of compassionate Henry Creel
who feels things,
which is quite surprising.
[Louis groans]
[Stephen] The little boy
who's fighting with a monster,
whether to embrace the monster
or to reject the monster,
for young people, I think it's a character
that they really recognize.
[Ella] Henry!
I know you're in there, okay? Come back!
[Stephen] Even as adults, we look at it
and recognize the battles
that we went through and sometimes
we're still suffering the consequences of.
[Ella] Remember the day we met?
[faint rumbling]
- [thunder rumbles]
- [dramatic music plays]
- Now, why are we seeing a Demogorgon now?
- Okay, can I just stop you right now?
Yes.
I just got off the phone
with the guys and--
- It's all changed.
- No.
It's just gonna be...
Whatever we want it to be,
it's gonna be, like, 80% less.
We're gonna be able to do, like, 80% less.
We're gonna be able to tell
very little of the story of...
[bleep]
We're gonna be able to say
that something happened,
um, but we're really not gonna be able
to say that much.
Because?
Because they want to preserve the reveal
for Season 5... [bleep]
- The reveal of... [bleep]
- [Kate] Yeah.
Um...
I'm very aware of the clock,
but also we gotta get it right.
[indistinct chatter]
[Kate] It doesn't bother me
to have to, like, lay down the law.
The thing that I find really interesting
is that he's learning
that he can make fantasies happen.
[Kate] I think you're... I mean, I hear you.
Um, I think you're treading
on thin mythological ice.
[Kate] I know all the rules.
I know them like I was born with them.
So yeah, sometimes we have to,
like, sit down and do a little school.
Stranger Things school.
This is sci-fi, guys.
This is science fiction, not fantasy.
[Stephen] Okay.
[synthwave music playing]
[clock ticking]
[indistinct chatter]
[Christopher] We're in the final week
of rehearsals,
so it's been a lot of running the show,
getting it all up and in place.
Next week,
we're finally at the Phoenix Theatre.
Hey, baby.
[Christopher] Tomorrow,
we're doing a full run-through,
and we're doing it
in front of the Duffer Brothers.
That's wild, innit?
I can't believe the Duffers
are gonna be here tomorrow. [laughs]
It's the most insane thing!
[dramatic music playing]
[Louis] We have been racing,
racing, racing to get to our deadline.
It's taken a lot of work and a lot of grit
and a lot of holding your temper in.
[dramatic music continues]
[Kate] The Duffer Brothers
have no poker face.
Collective poker face, no poker faces.
So they're really easy to read,
which is great and, uh, gnarly.
Stuff that doesn't work, like,
that I know that doesn't work,
it's just right there.
It's just, and there's two of them.
So there's two of them right there.
One for each eyeball
that you just want to gouge out.
- [squelches]
- [loud shriek]
[Kate] Hey!
Oh my God, what a coincidence!
- Do you come here often? I live here!
- Well, well, well.
Are you nervous? Are you really nervous?
There's so much that's going to change.
Just know that it's like a draft.
It's just a draft. It's just a draft.
[man] What? What'd he say?
[indistinct chatter]
[Stephen] Just a few obvious things.
We have been doing changes
all the way through,
so some of the changes
we only put in this morning.
So, uh, what you're seeing
is where we're up to right now.
These people aren't here.
This is just the wings of the theater,
and we have no mics on the actors.
And we have no illusions.
[Stephen] And we have no illusions.
Certain things,
because we have no illusions,
won't be clear. Clear so far?
- [laughs]
- Ready?
- [whirring]
- [switch clicks]
Good morning, Hawkins, Indiana!
[dinging]
A little paper was just published
arguing the existence
of extraterrestrial life in our universe.
Crazy?
Maybe. But between that...
[synthwave music playing]
[synthwave music continues]
[music builds]
[music halts abruptly]
[Stephen] Blackout.
[Stephen chuckles softly]
[coughs]
And that's the end.
[applause]
[cheering]
[Stephen] Restructure.
[Kate] Restructure, yeah.
Yeah. It's too slow.
Too slow.
I think you... What?
[indistinct chatter]
Yes, I know. I had the same exact note.
I was like, "Just do it quick."
No, I need to see
that something is happening.
That escalates it?
- Yeah, exactly.
- Totally get it.
[Stephen] The good news is we have a show,
so that's good news.
[laughs]
The only thing I don't like about it is
that you kind of took Kate away from us.
We were still working on Season 5.
- That's the only thing.
- [Kate] Not true.
I totally ing delivered
on Season 5. Absolutely.
[Matt] It's true.
- [applause]
- Thank you.
[Stephen] Thanks for looking after us.
It was a pleasure to work with you.
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody is looking for something
[G] Bye!
Bye.
[G] See you at the theater!
["Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
by Sebastian Bhm playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[man 1] Upside down, innit? [laughs]
- [Isabella] Hi.
- Hi.
[cheering]
[Louis] After six weeks rehearsing
in that black box, this is our reward.
Yes! Oh no, it's him again!
