Tim van den B.
Google
As a Stranger Things fan, this show is a really mixed bag for me. Though I seem to be in the minority here.
Visually, this is one of, if not the best, stage shows I’ve ever seen in my life. The way they blend real sets with screens is absolutely seamless and incredibly impressive.
As for the story, I wasn’t a big fan. I don’t see many reasons why this part of Henry Creel/Vecna’s story needed to be told before the final season, especially since it reveals a lot we already know from Season 4. The show also feels about 20 minutes too long, and the pacing is pretty atrocious at times.
This is mostly due to the side plot with Hopper, Joyce, and Bob. While it’s fun to see familiar faces again, and the actors do feel like believable younger versions of the characters we know, their storyline just isn’t that engaging compared to Henry’s. It also feels tonally inconsistent with the rest of the play. At times, the production is dark, gruesome, and genuinely scary, like a proper horror story brought to the stage. But the next minute, people are dancing, singing, and cracking high school jokes. The show struggles to find the fine balance that the TV series does so well between fun, nostalgic mystery and horror.
In my eyes, it’s not really a must-see before the final season, but maybe that will change once the last season releases and they tie some elements from the stage show into it.