'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' Star Gabrielle Nevaeh Talks Scoring her Big Broadway Break

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00:00Gabby, bad news.

00:01We don't have a brand deal for you,

00:02but you are gonna be on Broadway.

00:04I was like, certainly they couldn't have picked me.

00:06Are you sure? Are you sure?

00:10So you're in Stranger Things, The First Shadow on Broadway.

00:13Were you a Stranger Things fan

00:15before you got cast in this?

00:16I was a mega fan of Stranger Things.

00:18I grew up watching the series,

00:20so it was absolutely surreal to be creating

00:22in the world that I grew up watching.

00:24I mean, I was at every fan experience.

00:26I waited in line for 12 hours to meet Millie Bobby Brown.

00:28I went to an early screening of season three.

00:31I was deep in the fandom,

00:32so to be a part of this is just a dream come true.

00:35Wait, where did you wait to meet Millie Bobby Brown?

00:37She was doing her launch for her makeup line.

00:40It was way back in the day,

00:41and she was doing a meet and greet at Ulta.

00:43My parents took me at midnight

00:45because the meet and greet started at noon,

00:47and she was only going to meet a certain amount of people,

00:49so we were like, okay, gotta be first in line.

00:52I think I was like third in line.

00:53Okay.

00:54So we were really committed.

00:56And you got to meet her?

00:57Yes, yeah, she was so sweet.

00:59Have you met her again since this?

01:02Like, has she come to the show?

01:03No, no, not yet,

01:05but I'm waiting for my moment to be like,

01:07hey girl, guess what?

01:09You're not going to believe it.

01:10We are best friends.

01:11We go way back.

01:12We met at the Ulta, remember?

01:14Did you rewatch the show at all

01:16to sort of study up for the role you're playing?

01:18I totally rewatched the show.

01:19When I got the part of Patti Newby,

01:21I was concerned because she's a new character to the franchise,

01:25and as a huge fan myself, I was like, okay, I have to do this justice.

01:29So I went back, watched all four seasons,

01:31and I just wanted to make sure that Patti fit in the tone of the show

01:35and fit in with the rest of the characters.

01:37Even though she is a unique character and has her own story arc,

01:41I just wanted to make sure that she fit in the ecosystem.

01:44So I did go back and watch season one through four,

01:46and then specifically season four because our show is the prequel

01:50to the series starting with Henry Creel.

01:52So that was something that was vital to creating Patti

01:56and just my entire journey with Stranger Things The First Shadow.

01:59What was the audition process like?

02:02It was so grueling.

02:04Like, I laugh about it every time I think about it

02:07because I auditioned for Stranger Things The First Shadow

02:10just kind of for fun.

02:11I never thought that I would ever have the courage to be on Broadway,

02:13so I got the email saying, Stranger Things on Broadway.

02:16I was like, never gonna get this, fine.

02:18But I auditioned because I thought

02:20maybe the Duffer Brothers would see it,

02:22Netflix would see it, consider me for something else,

02:24but definitely not this project.

02:26So did the audition.

02:28Two weeks later, got called back in Los Angeles

02:31for like these in-person mix and match sessions.

02:35I did my read.

02:37They kept me for about an hour,

02:40and then they asked me to come back the next day

02:41and the next day and the next day.

02:43It was almost like I had a call time of 10 a.m.

02:46And then it was just silent for like a month.

02:48And I was like, okay, well, I had fun.

02:51I did my best.

02:51And then a month later, they called me back to New York,

02:54and I had a seven-hour callback of just singing,

02:58doing different scenes.

03:00I would go in the room and I wouldn't know

03:01what scene we would be doing.

03:02It was almost like kind of like a Russian roulette

03:04of the scenes of like, okay, now we're gonna do three,

03:07we're gonna do two, we're gonna do four.

03:08So that was the most grueling process

03:10that I had ever been through.

03:12By the end of the day, I had lost my voice.

03:14My body was in so much pain, but I figured

03:16if I didn't get the job, I did my best.

03:19And I made myself proud and just kind of did what I could.

03:23And here we are.

03:24Where were you?

03:25When was it that you found out that you got the call,

03:27that you had gotten the part?

03:28So I was back in LA and I was taking my dog to the groomer.

03:32And I remember because I had on my dog groomer clothes,

03:35just things that he could scratch up.

03:37And so I brought him home and I got a text from my agent

03:41saying, hey, we have a brand deal for you.

03:44Can you jump on this Zoom call real fast?

03:46And I was like, okay, this is really like, what?

03:49So I jumped on the Zoom call.

03:51And the first thing I said was, Gabby, bad news.

03:54We don't have a brand deal for you,

03:56but you are gonna be on Broadway.

03:58And I was like, what are you, what?

03:59Like, I was so confused and so out of it.

04:01Like, it was just so random.

04:03And they were like, you're gonna play Patti Newby

04:05in Stranger Things The First Shadow.

04:06You're gonna be the leading lady.

04:07And then I just like started crying.

04:10Because I think the first thing I said out of my mouth

04:13was, are you sure?

04:15Because it was like I had reached the mountaintop

04:18and it just felt so unachievable and so far away.

04:21And all of a sudden it was right here in front of my face.