["Sweet Dreams
(Are Made of This)" continues]
[man 2] More. That's good.
- [music halts]
- [clock ticking]
- [man] ...the first. There. Yeah.
- Are we the first?
- How cool.
- Come through. Spread out.
- That's exciting, innit?
- Good morning.
Wow. Wow!
Very cool, innit?
Oh, it's lovely.
Yeah, it's nice.
[Louis] The Phoenix Theatre is old,
and it's... it's dark,
and it has this almost,
like, mystic energy around it,
and Stranger Things
is much of the very same.
And I just saw the play as I walked in,
and I was just like, "This is just right."
Where are you guys gonna hide?
[Justin] Okay. Hello, everyone.
[cheering]
[Stephen] This theater
is the Phoenix Theatre.
It was opened by Nol Coward,
who was in his first ever production here
of Private Lives.
Well, it opened in 1930.
The great master was here
on these very boards.
What's lovely about this theater is
you're not looking up there.
It is really intimate.
It's a really lovely theater for us.
[ethereal music playing]
[Sonia] If you walk
into a theater auditorium
during a technical rehearsal,
it will look like mission control center.
[ethereal music continues]
So we're in the stalls.
This is where everyone will be based
for the next four weeks
for the technical rehearsals.
Right here we've got Elliot,
who's our lighting programmer
on the lighting desk.
[ethereal music continues]
We've got sound up the back there.
- [loud banging]
- [crackling]
We've got our video department over here.
[ethereal music continues]
This is where Stephen and Justin
will be sat for the next four weeks
working with the company
close to the stage
so they can get up and down quickly.
[woman] ... Stranger Things company,
that's less than 15 minutes
until you're due on stage.
Uh, we are basically teching this.
It's the semi-opening of the show.
There's one scene before this,
but this is kind of where
a lot of the main characters
get, like, introduced.
Okay, so now we're going onto the stage,
so I have to be quiet.
But yeah, so this is backstage.
It's really tight. It's very cramped.
[Christopher] ...with me!
Your musical maestro,
a whiz kid of the airwaves. Look out!
[propeller whirs]
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's...
[mimics echo] ...Bob "The Brain" Newby!
[Gary] Hold there, thanks.
Just working out the revolve
whilst we're doing some lighting.
- [Christopher] Uh, um...
- [woman laughs]
[Christopher] It's a strange mix
of sort of joyful exuberance
and painful, painful, aggravated boredom.
We should do it again if we've got time.
[dramatic music playing]
[electricity fizzling]
[dramatic sting]
[dramatic music continues]
Oh sh*t!
That's supposed to be a firecracker,
but... [laughs]
[dramatic music continues]
- [glass shatters]
- [music halts]
[Justin] So, we're at day three
of our tech.
[G] There's a sense of manic excitement
and pressure in the building, right?
Manic excitement,
and we've got to keep this up for a month.
[dramatic music fades]
[groans]
[distorted] Look at me!
[G] Louis, mate.
Yeah, man?
[G] What scene is this?
This is, uh, spiders.
[eerie music playing]
[screams]
[G] What happens in the spider sequence?
- We can't say, G.
- [G] Well, you can.
- We can't.
- [G] Can you not?
- No.
- [G] I think you can.
It's a... It's an illusion surprise.
[Louis] You won't call the police.
[Chris] How can we create spiders?
There are lots of different approaches
that you might take to that.
[woman crying]
You're too afraid!
The fear had already taken root!
It's been eating you for years!
[Sonia] You could have lots of spiders.
They'd be all over her,
and you wouldn't know how it was done.
[Chris] How do we create that reliably
every night, eight shows a week, on stage?
And, um, we're still working that one out.
Spiders are gonna be
the death of me, I think.
- [mysterious music playing]
- [G] What's happening?
This is my life.
It's, like, spiders and blood.
We've got these spider props,
and they just keep going missing.
I think someone must like spiders
around here
because every single time
I put a spider down, it's gone.
[mysterious music continues]
[laughs]
[clock ticking]
I don't know how you've been feeling
[all] I don't know
How you've been feeling
[woman] I've been feeling upside down
[all] I've been feeling upside down
[woman] I don't know...
We are attempting to run Act One
for the first time in full sequence.
Uh, we've done small sections.
We've built it up scene by scene
and then ran certain longer sections
and busier sections,
but we've never put it all together
in one run.
[all] In the Upside Down
It's gonna be bumpy.
It's the first time
we've linked everything together,
and actually, we've got
a few bits and pieces...
- [loud bangs, whirs]
- Um...
...that we're still sort of developing
and refining.
[all] In the Upside Down
Cigarettes. Coffee.
- [loud whirs]
- [chuckles]
[G] We're about to run Act One,
aren't we, mate?
Are we? [laughs]
Great. I can't wait to see that.
[loud whir in background]
[G] What are we, uh...
What are we about to do?
Don't even think about that,
you cheeky . [chuckles]
[popping]
- All good?
- No idea if it's charged.
- Good luck to you.
- [man] Thank you.
