The Lost Boys: A New Musical: Phenomenal, frightening, and not to be missed

I was 14 when I saw Les Misérables on Broadway, and it blew my mind. The production, with its spinning stage and massive ensemble, expanded my understanding of what live theater could be. And in a Broadway season arguably overstuffed with stage interpretations of beloved movies, like Beaches, Dog Day Afternoon, The Rocky Horror Show, and Titanique, it was The Lost Boys: A New Musical that took me back to that feeling of being a child in awe of the magic of live theater.

Based on the grubby cult horror film from Joel Schumacher, this musical offers the familiar story of a family of three looking to start a new life in the beachside town of Santa Carla, California. There's just one obstacle to a single mom and her teen sons having a happy ending: a roving pack of motorcycle-riding teen vampires. 

The movie is a messy blend of bloody horror, earnest drama, goofball comedy, and camp — including an inexplicably buff, shirtless, and greased-up saxophone player. So, my expectations for the stage show were that it would be self-mocking, like the irreverent fun of the Celine Dion jukebox musical parody Titanique. However, The Lost Boys: A New Musical has more in common with Little Shop of Horrors, which gets name-dropped in a cheeky moment of self-awareness. 

The book by Chris Hoch and David Hornsby (Mythic Quest) fleshes out the narratives for all three family members, and the sexy mullet-sporting vampire named David. From there, the tonal shifts of the movie remain, but original songs from the band The Rescues help smooth the transition from one emotion to the next, so that each can hit with a rousing intensity. 

Make no mistake: The Lost Boys: A New Musical rocks. 

The Lost Boys: A New Musical is an astounding production. 

Cheers to director Michael Arden (Queen of Versailles), who masterfully unfolds the world of Santa Clara one flashlight swipe at a time. 

As the audience files in, the view of the stage is blocked by an opaque black scrim. Then, "1987" is projected upon it in white light. The show begins with a stage so dark that we can see little of the set aside from a small, boxy television sitting downstage, playing footage of President Ronald Reagan bloviating on family values. A police officer enters from a doorway high up from the stage, indicating a second story to the setting. He is viewable only as a silhouette. He calls out into the dark, and his flashlight sweeps across the room, revealing details of a rusted factory's interior with each urgent movement. 

As our eyes adjust to the darkness, we see the cop is not alone. A stalking figure floats down from the rafters. This is David (Ali Louis Bourzgui), who appears with grace of an angel and the bloodlust of a demon. 

He descends on the cop and pulls him up into the sky, feeding on his neck high above the stage. Then the stage lights flash, and we are blinded. Just like that, the scene has changed. The scrim's projection light tells us we're in Phoenix, Arizona. Where there were moments before an abandoned factory and a fresh kill, there's now Michael Emerson (LJ Benet) revving his motorcycle. 

From here, we'll meet his nerdy younger brother, Sam (Benjamin Pajak), and his patient mom, Lucy (Shoshana Bean), as they hurriedly pack up to move away from an abusive father and husband. 

This is a smart change from the original film, which had the father as a non-entity. Here, he's the first monster this trio has faced, which they sing about in the show's first song, "No More Monsters." But this violent drunk also becomes a future possibility that Michael fears repeating. So as he gets pulled into David's blood-sucking gang, his fear is not just of becoming a vampire but of becoming a vicious brute like his dad. 

The book and music also beautifully build out Sam and Lucy. For the former, the musical leans into the queer undertones of the movie, making Sam's journey one of realizing a side of himself he'd been hesitant to recognize with "Superpower." For Lucy, she not only has a budding romance but also reflects on how her past as a hippie brought her back to her hometown in the rousing "Wild."

Shortly after the family arrives at Santa Clara, they each find their own pockets of its boardwalk life. Lucy meets Max (Paul Alexander Nolan) the friendly owner of the local video rental store. Sam tumbles into a comic book shop, where he meets the Frog brothers (Jennifer Duka and Miguel Gil), who warn him of the town's dark side as "Murder Capital of the World." 

Michael plunges into that dark side, led by a bohemian beauty named Star (Maria Wirries), who performs onstage with a leather-strapped rock band led by the seductive David. "Have to Have You," he croons with the thrilling sensuality of '80s hair bands, locking us to a time and mood that Kiefer Sutherland made intoxicating decades before. 

Ali Louis Bourzgui is spellbinding as The Lost Boys' David. 