04:23And I was like, certainly they couldn't have picked me.

04:25Are you sure? Are you sure?

04:27And they're like, yeah, we're sure you're gonna be

04:28going to New York.

04:29So that was it.

04:30And this was the first part that I had ever cried

04:34when I heard that I got the role.

04:36I just, you know, it was an overwhelming experience.

04:40And had you done much live theater before this?

04:43No.

04:43No, this was my first theater audition ever.

04:46Okay.

04:47Because like growing up, I was such a shy kid

04:49and I went to a performing arts school.

04:51And I remember I had a musical theater period.

04:55And this teacher would do this thing

04:57where he would bring up two students.

04:59And one student he felt would be audition ready.

05:02And they would have that girl sing, you know,

05:05or do the monologue or whatever.

05:07And then he would bring up another student

05:09who wasn't audition ready.

05:11And I was usually that student that was up there like shaking

05:15and like looking down at my paper.

05:17My voice was cracking.

05:18So like, I never thought that I would ever have the courage

05:22to do theater.

05:23So I just, it was off the table, never auditioned for it.

05:25Never wanted to even look at it in its direction.

05:29It was just so off limits in my brain.

05:31And so it was a true blessing that my first theater audition

05:34was the Broadway show that I ended up booking.

05:37Does the teacher now know that you're on Broadway?

05:39I'm sure they do.

05:40I'm sure they do.

05:41I mean, it's a funny story.

05:42I had to sing for my audition for Patty Newby,

05:45but I didn't have like a musical theater book

05:47or anything like that.

05:48So I remembered the song that my old musical theater teacher

05:53used to have me sing in front of the class

05:55as kind of like an embarrassment ritual of sorts.

05:59It was I've Got Rhythm by Judy Garland.

06:01And I figured, okay, well,

06:03Stranger Things the First Shadow takes place in the 50s.

06:05This is kind of around that time period.

06:07So I'll use this song.

06:09Like, I don't really know what else to sing.

06:10So I'll just sing the song.

06:11And wouldn't it be cool if I turned my lemons into lemonade

06:15with this song and I did, you know,

06:17I booked my show with the song that was used

06:20to embarrass me in middle school.

06:22Has there ever been a moment during the show

06:24where like something has gone wrong

06:26or like that you've had to sort of work around?

06:29Oh my God, all the time.

06:30What's the, I guess, like craziest thing that's happened?

06:34The craziest thing?

06:35There's a sequence that takes place in the light and the dark.

06:39And I have to move very quickly.

06:40I gave myself a concussion on stage.

06:44It was the day before my 20th birthday too.

06:46So I was like, I was moving real fast

06:48and all of a sudden my head went boom.

06:50I was like, that hurt, okay.

06:53So I continued to do the show.

06:55And I just figured like, oh, I hit my head.

06:57And you know, I was icing it or whatever.

06:59It wasn't swollen or red.

07:01So I was like, I'm fine.

07:02Starting to feel a little dizzy, a little nauseous.

07:04But I was like, okay, you just hit your head.

07:05Yeah, that's normal.

07:06Finished the entire show with a concussion.

07:09And the next morning, that was on a Saturday.

07:12So it was a two show day.

07:14The next day, a doctor came to the house.

07:16And she was like, girl, you have a little more than a headache.

07:20You're gonna have to sit this one out.

07:21And I was so upset.

07:22Cause I'm very much the person of like,

07:24I can push through anything.

07:26But she was like, no, you have to sit out.

07:28So I sat out for a few days.

07:30They wanted me to sit out for two weeks.

07:32But I was like, no, you got four days and I was fine.

07:35So did you hit your head like on this set or how did?

07:39The Demogorgon got me.

07:40Okay.

07:40The Demogorgon got me.

07:41You know, I thought I could take him, but you know,

07:44his bite is definitely much worse than his bark.

07:48A lot of celebrities come to see Broadway shows.

07:50Have you met anybody cool backstage?

07:52Yes.

07:53Tom Hanks came to see our show.

07:55It was the week of opening and we were like,

07:56Tom, girl, what are you doing here?

07:58It was absolutely insane because Forrest Gump

08:01is one of my favorite movies.

08:02But when he was talking, I was like, this is Woody.

08:06This is Woody from Toy Story.

08:07Like my inner four year old was just so excited.

08:10But he was the sweetest man.

08:13Took time with all 34 of us, took pictures,

08:15talked to us each about our individual performances,

08:18what he loved, talked about his time on Broadway.

08:21It was the most magical experience to be like,

08:24okay, Tom Hanks just saw us perform.

08:27What in the world, what is life right now?

08:29Oh, that's crazy.

08:30Yeah, isn't it crazy?

08:31Yeah, Martha Stewart came to opening night.

08:34Yeah, that was crazy.

08:35Cause there's a moment where one of our actors runs out

08:38into the audience and I'm kind of like in the center of stage

08:42and I usually kind of try and take that time to just like,

08:44take a peek at the audience.

08:46I was like, is that Martha Stewart?

08:47Of course it's not.

08:48That's not right.

08:49And it was, you know, so it's just,

08:51we've had so many cool people come see the show.

08:53The Stranger Things cast came to see the show.

08:56Yeah, it's just so many cool experiences.

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