Wonderfully silly, a must-see parody musical, littered with odes to the show and the era

Stranger Things – for the very small population that have no idea – is a Netflix production that has been nominated for possibly every television award under the sun, winning a healthy proportion of these. First airing in 2016 and currently in production for a fifth series, the sci-fi show is set in a fictional town called Hawkins in Indiana, USA, in the 80s. This town experiences strange things as its connected to a parallel world, called the ‘Upside-Down’. The brilliantly crafted characters, charming nostalgia of a world before social media, fantastic acting, and thrilling plots, amongst many other factors quickly made the show a huge success. So naturally, it was only a matter of time until a parody was born.   

Jonathan Hogue began creating Stranger Sings! in 2017 and has since had two sell-out tours in New York and Melbourne before being adapted for the UK by The Vaults in 2022. Hogue’s creation fantastically marries the parody silliness with highlighting some of the more questionable aspects of TV show. Such as Nancy and Jonathan’s relationship birthing from his nonconsensual photographing of her first time. After the UK adaptations first run at The Vaults in Waterloo, the production was nominated for three off west-end awards. Many of the original UK cast have continued for this current run.  

Entering the auditorium, you instantly notice the 80s memorabilia around the stage, like ‘New Coke’, VHSs (that I recognised as some of my parents’ favourite films) in the living room, you see the Demogorgon’s root-like network that wraps around the set and so many other nods to the television show transporting you from Elephant and Castle to Hawkins, Indiana, 1983. Justin Williams’ set design combined with Clancy Flynn’s lighting design effectively took us from Joyce Byers’ house to the Upside Down and beyond! I would love to see what they could combine to create with a larger budget and a West End stage, if this production journeys there.  

The incredibly strong cast of 10 play about 20 or so characters across the 125 minutes. As we were introduced to each character from the show, I saw more and more how fantastic the acting in tandem with brilliant costume design by Ellie Farrow (including some memorable wigs) enabled the audience to easily recognise and distinguish individuals from the series. The ability of the whole cast to embody their characters’ mannerisms whilst also showing clear and entertaining differences when multi-rolling, particularly in such a fast-paced performance was phenomenal.  A combination of incredibly expressive acting, fabulous costume choices and clear direction enabled this. Anna Amelia as Nancy, Eleven and Robin, Verity Power as Joyce and Will (or rather the puppeteer of Will) and Alfie Doohan as Steve, Jonathan and Dr Brenner were fantastic examples of this.   

The singing on show from every actor was exemplary, with belting high notes and beautiful harmonising such as that displayed by Alfie Doohan (Steve) and Will Shackleton (Dustin) in their duet ‘Nice’ to name but one. The acting through song that was showcased throughout was a brilliant example for any budding musical theatre actor. Philippa Leadbetter as Barb was show stopping with her solo ‘Barb’s Turn’, and I was amazed to discover this is Leadbetter’s professional debut. Verity Power truly embodied Winona Ryder’s Joyce, acting through song sublimely (or perhaps smoking through song) in ‘Crazy’. Power was also pioneering a new category of musical theatre actor, ‘the quadruple threat’ of Actor, Singer, Dancer, and Puppeteer – hats off.   

The parody musical is not merely littered with odes to the show and the era but also lots of subtle and not so subtle musical theatre references throughout. Within either: the music, lyrics, dialogue, costume, set or props; there are numerous references and too many to pick up by one person at one time which means, I guess I will have to come back and see it again! Clearly so much effort has gone into housing so many details in one performance and the music which was expertly performed and coordinated by the live Musical Director Olivia Zacharia. 

With a cast of 10 and not much space between the busy set and us on the front row, the exciting dance choreography by Lucinda Lawrence had to be well blocked and precisely performed. I believe the cast really excelled in this, particularly in the musical numbers where more of the cast were on stage. These moments could have seemed clumsy and cluttered but instead were impressive and interesting. The choreography and dance performance of Jessie Jae Davis as the Demogorgon was exceptional and had the audience whooping and cheering loud enough to wake the neighbours.  

Friends never lie and friends, let me tell you that this was possibly one of my favourite shows of the year. This spoof reminded me of the brilliance of a StarKid production and it married so well with the world of Stranger Things. This award-winning (and rightly so) parody musical is only playing at the Southwark Playhouse Borough until January 6^th. The brilliant and whacky spoof is sure to have any musical theatre and Stranger Things fan in stitches whilst simultaneously being in awe of the talent on display. Be sure to be quick though, as you don’t have lots of time to binge as much of the series as you can before getting your ticket to this side-splitting parody!