Stranger Sings! review

Welcome to 1980s Hawkins – a small town in Indiana, where nothing bad ever happens. Until, of course, the supernatural takes over, Stranger Things’ rackety synth theme tune kicks in, and we are off on an adventure with a group of teens to find their missing friend, expose the town’s hidden secrets and, most importantly, get girls to like them.

If you’re a Stranger Things viewer you’ll broadly know the story already, since this musical version, written by Jonathan Hogue and directed by Ellis Kerkhoven, reprises almost exactly the plot of the first series of the Netflix hit. If, on the other hand, you’re not a fan, you’ll be lost. In-jokes and famed one-liners are leaned into and characters appear without any real explanation as to who they are or what they’re doing. Nor does this detail-obsessed parody attempt to offer the scares of the TV show.

Riffing on musicals from Dear Evan Hansen to Gypsy, the score is undeniably pleasant – not least because Hogue’s pastiche tunes sound so familiar. But the show is strongest when it swerves our expectations. The lost child, Will, is played by a Jim Henson-style, wide-eyed puppet. The killed-off side-character Barb questions her forgettability and forces her way back into the story. The narrative even calls out Stranger Things’ lack of queer representation. Hogue’s lyrics need more work, but there are some corkers; the song where actor Winona Ryder breaks out of her character, Joyce Byers, is genuinely side-splitting.

Justin Williams’ set pays homage to the TV show’s nostalgic cinematography, bringing us right into the Byers’ home with Christmas lights and an alphabet scribbled on to a back wall. Ellie Farrow’s costumes impress too, especially the high-kicking Demogorgon, with extendable limbs and monstrous face. But it is the hugely talented performers who carry this slapdash remake, meticulously mirroring and emphasising their small-screen counterparts’ unique mannerisms. As our hero, Mike, Joseph Riley channels nervous dorkiness into his every gesture. But it is the astounding Anna Amelia who really stands out. Playing both Will’s boy-crazy sister Nancy and the all-powerful oddball Eleven, Amelia – who has a striking resemblance to Millie Bobby Brown – fully immerses herself in her roles. Her voice is an angelic wonder, and she has first-rate dance skills to match.

This trip to the Upside Down may lack originality, and it definitely dances on the edge of gimmickry, but aficionados can’t go too far wrong.