Good luck to you.
[ominous music playing]
[indistinct chatter in background]
[ominous music continues, builds]
[music fades]
[Christopher] Good morning,
Hawkins, Indiana!
[dinging]
[boy 1] Hawkins High
is pretty simple really.
You've got your chicks. Hi, ladies.
Go yourself, Henderson.
- You've got your losers.
- [boy 2] Yes, yes, baby.
And you've got your morons.
When you were a little girl
and the spiders would come...
[ominous music continues]
[woman screams]
[Christopher] No, no, just wait!
Just... Hold on, stop taking off!
I'll deal with it! Please!
Wait, wait, wait! Hold on!
[dramatic music playing]
[loud crackling]
Where are you?
[dramatic music continues]
[Ella] What do you see?
Hello, Henry. I'm Dr. Brenner.
I'm here to help.
[ominous music plays, halts]
[man 1] Cut.
[door opens]
[man 2] Thank you.
[chuckles, breathes deeply]
And there we go. Act One tech run done.
- [Stephen] Are we all set?
- [Gary] Quiet.
[Stephen] I'm aware that, um...
The things we have to talk through
are about two hours, okay?
This is a two-hour session.
Um, but I'm going to try to get through
as many as I can.
There's big things that,
if they don't work,
we have a narrative problem.
We can go through to an audience if
we don't have all the bells and whistles,
but we can't go to an audience
if we have a story that doesn't work.
[Gary] The black void isn't complete
enough to go in front of an audience.
The spiders are not complete enough
to go in front of an audience.
Scary Patty is not complete enough
to go to an audience.
We have to do pre-tech for Act Two,
and we already have eight sessions
to find for Act One.
[Stephen] We have to keep pushing
through Act Two as fast as possible
because we're going to hit big problems.
[Louis] Gantry...
[Stephen] That's a ing nightmare.
Uh, the deployment of the Mind Flayer.
[loud screech]
[Stephen] A ing nightmare.
The less we have to go back, the better.
[Gary] Correct.
Any more for any more
before we let everyone out of here?
Well, just thanks, everybody.
Happy Halloween.
- [man 1] Happy Halloween.
- [woman] Happy Halloween.
[man 2] Yeah.
[whirring]
[G] What's happening, Mary?
Uh, we are trying
to get all of our notes done.
We are trying not to lose our minds.
[clock ticking rapidly]
We are welcoming the stars
of Stranger Things, the play.
Last week, I couldn't sleep
because it hit me. I was like,
"God, there's gonna be audiences
very, very, very soon."
[upbeat music playing]
[upbeat music continues]
[music fades]
[G] Who's this?
Um, this is Virginia.
- [dramatic music plays]
- [bones cracking]
[G] She doesn't look very happy.
She's probably not, to be honest.
[mysterious music plays]
Can we snap her?
[loud cracking]
[dramatic music playing]
- You're a new character, aren't you?
- It's really exciting, yeah.
I don't know how much I can say about her.
I don't want to give too much away.
[dramatic music continues]
- [Kate] How's it going?
- Great to see you.
[Kate] I had no idea you'd be here.
- No one told you?
- No.
Is everybody in, like, a daily,
just, suppressed panic mode right now?
[Kate] It's not that suppressed.
- Oh, okay. Overt panic.
- It's not that suppressed.
[Kate] It's pretty surface level. Yeah.
[dramatic music continues]
[inaudible]
[Chris] Are you sure that fan
wasn't blowing in reverse?
All the smoke is coming
through the auditorium.
[Jamie] Yeah, that one's not working.
Yeah, yeah.
[indistinct chatter]
Right, let's try that for now
and, uh, come back
and make it better another day.
[dramatic music continues]
[music halts]
[clock ticking]
[Sonia] This is a week
before our first preview.
I'm going to isolate things
that have to be done
before we go in front of an audience.
[indistinct chatter]
[Stephen] Okay. Spiders can't go
in front of an audience.
The spider on the LED is a long way away.
[Sonia] It's exactly like
a first preview priority.
Why didn't Louis have any blood?
We never saw any blood on his nose
at any point during that.
[Sonia] It's not-- It's genuinely not
a first preview thing.
[Gary] Great.
- [Sonia] I'm calling that. It's not.
- Okay. Fine.
[Sonia] I had many, many people
coming to me, begging me, urging me,
saying I had to cancel the first preview.
[Stephen] I'm really determined
not to do that,
because as soon as you get
the audience in,
another character emerges,
which is how the audience responds.
[Stephen] Keep going...
[Sonia] Everybody's looking to me
to make the right call.
[dramatic music continues]
[Sonia] We are literally
running out of time now.
I'm... I'm hoping this scene
will help me understand what's going on.
- That's what I'm about to show you.
- Yes.
[Stephen] When there isn't enough time
and we're struggling
to get the story told,
that is the white heat of anxiety.
It's the white heat of stress.
Can you just show me the projection
and just give me a time frame on that?
[Sonia] Okay.
[man coughs]
So there's this, guys.
