Stranger Things: The First Shadow (c) Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Broadway: Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Marquis Theatre
During the Act One finale of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the audience is suddenly flooded with actors in hazmat suits, shining huge flashlights at us, when one of them (at my performance) stopped at the guy in an aisle seat who happened to be holding to his newly bought Mind-Flayer stuffie. The hazmat guy grabs and examines it, before giving it back to the giggling guy, does the two fingers to his eyes and then points them to his (the universal sign for “I’ll be watching you!”) before walking on stage, all to the cheers and laughter of the nearly sold-out crowd. And if there was any doubt that fans of the TV series Strangers Things would shell out Broadway-sized dollars to see a prequel, they vanished faster than Barb at the pool. And if you understood anything I wrote so far, this new play, backed by Netflix, will certainly be a fun time. I was certainly a fan of the show (it premiered in 2016) that focused on a group of kids in the early 1980s who come in contact with an evil supernatural force. It was a fun throwback to a time of Dungeons & Dragons, when the TV’s cable box was an antenna and video game arcades were the Friday night hangouts. Stranger Things: The First Shadow is an extension of a flashback from Season 4 in which the kids learn about a troubled young boy named Henry Creel (Louis McCartney, perpetually on edge) whose family, after moving into Hawkins, Indiana, was massacred in 1959. This tragedy now involves the younger versions of the adults from the show, who are all now high school teenagers, including Joyce (Alison Jaye), Hopper (Burke Swanson) and Bob Newby (Juan Carlos).
Stranger Things: The First Shadow (c) Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Since the show’s fourth season ended three years ago, it would have been nice if playwright Kate Trefry (working from a story by series creators the Duffer Brothers and Jack Thorne) eased us back in the world, especially with a cast of characters larger than most Shakespearean history plays. But, no, everyone is introduced in a quick-as-lightning fashion, filled with so much stage business that it took a bit before I settled into its rhythms. There are two plots going on in tandem. The major story involves newly transplanted Henry Creel’s odd behavior (especially around radio waves) to his fellow students and the serial murders of Hawkins’ pet population (foreshadowing MAGA, no?). The second and least interesting plotline surrounds a school play that Joyce is directing and has somehow roped Henry to be the lead with Bob’s sister Patty (Gabrielle Nevaeh), a character who was barely mentioned in the show. But what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats is the breathtaking special effects (by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher), usually accompanied by loud, ear-piercing sounds (could be lowered by a few decibels), and during those moments, it feels like we’re in an amusement park ride like Disney World’s Tower of Terror. If directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin could do it, they would have put the theater seats on wheels and moved us through this haunted funhouse. Many in the audience have probably never been to a Broadway show (the aforementioned audience member with the toy was also the guy crunching his Pringles during some quieter moments of Act Two), but if Stranger Things: The First Shadow starts a habit of seeing Broadway shows, then I’m all for it. And like all good rides, the audience exits through the gift shop.
Real Women Have Curves (c) Julieta Cervantes
Broadway: Real Women Have Curves
James Earl Jones Theatre
Real Women Have Curves, the engaging, new musical that opened on the last day of Tony Award eligibility, feels like the scrappy show that could. The show is based on the play by Josefina Lopez, which was made into a popular movie starring America Ferrera in 2002, about an immigrant Mexican family in Los Angeles in 1987 whose youngest daughter, Ana (Tatianna Córdoba), the only one born in the US, has dreams to go to Columbia University to study journalism. But, to go, she needs the blessing of her family, including her house painter father (Mauricio Mendoza) and her mother, Carmen (Justina Machado, from the reboot of One Day at a Time), who works as at the dress making factory run by her older sister, Estela (Florencia Cuenca). The dilapidated factory is filled with mostly undocumented, Hispanic women, always in danger of being raided. But things start to look up for the business as Estela gets a last-minute order of 300 dresses in three weeks, and Ana is roped in to work as an unpaid intern, in addition to her real unpaid internship at a local paper with the cute (but shy) fellow reporter Henry (Quincy Hampton, the adorably, goofy understudy the night I was there). The story is far from original, with Ana’s story of ambition and head-butting with her mother feeling a lot like Hell’s Kitchen, while the factory story of overworked blue collared workers has shades of Kinky Boots. But the catchy songs by Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez and especially the breezy, relatable book by Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin really makes the show work, with an ample and creative assist by director/choreographer Sergio Trujillo. But it’s the cast of Latina actresses who really sell the show (sorry, guys), starting with Córdoba, who is making an impressive Broadway debut, and the scene-stealing, audience favorite Machado, whose comic timing is flawless. But every actress in the factory has standout moments, culminating in the title song, in which the seamstresses (in the most famous scene from the movie) take off their tops to beat the LA heat. While only nominated for two awards (Featured Actress for Machado and Best Score), this underdog musical has its heart on its sleeve, and for a musical about women who make dresses, that’s exactly where they want it. And it works tremendously.
Five Models in Ruins, 1981 (c) Marc J. Franklin
Theater: Five Models in Ruins, 1981
At LCT3
The Claire Tow Theater is the third theater space of Lincoln Center Theater, housed on the roof of Vivian Beaumont, with a beautiful outdoor terrace to enjoy before the show (if it’s not raining). And yet what is presented in the Tow is a totally different mindset than the Beaumont (Broadway fare) or even the basement theater, the Mitzi Newhouse, as it’s the home of LCT3, the more experimental leg of nonprofit theater, and I’m always excited to hear the voices of new playwrights or experience a tonal or unpredictable experiment. So, the less said about what’s happening in Caitlin Saylor Stephen’s comedy, Five Models in Ruins, 1981, the better. I will say the title is more literal than I expected. The play takes place in the ruins of an abandoned building in a remote part of England where five models from around the world have come to do a fashion shoot for Vogue with one of the few acclaimed female fashion photographers (this is 1981, after all). The fashion angle (and why the shoot is in England) has to do with the recent wedding of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer, who wore the iconic David and Elizabeth Emanuel dress. Where it goes from there is part of the fun, as the shoot turns out to be cathartic for everyone involved. The assignment is more of a roughing-it affair to the disdain of the models (Stella Everett, Maia Novi, Britne Oldford, Sarah Marie Rodriguez, and Madeline Wise, all well cast), with no food (unless you consider a six-pack of TAB sufficient), no hair and make-up, bathrooms or phones. When you peruse the program, you will notice that most of the cast and creative team are making their LCT debuts, and this new blood infusion is evident, especially the exceptional ruins set by Afsoon Pajoufar and the 80s appropriate costumes by Vasilija Zivanic. The veteran of production is the always reliable and risk-taking Elizabeth Marvel as the photographer Roberta, who spends a lot of the play obsessing over the possibility of the shoot being on the cover of Vogue. The main theme of the play revolves around how these women deal with the misogyny and the sexism of the fashion industry, from sleeping their way to fame, sexual assault and even cannibalism (that last one might be exaggeration). All this is handled in a realistic manner by director Morgan Green before it heads into a cathartic conclusion. Five Models in Ruins, 1981 is an enjoyable yet purposefully elliptical play, tailored for an audience willing to go on a ride (and for $33, it’s one of the best theater deals in New York City).
If you want to comment on these reviews, please do so on my Instagram account. All reviews have their own post. And please follow to know when new reviews are released.
