Gabrielle Nevaeh Grows Up and Goes All Out in Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway

Gabrielle Nevaeh has been fielding supernatural forces as Patty Newby in Broadway’s Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which serves as a prequel to Netflix’s popular sci-fi series. The First Shadow provides a fleshed-out origin story for the character of Henry Creel before he becomes the villainous creature known as Vecna. Neveah plays Henry’s love interest, who he encounters as an adolescent in 50s suburbia. The young talent talked to The Broadway Show correspondent Charlie Cooper about her unorthodox journey to Hawkins.

“I got an email that said, 'Stranger Things Broadway self-tape audition.' I was like, ‘Never going to book this, I'm not a Broadway girly.’ I grew up doing television,” explains Nevaeh. “I did what I thought I might do in a Stranger Things audition, which is a more filmistic style. I didn't worry about the Broadway aspect or the theater aspect. I sent it in and didn't expect to hear anything back. Two weeks later, they called me back into callbacks in L.A. Long story short, I ended up going through that whole process and they brought me to a seven hour callback in New York City.”

For Neveah, this grueling callback process was unlike anything she had experienced before. “They had me do the entire play as a one-woman show. What I didn't know at that time was that we were rewriting the script to be tailored to myself. They did the show in the West End and Patty was very different. I had very strong opinions about who Patty was and what her relationship with Henry Creel was. That’s kind of the version of the show that you see now. To be able to create Patty from the ground up and have a say in the Henry and Patty storyline, it's incredible.”

Performing onstage has proved itself to be quite a different undertaking than Neveah’s experience on camera. “I love to take my time when I act. Now, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a three hour-long play. We’ve got to get it out, you’ve got to know the story, you’ve got to hear the lines. There's no time to be mugging for the camera,” says Nevaeh. “So that was a habit I had to break, because I like to think in a scene and really receive what the other actor is saying. I just had to learn a different way of doing that.”

The First Shadow also requires Neveah to push her body to its limits. “It's probably the most physical thing I've ever done. Every night it's like doing an action movie. I feel like Tom Cruise. So learning how to take care of my body, learning how to take care of my voice—because I scream a lot, I go from screaming to singing to just speaking my dialogue. It's a lot of athleticism.”

Neveah was a cast member on the 2019 reboot of Nickelodeon’s high-octane sketch comedy program All That, an experience she drew upon in preparation for her Broadway debut. Says Neveah: “It really taught me how to think on my feet because we would get these sides right before we would go shoot. Sometimes we would be playing a character on Monday and then on Friday, on our shoot day, it'd be a totally different sketch. That really helped me with Stranger Things because when we were in previews, it would be kind of a similar thing. We'd be rehearsing during the day and then at night we would have to put in whatever changes into the show, into a live performance in front of 2,000 people that you don't get a take two for. I think that my background in television really did prep me for certain things.”

This production serves as something of a departure for Neveah, who followed All That up with another Nickelodeon series, That Girl Lay Lay. “The people who have grown up with me that I get to meet at the stage door every night, they enjoy that because it's like you're also watching me as a person step into womanhood. I'm growing up and I'm telling more mature stories. I'm telling a story about a little biracial girl falling in love with a little white boy in the 1950s under a supernatural scope. It's cool that people who knew me when I was 12, 13, they get to come see that.”

Speaking further on her casting, Neveah says, "I think that specifically biracial representation is key and it's a really beautiful lens that we get to look through. Kate Trefry, our writer, was very specific about—because we are telling a story in the 1950s—staying true to what that looked like in America. It's been a blessing to be able to represent that on stage.”

Neavah will close out her run as Patty on March 29, 2026. This turning point is bittersweet for the 20-year-old performer. “I came here a year ago, I moved the day after Christmas, and now I've got about six weeks left in my run as Patty Newby and I'm trying to take it all in. I'm trying to just breathe and allow myself to soak up each and every moment.”

When asked about what’s next in her burgeoning career, Neavah remains coy. “Everything's next. Everything's next.”

Watch the full interview below!

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