Sporting black leather, a bleached blonde mullet, sharp fangs, and a sharper smile, Bourzgui oozes sex appeal and menace. There's a whiff of Kiefer in his approach, as he plays David as a vampire who clearly relishes his power. There's an edge of camp to his portrayal, as he endlessly poses, whether strutting on stage or flying high above it. 

This David is knowingly performative, projecting an image of killer cool and absolute freedom. But in private moments with Star — and later, Michael — an edge of his vulnerabilities creeps through the cracks, making him not softer but more volatile. (Echoes of The Vampire Lestat!) 

While Michael is undoubtedly the lead of The Lost Boys, Bourzgui is its star. Benet gives an earnest and angst-filled performance that brings rich depths to the tortured teen. But Bourzgui becomes more than an actor or a singer on that stage. He becomes a rock star, a magician, and a god.

The mesmerizing grace with which he flows from floor to ceiling, swimming through the air on wires as if he can truly fly, is breathtaking. I know there are wires there; sometimes I can even see them. But the effect is so sublime that I believe in David and his powers with utter abandon. 

When Bourzgui is on stage, it's hard to look away from him, his presence is so completely captivating. And his uncanny bravado helps ground the show's sillier scenes, pulled directly from the movie. 

You might assume the motorcycle race won't make it to the stage. And the scene where they drop from the train tracks? How do you do that in a theatrical production? The Lost Boys will show you how. 

The Lost Boys: A New Musical is better than Schumacher's movie. 

A masterful employment of lights helps turn the stage into a bumpy, dark road, perfect for reckless racing. Fog machines and wires allow for a recreation of the train tracks scene that isn't remotely hokey, as it was in the movie. Instead, when Michael, who has fed on David's blood, dares to let go, his fall is transcendent, creating a live stunt that feels impossible even as you watch it. 

Arden's production marries light, sound, sets, and blocking to a miraculous effect, using not just the stage but the whole of that big box to tell this story to its fullest. The Lost Boys operates not only on the X and Z axis of the stage, but on Y as well, through the wire work and a three-story set design that constantly shifts with details and company. 

The supporting cast comes out as cheery surfers and roller skaters, seemingly plucked from Barbie. Then they resurface as studded punks, with sneers and safety pins. Next they're old-school vampires, comically draped in long capes, then superheroes in brightly colored unitards. Seamlessly, they switch roles in costume and physicality, building out the world of Santa Clara with every appearance. 

Arden thoughtfully places his cast in every scene, like a master illusionist. With the towering canvas at the Palace Theatre, he strategically uses blocking to draw our eye to one corner, where David is lit to glisten, his bared abs looking chiseled by marble in the pale blue light. Meanwhile, Michael is upstage, preparing for flight. When he takes off, your eyes snap to him, and the next stunt or jump scare is already in the works in another spot. 

Where Sam's arc builds out some Goonies-style fun with brave kids getting in over their heads, Michael and David's story becomes an increasingly terrifying adventure. Arden manages surprises and scares by how he throws David's voice around the theater. He uses darkness to allow for horrid surprise entrances, and pyrotechnics to make some of the flashiest slays really pop. The audience (myself included) shouted and cheered at such displays, as if we were at a rock show. And indeed, we are! 

Much as Alan Menken and Howard Ashman did with Roger Corman's Little Shop of Horrors, Hornsby, Hoch, The Rescues, and Arden have taken an odd horror movie and expanded it into a wildly entertaining, rich stage musical. The production design alone is worth the cost of admission. But Arden's cast brings breathtaking spirit to the show. 

Wirries belts out love ballads and the rousing "War" with an unfettered passion. Bean is a Broadway diva in full as she lets loose with "Wild." The supporting cast of Frogs and vamps (Brian Flores, Sean Grandillo, and Dean Maupin) radiates attitude for comic relief and stinging suspense, respectively. Nolan neatly handles the creepy nuance of Max, while Benet and Pajak burst forth as bickering brothers.

But above all, you won't want to miss Bourzgui as David. In originating the musical role on Broadway, he had big leather boots to fill, thanks to Kiefer Sutherland. Yet, he makes David his own with every smirk, threat, and song. His performance, paired with the ambitious and excellent production design, has me not only in awe, but also desperate to go again. 

The Lost Boys: A New Musical is now on Broadway.