Watching, everybody watching.
That goes, that goes there,
and then you bring up this light
and stay here, yeah?
[vocalizing]
Can you hear that? You're flat.
All right. Stop, stop.
[Louis] Three weeks ago,
we had a different play.
Three weeks before that,
we had a different play.
And I guess three weeks from now,
we'll have a completely new ing play.
[Sonia] It's been really hairy,
and it's been really challenging,
and it's been pretty stressful.
Do you wanna do that again?
[soft music playing]
[Sonia] We're all really, really tired,
but I have to say,
in the last few days,
it's turned a corner.
You're gonna get one last big .
That's it.
And stop!
[Justin] We had a really successful night
the night before
with the structural changes.
We know what this is.
[soft music continues]
[Jamie] When it works,
you have something magical.
You've created a moment.
[Patrick] We know that
the story's special.
We know that the characters are special.
We know that people have been waiting
and waiting and waiting for this thing,
and I think
people are gonna lose their minds.
[applause]
- Well done.
- Thanks!
[clock ticking]
Yeah, well, we're here
at, uh, our very first preview night.
And I'm getting my hair cut.
I'm getting all prepped and ready for it.
[man] We've been trying
to cut it all week,
but the schedule has been so tight.
[indistinct chatter]
[man] Just testing Mind Flayer smoke.
[indistinct chatter]
We're about to see whether our work
passes muster with a thousand punters.
I'm excited. I kind of want to puke.
Ooh, right.
The most important thing now is a nap.
It's the day of our first preview.
[groaning nervously]
[indistinct chatter]
[Isabella] It's a bit daunting.
You want people to like you
because, obviously, people very much like
the older versions of the characters
that we're portraying.
[Oscar] People always ask you,
"Is it any good?"
And honestly, you never really know
until an audience is in.
[murmuring]
[Christopher] Before the first performance
of every show I do,
I touch every seat in the theater, um,
to know where
every single audience member is gonna sit
so that I know what my theater is
and where I am.
I have to keep reminding myself
that this is just a preview,
and we still have, like, a month of time
to work before the actual opening.
[drill whirring]
I think it's going to be, you know,
quite a challenging first preview.
You wouldn't want me sitting next to you
in a theater tonight,
uh, because every little thing
that goes wrong,
I'll... I'll be emitting
this negative energy around me.
Notoriously, previews can be bumpy,
so we might have to have
a bit of grit tonight, but, uh...
- Yeah.
- ...hopefully not.
- Yeah. There we go. Into the darkness.
- [both chuckle]
- [Chris] Into the darkness.
- [Jamie] Yeah.
The poster. It looks like...
Great.
It looks... very cool.
[indistinct chatter]
- [Matt] How are you?
- Hi, hi, hi.
- [Matt] How are you feeling?
- Okay.
- All right.
- [all chuckle]
[Matt] I'm like, I feel nervous.
I don't know why.
Well, because it's your show.
It's not. The live aspect of it
is what's freaky to me.
- [Sonia] Yeah.
- Yeah.
[indistinct announcement]
- Yes, we're still rehearsing. Right now.
- [Ross] Right now?
[cheering]
- [Kate] How's it going?
- Good. Good.
Um, I'm measuring her heartbeat
to see how nervous she is.
- Oh, oh, you're high.
- Is that high?
You're 108 beats per minute.
What's it supposed to be?
It's not like we need to take you
to the emergency room,
but it's not great.
[dramatic music playing]
[usher] Through the first door, please.
[indistinct chatter]
You're gonna go up the stairs
on the right. Enjoy the show.
- [G] Where have you come from?
- France.
- [G] Just for the show?
- Yeah.
- Super excited.
- Super excited.
- It's his birthday, so, like, we're here--
- And his.
- Oh yeah...
- We're twins.
I'm excited to learn anything
about season five.
- We're so excited.
- So excited.
- We've been obsessing over it in school.
- I know.
I don't really know what to expect,
so fingers crossed
we're in for a good show.
Yeah, well, I'm so excited.
I'm so ready. I can't wait.
Tell me about it.
ing Brenner scenes coming for Act Two.
I know!
[dramatic music continues]
[dramatic music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[loud click]
[male voice] The following file
is classified.
[dramatic whooshing]
[synthwave music playing]
[music building]
[music halts]
[Sonia] Well, we got the preview done,
and I think it was, uh, a reality check.
It was kind of nail-biting.
Like, I literally bit my nails into blood.
[Stephen] I think we learned
just about everything.
What they were scared of,
what they were thrilled about,
what they wanted more of,
what they wanted less of.
- We have to cut quite a lot.
- [Justin] Yeah.
And restructure. And...
[Justin] Yeah, we'll have to run
whatever we've done.
[pensive music playing]
[Kate] I have to cut like 20 minutes,
which is not
an insubstantial amount of time.
Okay.
[G] How are the Duffers feeling
about the ongoing process?
[Ross] And is the end of Act One
dramatic enough?
Sorry, it's my only other question,
without the Brenner thing?
