{"id":608682,"date":"2026-04-27T05:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/608682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T05:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T05:04:08","slug":"the-lost-boys-broadway-review-vampire-musical-scores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/608682\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Lost Boys’ Broadway Review: Vampire Musical Scores"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cTurning a movie into a musical reeks of desperation,\u201d says a character in the new Broadway<\/a> musical adaptation of the 1987 film \u201cThe Lost Boys<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat insider wink to the audience gets a big laugh \u2014 and truer words were never spoken. But this stunner of a show, based on the Joel Schumacher film, is a solid theatrical transformation, rich in imagination, humor and heart \u2014 and with spectacular special effects.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt should also break the curse of flop Broadway musicals about vampires<\/a>, following the bloodletting of 2002\u2019s \u201cDance of the Vampires\u201d (music by Jim Steinman), 2004\u2019s \u201cDracula: The Musical\u201d (music by Frank Wildhorn), and 2006\u2019s \u201cLestat\u201d (music by Elton John). Or at least it has an \u201cOutsiders\u201d chance<\/a>, what with that 2024 hit musical showing a box office pathway by tapping into the evergreen potential of adolescent angst and pluck. After all, stranger things have happened and the teen strategy certainly worked for the \u201cBuffy, the Vampire Slayer,\u201d \u201cThe Vampire Diaries,\u201d and \u201cTwilight\u201d franchises.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Michael Arden<\/a> (Tony awards for \u201cParade\u201d and \u201cMaybe Happy Ending\u201d) returns in top form here (let\u2019s call \u201cQueen of Versailles\u201d an outlier<\/a>) in an epic-yet-elegant production that lives up to the MTV-stylish film that became a Gen X favorite.<\/p>\n

\n\tBecause of the size and scale of the musical production (reportedly in the $25 million-plus range<\/a>), the show nixed an out-of-town run. While \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d could have benefitted from more work \u2014 particularly in the troublesome second act \u2014 the production should still satisfy longtime fans and be an attractive sell for a younger market.<\/p>\n

\n\tCo-writers David Hornsby (TV\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia\u201d) and Chris Hoch improve the screenplay, tightening the original storyline, cutting some characters, upping the funny and giving the show more warmth.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story again centers on just-divorced mom Lucy Emerson (Shoshana Bean, terrific) and her two teenage sons \u2014 sullen Michael, 17 and nerdy Sam, 14. They\u2019re seeking a fresh start by relocating to a California coastal town where dozens of its residents are mysteriously disappearing. (What is even more strange is that the outbreak of missing persons hasn\u2019t caused a town panic, or made national headlines.)<\/p>\n

\n\tFeeling restless and reckless, Michael (LJ Benet) is drawn to a hard-rocking local band that is secretly a quartet of young vampires that is literally sucking the life out of the community. The leader of the pack is charismatic David (Ali Louis Bourzgui), played by Keifer Sutherland in the film. Wanting to be break free from his family and with the added seduction of Star (Maria Wirries), Michael is peer-pressured into drinking from a bottle whose contents turns him into a half-vampire. His graduation as a full member of this blood brotherhood awaits after his first kill.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn discovering his brother\u2019s nocturnal transitioning \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t tell mom!\u201d begs Michael \u2014 Sam (Benjamin Pajak), played by Corey Haim in the film, teams up with the Frog Brothers (Jennifer Duka and Miguel Gil), a pair of fellow comic book fanatics and self-styled vampire hunters, to try to save Michael before his first everlasting bite.<\/p>\n

\n\tFamilies \u2014 lost and found \u2014 are at the heart of the show as is the young\u2019s desperate need to belong \u2014whether it\u2019s in a gang, band, club or coven (or in Lucy\u2019s day, a communal hippie life). Add teen rebellion, father issues, parental abuse, rites of passage and the allure of immortality and you have some potent subjects to deal with, even if they don\u2019t always fit comfortably with the show\u2019s shifting tones.<\/p>\n

\n\tBenet (Disney Channel\u2019s \u201cDog with a Blog\u201d) taps into Michael\u2019s adolescent vulnerability and handles his big numbers assuredly. Bourzgui, smashing in the title role in \u201cThe Who\u2019s Tommy,\u201d brings mystery, a cool swagger and menace to the role, as well as a dash of homoeroticism. (The scene where he intimately teaches Michael to play the guitar is swoon-worthy.) Paul Alexander Nolan has charm, smarm and danger as Max, the video store owner, who has duplicitous sights on the Emerson family.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Sam, Benjamin Pajak, who played Winthrop in \u201cThe Music Man\u201d and the title role in Encore!\u2019s \u201cOliver!\u201d, nicely segues his talent to teen-hood as a \u201cnervous dweeb\u201d who has an eye for fashionable footwear and a boy crush on Rob Lowe. Sam\u2019s coming-of-age arc, where he discovers queerness is his superpower, is one of the fresher elements in the adaptation.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the broad comedy of that role \u2014 and especially that of the Frog Brothers \u2014 sometimes imbalances the show\u2019s tone as the musical struggles with the conflicting demands of humor, horror and sentiment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe L.A. indie-rock group The Rescues<\/a> gives the show its drive and does well musicalizing its more intimate, playful and personal moments. It also manages to evoke the \u201880s sound while still feeling contemporary \u2014 and the choral harmonies are lovely, too. The show\u2019s \u201880s atmosphere is brat packed with Ryan Park\u2019s new wave costumes and David Brian Brown\u2019s hair and wig designs \u2014 dig those mullets, Mohawks and \u2018highlighted pompadours. There\u2019s even hat tip to the film with a cameo by \u201cthe sweaty sax guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe spectacular lighting (Jen Schriever and Arden) and sound design (Adam Fisher) create a world of foreboding and creepiness. Dane Lafrey\u2019s magnificent, multi-level design makes maximum use of the Palace\u2019s cavernous stage to create a lair to die for.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also a grand space for mesmerizing aerial work, staged by Gwyneth Larsen and Billy Mulholland. Those exquisite night flights bring to mind another bunch of Neverlanders longing for home. In \u201cThe Lost Boys\u201d at least one of them makes it back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTurning a movie into a musical reeks of desperation,\u201d says a character in the new Broadway musical adaptation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[21540,88,264423,195697,264424],"class_list":{"0":"post-608682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-broadway","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-michael-arden","11":"tag-the-lost-boys","12":"tag-the-rescues"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}