‘The Lost Boys’ Broadway Review: Vampire Musical Scores

“Turning a movie into a musical reeks of desperation,” says a personality in the new Broadway musical adaptation of the 1987 movie “The Lost Boys.”

That insider wink to the viewers will get a big chuckle — and more true phrases had been never spoken. But this stunner of a present, based on the Joel Schumacher movie, is a strong theatrical transformation, wealthy in creativeness, humor and coronary heart — and with spectacular particular effects.

It ought to also break the curse of flop Broadway musicals about vampires, following the bloodletting of 2002’s “Dance of the Vampires” (music by Jim Steinman), 2004’s “Dracula: The Musical” (music by Frank Wildhorn), and 2006’s “Lestat” (music by Elton John). Or not less than it has an “Outsiders” probability, what with that 2024 hit musical exhibiting a box workplace pathway by tapping into the evergreen potential of adolescent angst and pluck. After all, stranger issues have occurred and the teen strategy actually labored for the “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Twilight” franchises.

Director Michael Arden (Tony awards for “Parade” and “Maybe Happy Ending”) returns in top type right here (let’s name “Queen of Versailles” an outlier) in an epic-yet-elegant manufacturing that lives as much as the MTV-stylish movie that turned a Gen X favourite.

Because of the dimension and scale of the musical manufacturing (reportedly in the $25 million-plus vary), the present nixed an out-of-town run. While “The Lost Boys” might have benefitted from more work — significantly in the troublesome second act — the manufacturing ought to still fulfill longtime followers and be a pretty promote for a youthful market.

Co-writers David Hornsby (TV’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and Chris Hoch enhance the screenplay, tightening the unique storyline, slicing some characters, upping the humorous and giving the present more heat.

The story again facilities on just-divorced mother Lucy Emerson (Shoshana Bean, terrific) and her two teenage sons — sullen Michael, 17 and nerdy Sam, 14. They’re in search of a contemporary start by relocating to a California coastal city the place dozens of its residents are mysteriously disappearing. (What is even more unusual is that the outbreak of lacking individuals hasn’t brought about a city panic, or made national headlines.)

Feeling stressed and reckless, Michael (LJ Benet) is drawn to a hard-rocking local band that is secretly a quartet of younger vampires that is actually sucking the life out of the community. The chief of the pack is charismatic David (Ali Louis Bourzgui), performed by Keifer Sutherland in the movie. Wanting to be break away from his household and with the added seduction of Star (Maria Wirries), Michael is peer-pressured into ingesting from a bottle whose contents turns him right into a half-vampire. His commencement as a full member of this blood brotherhood awaits after his first kill.

On discovering his brother’s nocturnal transitioning — “Don’t tell mom!” begs Michael — Sam (Benjamin Pajak), performed by Corey Haim in the movie, groups up with the Frog Brothers (Jennifer Duka and Miguel Gil), a pair of fellow comedian e book fanatics and self-styled vampire hunters, to attempt to save Michael before his first eternal chew.

Families — misplaced and located — are at the coronary heart of the present as is the younger’s determined must belong —whether or not it’s in a gang, band, club or coven (or in Lucy’s day, a communal hippie life). Add teen rise up, father points, parental abuse, rites of passage and the attract of immortality and you’ve got some potent topics to cope with, even in the event that they don’t always match comfortably with the present’s shifting tones.

Benet (Disney Channel’s “Dog with a Blog”) faucets into Michael’s adolescent vulnerability and handles his big numbers assuredly. Bourzgui, smashing in the title function in “The Who’s Tommy,” brings thriller, a cool swagger and menace to the function, in addition to a touch of homoeroticism. (The scene the place he intimately teaches Michael to play the guitar is swoon-worthy.) Paul Alexander Nolan has attraction, smarm and hazard as Max, the video retailer proprietor, who has duplicitous sights on the Emerson household.

As Sam, Benjamin Pajak, who performed Winthrop in “The Music Man” and the title function in Encore!’s “Oliver!”, properly segues his expertise to teen-hood as a “nervous dweeb” who has an eye fixed for trendy footwear and a boy crush on Rob Lowe. Sam’s coming-of-age arc, the place he discovers queerness is his superpower, is one in all the brisker components in the adaptation.

But the broad comedy of that function — and particularly that of the Frog Brothers — sometimes imbalances the present’s tone as the musical struggles with the conflicting calls for of humor, horror and sentiment.

The L.A. indie-rock group The Rescues provides the present its drive and does nicely musicalizing its more intimate, playful and private moments. It also manages to evoke the ‘80s sound while still feeling contemporary — and the choral harmonies are lovely, too. The show’s ‘80s atmosphere is brat packed with Ryan Park’s new wave costumes and David Brian Brown’s hair and wig designs — dig those mullets, Mohawks and ‘highlighted pompadours. There’s even hat tip to the movie with a cameo by “the sweaty sax guy.”

The spectacular lighting (Jen Schriever and Arden) and sound design (Adam Fisher) create a world of foreboding and creepiness. Dane Lafrey’s magnificent, multi-level design makes most use of the Palace’s cavernous stage to create a lair to die for.

It’s also a grand house for mesmerizing aerial work, staged by Gwyneth Larsen and Billy Mulholland. Those beautiful night time flights call to mind another bunch of Neverlanders eager for house. In “The Lost Boys” not less than one in all them makes it again.