- Um--
- [Ross] Like is it... I just felt like...
I know. I... I've been... I know.
I've been fighting against that.
[Ross] Oh good.
Um...
[woman] I like to think
there's someone out...
Did you say...
"I like to think there's someone..."
- [woman] "For everyone," right?
- "For everyone."
[woman] I think in the script,
it's "someone out there for everyone."
"There's someone out there..."
[Christopher] Even though we're knackered,
we're still just getting on with it.
You know?
Everyone's still giving their all.
[Ella] You really are a miracle, Henry.
[dramatic music playing]
Hey, hey! Take that on to the street!
[Isabella] You know what? Shut up, Don!
Let the lovers love! God!
[Ella] Hope you're feeling good!
[Ella shrieks, laughs]
[woman] You tried to k*ll her.
[dramatic music continues]
- [G] All good?
- [Isabella] Yeah.
[dramatic music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
Can we stand by?
[Jordan] We're not performing
eight shows a week.
We are actually having
a Monday and Tuesday with no shows,
but we're still rehearsing all day.
[Patrick] I have some very exciting news
for you today.
Move in. Go.
All of them are special.
[Kate] Act Two is long, and it feels long,
and it's kind of boring.
[Stephen] I particularly hate boredom
in the theater.
Because when theater's great,
it can be the most exciting thing
you've ever seen in your life.
When theater's not great, it's
really, really, really, really terrible.
[Stephen] I need to see
how long this might be.
[Louis] You're as much a father
to this family--
- No. I don't think you should do that.
- [Louis] Okay.
- [Isabella] I told you it's family only.
- About that night?
I already told you we are family.
- [Isabella] Oh, me?
- Keep going.
- I already told you we are a family!
- I'm calling the police.
[Christopher] Give me a second. Go ahead.
Tell my dad he fights like a girl.
[Isabella] Awkward!
Sorry, you're right.
It's not fair to girls.
We were going over
a little bit of Act One,
kind of changing the order of lines around
so you have two scenes "melging" into one.
"Melging," is that a word?
Uh, melding into one
rather than having two separate scenes.
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Preview four? Preview five?
Six?
Preview five or six.
[woman] Counting down!
Sergeant, everything is go!
[man] Copy!
There is no greater pain
than to see your child suffer.
[Sonia] There are some clear indicators
when you've lost your audience,
and I call it the coughing moments,
when you could just hear across the house...
[coughs]
Now they don't know they're doing it,
but that's when you know
you've lost your audience
when you get
your... your sort of chorus of coughs.
- Came all the way from the park...
- [viewer coughs]
[G] You're just waiting for bows.
Let's take our bows.
[G] What's the time?
[inhales] It's gone 11, we believe.
[clock ticking]
- [Kate] Uh, so...
- [woman] Don't worry.
So you say, "I'm scared."
You say,
"Don't worry. It's gonna be okay."
[man] What was the cue again, sorry?
"Who"? What's it just before that?
[woman] But the previous line is,
"One of you're coming back for me. Who."
[indistinct chatter]
Sorry, G. Not this one.
[indistinct chatter continues]
Wait a second. Pause. Spy cam.
[G] This is the hardest day
I've done in this building.
- Okay. Mm-hmm.
- [G] Since beginning, I would say.
[G] It's a ing weird vibe.
- It is weird.
- [G] I wasn't here Monday, Tuesday.
Oh, okay.
[G] And the people
who were here were like... [murmurs]
So now you've walked in,
and it's all kind of slightly unsettled.
[G] A little unsettled. I haven't quite...
Everyone I've pointed the camera at,
I felt like I shouldn't be doing it.
Yeah.
[G] And there's a very clear vibe
of "please off."
Yeah, there's been a lot of changes.
[pensive music playing]
[Jordan] Everybody's very much like,
"Oh my God, can I remember this?"
Entrances have changed.
Quick change times have changed.
Scene change times have all changed.
Lines changed.
Whole scene concepts gone.
Brand-new ones built in two days.
Changes that went in yesterday,
even right up until the evening,
are going in the show tonight.
Ella has currently had
entire new scenes written,
entire new concepts given to her.
And she's had a very limited
amount of time to learn them.
No, no, no! The battle that's going on,
I can help you fight it!
[Ella] Everything is constantly changing.
Um, it's just a lot
to wrap your head around sometimes
and just feeling all the pressure.
I'm not weak!
[indistinct chatter]
[Justin] Quiet please.
We're running a sequence on stage.
"I like your lipstick.
I like your lipstick."
I mean, of all the weird, dumb things
you could possibly say, Henry.
[Stephen] Okay, what's happened?
Shall we ditch it for tonight?
- [faint indistinct chatter]
- [laughs]
We're pretty close to ditching this.
- [Louis] We haven't had time.
- [Stephen] Let's not do it.
Apologies for not delivering.
[Justin] No. You don't have anything
to apologize for.
We didn't give you enough time for it.
Don't worry.
It just felt very, like,
"Do it right now!"
