Stranger Sings is a musical parody of the popular Netflix show, Stranger Things. It’s a fun performance, and enjoyable if you liked the Netflix show. Here’s my Stranger Sings theatre review.
Overview of Stranger Sings
Stranger Sings is a musical theatre show that’s based on Stranger Things. It mostly follows Season 1 of Stanger things, although towards the end of the show there are references to Season 2 and some of the later series. So my Stranger Sings theatre review won’t give any spoilers if you’re already a fan of the TV show.
Stranger Sings is definitely intended for people who are already a fan of Stanger Things. So most people going will already be familiar with the plot. The musical roughly follows the story of the 4 boys and Eleven, or Elle. In the show, Will is taken into the ‘Upside Down’, and the boys meet Eleven as they try to find Will. Other characters from Season 1 also feature prominently in Stranger Sings, including Nancy and Steve, Barbara, Will’s mum and the policeman.
What I liked about Stranger Sings
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Stranger Sings – but I enjoyed it. It wasn’t the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, but it was still an enjoyable production.
I thought a lot of the songs were quite good, and some of them had quite clever lyrics as well. There was one song from Eleven about her Dad that I particularly enjoyed and remembered well afterwards. I thought in general that the performances of all the cast were good. Some of the cast were playing multiple characters, but it was always clear which character they were playing.
The costumes were ok, and the set was pretty good too. The ‘monster’ was done well for what is, realistically, a fairly low-budget show. If you’re seeing Stranger Sings I don’t think you should be expecting West End level of costumes and props and staging – it’s not that type of production. But I thought it was still good, for a lower budget show.
There were some funny parts. One of the parts I found most amusing was when Eleven kept needing a tissue for her nosebleeds, and then would put the tissue in Dustin’s mouth. It’s not high-brow comedy, but for some reason it worked well and was quite amusing.
What I wasn’t so sure about
I generally found the whole show ‘ok’, and some bits ‘good’, but never ‘wow’. Some parts were amusing, as the theatre show often took the mick out of the TV show and pointed out the plot inconsistencies. However, I felt like the show sometimes took this a bit far, and ended up feeling like the writers of the musical didn’t actually like the TV show, because they were mocking it so much. I get that in a parody musical, you’d expect them to point out a few of the issues with the TV show – but sometimes I felt they went a bit too far.
Some of the songs were funny-ish. But I wasn’t laughing out loud. But some people in the theatre were – there was a pair of girls sat a few seats away from me who were laughing out loud almost constantly at every little joke. I have no idea if they were drunk or on drugs or something, because the show definitely wasn’t that funny. But they seemed to find it the best and most hilarious thing ever. So maybe for some people it really is that enjoyable.
I found it a bit weird how Will was played by a puppet. I couldn’t really understand why, as there was no puppetry in the rest of the show and meant that character’s expression was limited. It wasn’t a massive issue, but it was just one of many things in the show that didn’t quite make sense why they’d chosen that.
The second half
The main scene I remember questioning was in the second half. A lot of the second half felt like ‘filler’ songs. Most of the plot had already happened by the interval. But one second half ‘filler’ song was even worse than the others – and that’s the one where Barbara came back. By this point in the show she’s already died. But for some reason she has a long weird song where it’s like she has a crush on the monster and wanted to have sex with it or something. It added nothing to the overall story, and I was just wanting it to be over so we could get on with the show. It just felt unnecessary, and added to the slightly underwhelming feeling for the second half.
There was also a weird reference to Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice in another of the second half songs – which again, just felt weird and added to me just wanting the second half to be over.
Would I recommend Stranger Sings
If you’re a fan of the TV show Stranger Things, then you might enjoy Stranger Sings. The silly-type humour probably appeals more to children (or to groups of women who are slightly drunk, given what I saw in the audience). But I still found it an enjoyable evening overall and I’m glad I saw it. I’m just glad I saw it at my local theatre, as for me it wouldn’t really be worth travelling to far to see it.