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Those anxiously awaiting the final season of "Stranger Things" won't have to wait until the first batch of episodes drop on Nov. 26 on Netflix to get their fix of the weird goings on in Hawkins, Indiana.
That's the way Millennial Theatre Company, which will stage the show "Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical" for a three-weekend run in Youngstown Playhouse's Moyer Room, planned it all along. The parody musical, written by Jonathan Hogue, made its debut as a cabaret show in 2018 and first appeared Off-Broadway in 2021.
"They had released a pro shot of it online for limited viewing right after the pandemic, and we fell in love with the show," director Joe Asente said. "We always wanted to do it, but we wanted to try to line it up with the release of the final season of 'Stranger Things,' which we had anticipated at the time would be a year or two away. It ended up being five years down the line, with all the delays that they went through.
"Even when we picked the show, we weren’t quite sure when in the calendar year 2025 the final season was going to get released. It just so happens that we close the show (Nov. 22) the Sunday before the first set of episodes dropped for the final season. So it’s a really nice alignment there and ties in with the actual TV show."
Asente is a fan of parody musicals, but they can be difficult for community theaters to do, mainly because the shows tend to be so driven by pop culture and current events that they are dated by the time they become available for licensing.
"Whatever that thing was has come and gone, and the phenomenon kind of passed," Asente said. "But 'Stranger Things' continues to stay relevant, and the show itself is just so incredibly funny. And it’s funny in a way that those who are unfamiliar with 'Stranger Things,' I think, would still have a fantastic time watching.
"'Stranger Sings!' spoofs so much, not only 'Stranger Things,' but also the '80s in general, and then also the genre of musical theater. I can’t even count the number of theater references there are, both lyrically in the book and just stylistically in the music. So there’s really something in it for everyone, and that’s obviously the big appeal for us."
The musical primarily focuses on season one, when young Will Byers (played by a puppet in the show) goes missing in another dimension -- the "Upside Down." With the help of a mysterious girl with psychokinetic powers, three friends go in search of Will, and Will's mother has her own quest to try to save her child from the alien Demogorgon. However, Hogue has continued to tweak his original script as new seasons were released.
"It’s been kind of a living, breathing document of sorts," Asente said. "As the seasons have progressed, they’ve worked in little things from other seasons. There are moments and cameos and jokes that reference things through all of the seasons, all the way to and including predictions about what the final season will be. So if you’re a super fan of 'Stranger Things,' you’ll definitely pick up on things from every season of the show, but the plot itself does follow season one."
The cast features Ben Doss, Natalina Kazimir, Caitlin Overton, Jackie Collins, Joshua Fleming, Edward Bazzell, Ryan Stewart, Gesse Matlock, Jaye Mills, Kali-Davies Anderson, Ty Hanes, Trudi Herrholtz, Michelle Jalbert and Xaine Stenberg with many of the actors playing multiple roles The musical director is Cari Auth and choreographer is Danielle Mentzer.
The popularity of the Netflix series brought out many fans to audition.
"It brought back some of our regulars, but also some new folks as well, who just really wanted the opportunity to live in the world of Hawkins, Indiana," Asente said. " I mean, the only other stage adaptation of anything 'Stranger Things' related, is the show that’s playing on Broadway ('Stranger Things: The First Shadow'), which I would be shocked if that ever becomes available for licensing, just due to the complexity of it. So this is kind of everyone’s one shot of getting to exist in that world. And you know, we’re really lucky with the cast that we’ve assembled."
MTC planned a three-weekend run for "Stranger Sings!," a weekend longer than most of its musicals, because the Moyer Room is smaller than Hopewell Theatre, the home for many of its productions. Asente said directing in a space with seating on three sides of the stage was an adjustment, but it's the perfect venue for this musical.
"The show is so interactive in nature, as far as the characters breaking the fourth wall," he said. "You need a space like that in order to do a show like that ... The show is very small. It’s very intimate, and these parody musicals are experienced best in a small, intimate setting where the divide between actor and audience member is nonexistent. When you’re in the Moyer Room, you touch the stage with your feet, basically. So that’s the kind of space you need to experience this show in, because the ridiculousness of it wouldn’t work on any other type of level."
If you go …
WHAT: Millennial Theatre Company -- "Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical"
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 23
WHERE: Moyer Room, Youngstown Playhouse, 600 Playhouse Lane, Youngstown
HOW MUCH: Tickets are $27 and are available online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.