Like, just with everybody in the house,
I just need more time.
[Justin] "Come on, performing monkey.
Off you go."
Yeah. I just... I'm not too happy
with what I just did.
So I think I need time with Trish
because I want to make it good.
- I was not delivering.
- But... yeah.
It's fine.
I didn't mind at all.
[Louis] Yeah.
[clock ticking]
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Spiders?! What... What are you doing?
- [Louis] You couldn't even scream...
- [shrieks]
[Sonia] I couldn't see any spiders
from where I was.
[Justin] You sat at the back.
[Sonia] At the back,
I couldn't see any at all.
I want to see more spiders.
Don't be too subtle.
[dramatic whooshing]
[man] So we haven't had much feedback
regarding to what's expected.
It's... It's just time, isn't it?
[dramatic music continues]
[Sonia] Can I make a plea?
These tornadoes,
or whatever we're calling it,
top of Act Two, is really not working.
[Stephen] I say get rid of it.
[dramatic music continues]
What's getting cut?
Some hospital stuff.
Some, uh, house is now open stuff.
- [loud clattering]
- [machine whirring]
I lost you!
The battleground has just
been completely changed.
I think it's longer now.
And it's gonna change again.
[dramatic whooshing]
[dramatic music continues]
[Sonia] Stephen and Justin see it live
in front of an audience of critics.
[Justin] Yeah. Sounds like it.
That sounds absolutely terrifying.
[distorted roar]
[Stephen] Why isn't anybody
worrying about these ing spiders?
Jimmy, we're really worried
about the spiders not working.
[Jimmy] Yeah, I know. I'm, uh...
Who would be on that?
- [indistinct chatter]
- Let me look at it.
- G, I don't want you filming right now.
- [G] All right, mate.
Well, we have to make a call ASAP.
- [Chris] But we might have some?
- [Gary] How are we doing?
We might be cutting all the spiders
except that...
- [Chris] All of them?
- We might.
[Chris] Really?
In the new script Kate's put in,
there's no spiders except that.
[Chris] Okay.
At the moment.
But that's because she's saying
she can't see the two spiders climbing up.
So she's just lost faith.
Which is not to do with you two.
It's just...
So she's rewritten the scene
that doesn't need it.
[Justin] Well, it's not good 'cause it's...
but I understand her frustration.
Yeah, okay.
- [Justin] But we'll see.
- All right.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Sometimes effects don't work.
You know, we've... for various reasons,
there are lots of moments,
you know, throughout the show
that we've had to say goodbye to,
um, which in some cases, is really hard
because we've worked on them
for months and months and months.
Yeah, you know,
you have to be kind of merciless, uh,
in order to tell the story
in the best way that you can.
[clock ticking]
[Sonia] Today, the show is locked.
No more changes can go in now.
Usually you'd freeze a bit earlier,
have a few days to settle in,
but I think, uh, given this process,
yeah, we've taken it right to the...
- Yeah. To the wire.
- Right to the wire.
Gary has just reminded me
that he's been in this theater now
since August,
and that's why he's looking so happy.
I'm very pleased
that we're freezing the show.
[Ella] Henry, listen to my voice.
I'm right here.
[Justin] On the "Henry, the only thing
holding you back, she's right here."
The new show's a bloody... It's a b*llet.
You know? You get to Act Two,
and it just goes... [whoosh]
...and it used to be like... [vroom]
[dramatic music playing]
- [screams]
- [bones cracking]
[dramatic rumble]
[Chris] We're stopping.
- We're stopping?
- [man] We're stopping.
[woman] Sorry.
[G] How was that show?
It was fine. [chuckles]
It was, mmm, an interesting one.
The main issue is
our breakable Virginia dummy
who likes to break too early
for reasons that we don't know why.
The dummy needs to do
what Virginia does in the TV show.
And that's fly up in the air
and then all of her bones break.
[Virginia screams]
[bones cracking]
But currently, she likes to break
in her chair.
[bones cracking]
What do we do? Just to say it.
In the scenario that we can't find it--
We'll have to change the battery,
and we're gonna--
We just have to keep going
with what we've got.
See what we can do.
- We can't cancel the show. We can't.
- No.
I'm wondering if we can put in a...
We could get you two out
and apologize to everyone.
[chuckles]
[Chris] How about individually?
Seat by seat.
For you, yeah.
[Sonia] It's not funny.
We've got a giant opening
with the whole of America flying in.
What are we gonna do?
[whirring]
[clock ticking]
[soft music playing]
- [G] Morning, mate.
- [man] Morning.
[G] I don't suppose you'd like to say
"the calm before the storm," would you?
[man] I can say that.
[G] I'm right here.
Well, calm before the storm.
[soft music continues]
[woman] What in the hell?
Just when I started changing.
[G] There's quite a lot of flowers here,
isn't there?
Yes. Tons of flowers.
Some with no names on either.
Very helpful.
That's why I'm in two hours early.
[chuckles]
Chris.
Hi.
- [G] Hello.
