80s vampire horror classic The Lost Boys takes a bite out of the Broadway stage in Michael Arden’s lavish, gorgeously-constructed new take on the material. All the familiar story beats are here, punctuated by powerful vocals and a character-first approach that adds surprising depth. With a book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch featuring music and lyrics by The Rescues, the creative team somehow finds a way to make the timeless narrative fold perfectly into the bones of a campy, emotionally moving musical. Nominated for twelve Tony awards—including performance nominations for Shoshana Bean and Ali Louis Bourzgui—genre-centric The Lost Boys: A New Musical is a visually-stunning, deliciously evil delight.
Despite the eerie red lighting all across the theatre, there’s only blackness onstage before the show properly begins. Boldly starting with a jump scare immediately puts the audience on edge. In a harrowing sequence, a police officer gets murdered in a central location, a seemingly abandoned ironworks factory. Our first taste of the marvelous set layout peaks out, as well as some technical artistry. Blonde vampire David (Ali Louis Bourzgui) swoops in for the kill, flying overhead in a stunning display of horror. The massive ironworks is sprawling and expansive, soon to be explored later on. But this entire segment has been masterfully structured, the perfect exclamation mark of an opening before the title treatment zooms across the stage: THE LOST BOYS. The creatives prove right off the bat that they not only understand the material, but are not shying away from the scarier elements, nor the seductive nature of these gothic creatures.
The Emerson family begins the show in Phoenix, Arizona, 1987, packing up a U-Haul to start fresh. The Emersons consist of: fourteen-year-old queer comic book nerd Sam (Benjamin Pajak), lonely but headstrong mother Lucy (Shoshana Bean), and older brother and de facto lead, Michael (LJ Benet), who longs to find new meaning in Santa Carla, California. Each of the trio have a complicated relationship with their abusive, alcoholic father. Impressive backdrops and detailed props make the transition through song, seamlessly thrusting straight into the overstuffed interior of their new home. In the first major change from the movie, the grandfather leaves his home to Lucy, being nothing more than ashes in an urn. This change actually benefits the Broadway turn tremendously, allowing for additional focus on the strong female characters, and a backbone concerning the trauma imprint the Emerson patriarch left behind. It also neatly leaves room for a male father figure, but more on that one later.
The setup thankfully never feels rushed through, especially with a narrative so rich in subtext. As if the massive set already wasn’t impressive enough, it remains dynamic and imposing throughout. Its next metamorphosis? The boardwalk of Santa Carla, complete with ear piercing stations, missing posters, even greasy shirtless saxophone players. There’s an authenticity that trickles down from the period costuming to the smallest detail on the sets that make them feel like genuine spaces. At this boardwalk, Michael first locks eyes with mysterious vixen, Star (Maria Wirries), who teases a world just beyond Michael’s reach. Lucy crosses paths with videostore owner Max (Paul Alexander Nolan), who offers her a job, and Sam meets fellow comic nerds and Rambo-obsessed oddballs, Edgar (Miguel Gil) and Alan (Jennifer Duka) Frog.
Though they have been mostly lurking in the shadows up to this point, the set becomes a raging rock concert for the vampires themselves, David and his gang of three (Brian Flores, Sean Grandillo, Dean Maupin). Bourzgui clicks perfectly into the role popularized by Kiefer Sutherland, bringing a sexiness that lures Michael into his orbit. The show sets up the vampires in a somewhat more meaningful way: David essentially offers Michael a chosen family, one that will never hurt or judge him again. In the pack, Michael finds the belonging he has always searched for (see: “Belong to Someone). By the time Michael gets his slutty little earring, he has all but embraced the pack. Many people will obsess over the vampires, lovingly realized down to their flamboyant outfits and rockstar vibe. Bourzgui remains the standout, the obvious leader of the group.
As their mother begins to date again, Sam starts coming into his own with the help of the Frog Brothers, and Michael embraces the irresistible allure of the vampires. Can Sam help defeat the vampires, and deflect their hold over his brother? The one aspect of the updates that didn’t quite work for me was the heavier focus on Lucy, belting out too many songs that fail to further the plot. Obviously, giving Lucy more depth is great, but one cannot help feeling the sheer volume of her numbers are simply because Shoshana Bean was in the role. Did we need more than one worried mom song? On the flip side, there’s simply no getting enough of LJ Benet’s silky-smooth vocals as Michael, or his sizzling chemistry with stage partner Maria Wirries. In theLost Boys film, their relationship feels a bit more one-sided, with the addition of a child involved being most of Star’s motivation. Instead, Star on Broadway gets an emotional backstory, with powerful duets with Michael that feel utterly euphoric. Both stage actors put in incredible work, and impress with the vocal control.
On a purely technical level, this show has it all. Smoke! Pyrotechnics! Electrocutions! Blood! Flying vampires! Rob Lowe posters! Freddy Kreuger VHS displays! Pure wizardry unfolds, as the special effects are top tier to the point that one wonders how they were able to pull some of it off. Even the flying impresses—we’ve come a long way since Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark revolutionized production on this scale. Having five people at once soaring across the stage is marvelous to behold, driven by the impressive choreography from Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant. Every inch of the set gets used, including the scaffolding and multiple tiers. The pit that traditionally holds the orchestra becomes the space for an energetic vampire concert. Whether there’s someone lurking in the background or looking to pop out from the ground or drop down into it, the constant movement makes the intimate moments between characters feel personal and immersive.
Despite some occasional changes, this remains very faithful overall to its source material. Fans of the film will be over the moon. Impressively, “Cry Little Sister”, the iconic central tune from the movie, gets incorporated into multiple musical numbers. A devoted tribute to the past even manages to recreate some of the most iconic sequences like the motorcycle chase and the bridge hanging to dazzlingly perfect effect. The horror element has thankfully not been sanded down, particularly in the action-heavy second act. Parts of it feel sillier too, though purposefully so, such as Sam’s very gay solo number, “Superpower”, that had the whole crowd going bonkers. As it approaches a wildly satisfying climax, sharp writing leans into the impact of its larger themes. Where do we belong in the world? What does family truly mean? These answers are complicated, and the show’s interest in exploring them is always entertaining. The IP already has a legacy built in, but this iteration of The Lost Boys should prove to be as eternal as its stylishly memorable bloodsuckers.
The Lost Boys: A New Musical flies onto the Broadway stage, now in performances at the Palace Theatre. For ticketing information, please head over to the official website.
