This Show Was "Strange," All Right, But Not Necessarily Good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           I will admit I had my doubts, going in to see "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," at The Marquis Theatre.  All I had heard about the show was how good the special effects are.  Well, special effects a show does not make.

                                              And this turned out to be true.  Again, like "MJ," the show was overlong, so what might have seemed like an amusing amusement ride, was like riding one that had gone berserk; like being in one's own "Final Destination" movie.

                                               But the real problem with the show is that if one, like me, is an outsider, the evening will make no sense.  Anyone having not watched the Netflix TV series from the beginning will be at a loss as to what is actually going on.  Nor will anyone care.  I certainly didn't.

                                                Added to all this, I have to fault the director, Stephen Daldry, who is doing his actors a great disservice.  For reasons incomprehensible to me, he has them delivering line readings as though in a state of constant hysteria.  I hope every actor has a vocal coach and ENT doctor on hand, because this has to be a strain on the voices.  I could not imagine doing this eight shows a week, and, if forced to, I would go to Equity and bring Daldry up on charges!  So, it is a good thing I am not with this show.  The actors' names are not even worth mentioning, but I pray their health holds out.

                                                 I saw this show on a steamy Tuesday night, when it was 98 degrees.  I did not really want to see it, and when I soon saw it was going nowhere, I boiled inside, until Intermission, when I had a meltdown.  It seldom happens, especially in the theater, but when it does---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Of course, I maintained an open mind that the show might get better, in the second half, but, of course, it did not.  And it was too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Devotees of the show will love it.  Those who are not are invited to stay away.

                                                       How this makes me long for the return of "Mamma Mia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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