- [Ella] Hello.
[G] I'll follow you
for a very brief moment if that's okay.
Okay. With all my bags.
[machine whirring]
[indistinct chatter]
Oh my God.
The joys of live theater.
[Kate] We're pretty tired.
I was sleeping in the dress circle
between the rows the other day,
and like, one of the guys
who vacuums the floor,
like, came up and, like, poked me
and, like, woke me up, and he was like,
"Are you okay?" And I was like,
"It's fine. I work here."
And he was like,
"Yeah, but, like, are you okay?"
And I was like, "Oh, pass." [chuckles]
"Just vacuum around me."
[clock ticking]
[epic music playing]
[Christopher] We've gotta get tickets.
God, there's so much to do, G.
I legitimately don't know if I have
enough time to get everything done.
[Rebecca] Hey, darling.
Thank you so much.
Hiya, darling.
- [Christopher] Oh God.
- 'Sup?
[Christopher] We're just kinda...
Just running around. There's a lot to do.
- [G] Hello, Louis.
- Hey, mate.
- Hello.
- Hello.
[epic music continues]
[G] Do you know anything about anybody
who's going to be in tonight?
I've tried to kind of, uh,
keep myself away from that.
I have heard whispers of some people.
From the show, Matthew Modine is here
and David Harbour.
Uh, but I... I try and just treat
every audience the same
and try not to think too much about
who's in because it just stresses you out.
[G] Who is this?
[indistinct chatter]
[G] That's a beautiful suit, Gary.
[epic music continues]
off, G.
[all laughing]
- [tense music playing]
- [clock ticking]
[music halts]
[indistinct chatter]
The show last night was ing tight.
And you must have felt
that it was a tight show.
And keep that tonight, um,
and throughout the weekend.
Don't forget, there's more press
coming in, I'm afraid, tomorrow.
- And the day after.
- [chuckles]
Um, so keep your wits about you.
Tonight is our night.
For some of us, we've been here for months
and even years.
All the hard work.
All the changes.
It's been worth it.
It's an extraordinary piece,
and I could not be prouder.
And if anyone's feeling nervous,
don't worry about it
because I'm feeling sick.
So I'll... I'll take it all on for you.
And you just have a fantastic night.
And when the reviews talk about
the disastrous direction
by Stephen and Justin,
it doesn't mean you can do what you want.
[all chuckle]
- [woman] Hey
- [all] Hey
[woman] I don't know
How you've been feelin'
[all] I don't know
How you've been feelin'
[woman] I've been feeling upside down
[all] I've been feeling upside down
[woman] I don't know
How you've been feeling
[all] I don't know
How you've been feeling
[woman] I've been feeling upside down
[all] I've been feeling upside down
[woman] In the Upside Down
[all] In the Upside Down
[woman] In the Upside Down
[all] In the Upside Down
[woman] In the Upside Down
[all] In the Upside Down
We are very excited.
Um, I mean, we saw a preview.
I guess it was about a month ago.
Um, and they've been working on it
for an extra month,
so we're really excited to see
how it is now.
Look at that. No, no, no. Look at that.
Like a ing surgeon.
[laughs]
It's the big night. We're very excited!
[announcer] The show is about to begin.
[Sonia] It's a whole new generation
of critics are coming through,
and, you know, everything's clickbait.
You either love or hate,
one star or five stars.
You can't be in between.
If we don't get great reviews,
what happens?
[dramatic music playing]
[music fades]
[clock ticking]
[Stephen] The moment before
the curtain goes up
is the most exciting moment
one could ever have in your life.
[clock continues ticking]
[Stephen] It's so precarious.
It's so dangerous.
[Stephen] It's so terrifying.
[G] Break a leg, poppet.
Thank you.
[dramatic music playing]
[music builds, halts]
[audience applauding]
[cheering]
[man] The following file is classified
under executive...
[distorted whirring]
[whirring halts]
- [dramatic whoosh]
- [shrieks]
[dramatic music playing]
[loud rumbling]
That is sick, man!
[Isabella] We go up soon.
[cheering in the distance]
[indistinct chatter]
Whoo! Listen to the crowd going wild!
[cheering continues]
[dramatic music continues]
[indistinct chatter]
G, I'm just givin' you a heads-up.
This gets really crowded, this bit, so...
Sorry.
[indistinct chatter continues]
- Whoops, sorry!
- Don't worry.
You've done it the wrong way.
You've buttoned it the wrong way.
They're very friendly.
Yeah, but they're critics, love.
[chuckles]
Oh my God! Dad!
- Jesus! His eyes!
- Oh my God!
[indistinct chatter]
Does anyone know where... Not here? No?
Oh sh*t. It's in my room!
[dramatic music continues]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [Isabella] No, it's in my room.
[Patrick] What was it like?
What did you see there, Henry?
What did it feel like?
That's it. Show me. Keep going.
[loud screech]
Keep going!
You are so close!
