The stage adaptation of Joel Schumacher's 1987 teen-vampire film The Lost Boys has arrived on Broadway at the Palace Theatre, but despite its technical prowess, the musical struggles to find its footing. While brand-dependent mega-musicals continue to dominate Broadway, recent adaptations have aimed for a bit more respectability. Schumacher's film, though a fun cult favorite, never reached the iconic status of Back to the Future or Rocky. On a technical level, the stage version offers well-crafted spectacle without feeling like a theme-park attraction, allowing it to stumble on its own terms.
Plot and Characters
The story follows the Emerson family: older brother Michael (LJ Benet), younger Sam (Benjamin Pajak), and guilt-ridden mother Lucy (Shoshana Bean), who flee domestic strife in Arizona to start over in Santa Carla, California. The kids quickly discover that the 80s-punk facade of the boardwalk hides a vampire hotspot. Michael is lured in by his attraction to Star (Maria Wirries), unaware that vampire leader David (Ali Louis Bourzgui) has tasked her with turning him. Sam, meanwhile, teams up with the enthusiastic Frog brothers (Miguel Gil and Jennifer Duka), two young vampire hunters. Hardcore fans will be pleased to see the saxophone player, now a boardwalk eccentric rather than a punk side man.
Visual Spectacle
The film is best known for its SoCal gothic vibes, and director Michael Arden recaptures that with gusto. Using neon-sign lighting, occasional pyro, and spectacular mid-air stunts, the production creates an immersive experience within its towering multi-set proscenium. This physicality enhances scenes like Michael's vampire initiation ritual, where real bodies take the plunge from a railway bridge. However, the production sometimes overdoes it, such as lowering a giant Arizona postcard for a brief driving scene. Overall, it resembles a terrific venue hosting a so-so rock band.
Performances
The cast plays their roles sincerely, avoiding campy excess despite the period setting. Attempts to modernize the text while keeping it in 1987 include expressions of gender and sexuality: Sam is implied to be gay, and one Frog brother is played charmingly by Duka, a young woman who insists on being referred to as male. Bourzgui channels Kiefer Sutherland as the charismatic baddie without sounding like a tribute band.
Musical Shortcomings
The songs, by rock act The Rescues, fail to match the vampires' west-coast punk aesthetics or any notable 1987 music. A few numbers have edge, but overall they lack bite, softened by hoary rhymes. The Rescues aim for emo power ballads rather than goth-rock grandeur, with generic Broadway yearning instead of wild desire. It's a relief the show avoids jukebox hits, but it also avoids evoking the movie, the period, or fun. The famous sax player never solos during a song, a telling detail.
Conclusion
The limp songs signal that The Lost Boys reaches for a more emotional conclusion than the material supports. Streamlining the movie—including omitting one character—helps focus the show, but redirecting resources toward Lucy's repetitive concerns diffuses the youth-culture vitality and darkness, as if afraid of alienating older audiences. The high production value may leave hipper viewers yearning for style over substance, but the show ultimately chooses sap over style.