- [dramatic music continues]
- [Lauren screams]
[bones cracking]
[dramatic rumble]
[ethereal music playing]
[Sonia] When you've got a thousand people...
and you can hear a pin drop...
that's the best sound of all.
Because that's when you know
you've absolutely got them.
And I told you! I told you I'm not normal.
[Ella] Then what are you?
- Oh my God!
- [groans]
[dramatic rumbling]
[Patrick] Oh my God!
It's here, isn't it?
[loud screech]
It's happening! It's happening right now.
[ethereal music continues]
[snarling]
[Patrick] The only thing standing
in your way.
She's right here!
Take her! Take her!
[growls]
[Ella] Henry! Don't!
Don't listen to what he says!
You don't have to do what he says!
[loud screech]
[theme music playing]
[applause]
Come here! You ing champ!
- [applause continues]
- [indistinct chatter]
[applause continues]
[applause continues]
[applause fades]
[indistinct chatter]
As usual. As usual.
So much fun.
So good.
There you go, bro.
- So good.
- Really good.
- It's yours now.
- [exhales] We ing did it.
You ing did it. Let's go.
["This Will Be Our Year"
by Dear Nora playing]
Well done, Isaac.
Well done, everybody!
Well done, angels.
The warmth of your love
Is like the warmth of the sun
[Stephen] Right.
And this will be our year...
- Trefry!
- [Kate] What? Hi.
[man] All right, go down. Just go down.
[indistinct chatter]
You're gonna be so bored now.
- [laughs]
- [Shawn] Yeah.
Amazing! Unbelievable!
- I can't stop crying!
- She can't stop crying!
Oh my God, we are in love with Henry now!
The production, the visuals,
the special effects
is absolutely phenomenal.
Something I've never seen before.
It's like taking it to the next level.
I feel like we just stepped out
of a completely different world
and went on a roller coaster.
We're still buzzing. It was .
It was... Sorry.
We're still buzzing.
It was crazy. It was, um...
Electric. It was electric.
Virginia Creel breaking,
that hasn't been working,
and so the fact it worked perfectly
and the audience's response to it.
It got applause.
That was probably the happiest I was
the whole play.
Just to see her arms break flawlessly.
Ross and I love seeing limbs snap.
- What can I say?
- Obviously.
[G] How did it feel to take the bow?
[chuckles]
Man! Like, that audience was a riot, man.
A riot! And good.
Yeah. Right place. Where I'm meant to be.
Lucky boy.
The most glorious bunch of flowers.
But I think you should read the card.
Oh my God.
[gasps]
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
This will be our year
Took a long time to come
[sniffles] My God!
It's from Winona Ryder! [laughs]
That's so sweet.
Oh my God. So ing cool to meet you.
You're a rock star.
You're an absolute rock star.
That's very flattering.
You're amazing.
Hey, man. Good to meet you.
- This for me?
- I have something for you.
- For real?
- Congratulations.
- That's the original hat from the show.
- Are you kidding?
First season.
It's the only one in existence.
That's ing amazing.
Thank you so much.
[Matthew] Oh, you've got a ing wig on!
- I do. Yeah.
- [all laugh]
- I know. I do. Hi.
- Congratulations.
Thanks very much.
It's amazing to meet you.
- [Louis] Gonna take a selfie.
- Hey.
- Congratulations, you guys. Yeah.
- [Isabella] Thank you.
[Louis] It makes so much sense.
It makes so much sense.
It went really, really well.
We couldn't have asked for
a better response from the audience.
And just, it's electric,
the energy right now,
and it was on stage.
And it's just... doesn't feel real.
This will be our year
Took a long time to come
I don't think we have to be here anymore.
Let's go.
[man] Let's go. Let's go downstairs.
Some of the reviews are in.
Five stars in The Telegraph.
"West End event of the year."
You can't get more than five,
and they rarely give five.
And then, five stars, The Guardian.
"Breathtaking theater."
And I know
the Daily Mail's gonna be great,
and The Independent's great.
It'll do really well.
- [G] Bloody amazing. Congratulations.
- Long run. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah. Sonia's a genius.
- [Sonia] Yeah.
[ethereal music playing]
[announcer 1] The Olivier Award goes to...
[announcer 2] Stranger Things.
[applause]
I just want to thank the theater community
for welcoming
the Stranger Things mythology in.
I want to thank the Duffer Brothers
for taking a chance on a freak like me.
[upbeat music playing]
[Kate] I want to thank the fans
for being freaks and connecting with us.
And my husband
and my mother-in-law and my parents,
I want to thank you. Thank you so much.
[applause]
[reporter 1] A Stranger Things prequel
is headed to Broadway.
[reporter 2] Broadway's taking
a trip to the Upside Down with a new...
[reporter 3] Stranger Things:
The First Shadow
will make its Broadway debut next year.
[Kate] Ooh, I'm excited.
Ooh, I'm nervous, but I'm excited.
It's gonna be wild.
[epic music playing]
[music builds]
[music continues]
[intense music playing]
[calm music playing]
[dramatic music playing]
[music fades]
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Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow (2025)
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