\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tShoshana Bean, Benjamin Pajak, LJ Benet, \u2018The Lost Boys\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatthew Murphy<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe Lost Boys<\/em> even has one up in the gumption category over First Shadow <\/em>and Cursed Child:<\/em> Music. The prospect of a chorus full of undead breaking out in song certainly runs the risk of cringy absurdity, but The Lost Boys<\/em> sails over those traps: The driving score by L.A. indie band The Rescues (Kyler England, AG, Gabriel Mann) puts one in mind of the rock-based sounds of Dead Outlaw<\/em>, sometimes even Stereophonic<\/em>. Not bad company at all. (There\u2019s a rambunctious dash of the wildly popular The Outsiders<\/em> here, too, for those keeping count).<\/p>\n \n\tIt helps, of course, to have a cast as loaded with fine singers as this production has. Shoshana Bean, Tommy<\/em>\u2018s Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Music Man<\/em>\u2018s Benjamin Pajak and Broadway newcomer LJ Benet deliver the vocal goods even when the two and a half-hour run time shows some padding. (But what to cut? A love story plot that does, in fact, provide some essential character motivation? The backstory flashbacks about an abusive father that suggest not all monsters have fangs? I\u2019d opt to keep both.)<\/p>\n \n\tBenet, the production\u2019s big find, plays Michael Emerson, a teenage rebel who moves with his now-single mom Lucy (Bean) and persnickety kid brother Sam (Pajak) from a bad domestic situation in Arizona to a newly inherited cottage in the California beach town of San Carla. The year is 1987, and the moody (to say the least) Michael soon finds his tribe \u2013 the punk-slash-heavy metal teens who hang out down by the pier arcade. They play in a rock band too, providing one of this production\u2019s neatest tricks: At points, the floor of a section of the stage closest to the audience drops down to suggest a mosh pit, while the Lost Boys\u2019 band rises up, a sort of show-within-the-show. It works.<\/p>\n \n\tAs loner Michael is drawn into this underworld of brotherly camaraderie and sexual attraction (he\u2019s smitten with the semi-Lost girl Star, appealingly played by Maria Wirries, but director Arden doesn\u2019t shy away from undertones of Anne Rice-style pansexuality among the vamps), he gets bitten, literally, by this intriguing new world. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tBenet, Bourzgui<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatthew Murphy<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tYounger bro Sam, meanwhile, finds his own niche: Browsing the local comic book shop, he meets two fellow nerds who call themselves the Frog Brothers (Miguel Gil, Jennifer Duka) even though one\u2019s a sister which seems to confuse everyone but them. When these self-styled vampire-hunters (they dress sorta like Ninja Turtles) explain the lay of the land to their new pal Sam, the trio soon realizes that Michael is becoming one of the undead, and so set out to find and stake the head vampire so as to save Michael from fully transitioning (ignore that buzzword \u2013 there\u2019s no suggestion of any double meaning).<\/p>\n \n\tMom Lucy, meanwhile, has landed a new job at the arcade\u2019s video store and is dating her ever-helpful boss Max (Paul Alexander Nolan). <\/p>\n \n\tSo that\u2019s the set-up, and it allows the musical to swing between spotlighted solos to big group numbers \u2013 the show\u2019s most arresting choreography is of the aerial sort, and one number in particular is a stunner, with all of the Lost Boys, Michael now included, soaring and spinning and flipping high above the stage in a ballet that\u2019s as lovely as it is thrilling. The massive performance space of Broadway\u2019s beautifully renovated Palace Theatre is shown to much better effect than with recent inhabitants Glengarry Glen Ross<\/em> (too intimate), Tammy Faye<\/em> (too bad) and Beetlejuice<\/em> (too land bound).<\/p>\n \n\tWith a cast of strong singers, Lost Boys<\/em> gives each of the principals several chances to shine, and while that can make for some repetition, it also showcases the collected talent. Benet kicks things off with the intense \u201cLose Yourself\u201d \u2013 the show\u2019s I Want song \u2013 and Bean gets one of the Rescue\u2019s tuneful power ballads in \u201cWild,\u201d a middle-aged longing for the exciting days of youth. Pajak, whose overtly comic style early on can seem a tad out of step with the other performances, finds his pay-off in \u201cSuperpower,\u201d a second-act showstopper, complete with in which his Sam comes to terms with what\u2019s only been hinted at before (mostly via a vintage-Rob Lowe beefcake poster in his bedroom). \u201cBut maybe I can be a hero here,\u201d he sings, \u201cand make it cool to be queer. Maybe that\u2019s my superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnd then there\u2019s Bourzgui, whose vampire gang leader David is fashioned as something between the film\u2019s Kiefer Sutherland and classic Billy Idol (Ryan Park\u2019s costume design, along with the hair and wig stylings of David Brian Brown, are on point throughout). As the title character in The Who\u2019s Tommy<\/em> several seasons back, Bourzgui seemed, oddly enough, both underused and overwhelmed, but with The Lost Boys <\/em>he becomes a star, his deep, mellifluous voice gliding from purr to growl to rock-and-roll shriek and sounding quite unlike anyone else currently on a Broadway stage. He slinks as cat-like as anyone over at the Jellicle Ball, and pounces with lusty gusto. It\u2019s no overstatement to say The Lost Boys <\/em>just wouldn\u2019t work without him.<\/p>\n \n\tAlso no overstatement to note that the show\u2019s producers \u2013 including actor Patrick Wilson and Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures \u2013 have spent lavishly on this reportedly $25 million show. Dane Laffrey, a frequent collaborator of director Arden, has designed a spectacular set of many moving parts, including a bedroom that descends from above when needed, a rock stage that comes from the other direction and enough catwalk-style perches to give the whole shebang an advent calendar feel with the assorted bat people stationed in every dark nook and cranny. Arden and Jen Schriever add a lighting design that pairs perfectly with Adam Fisher\u2019s sound design to nail the jump scares.<\/p>\n \n\tMarkus Maurette, Broadway\u2019s current go-to guy for special effects (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Stranger Things: The First Shadow<\/em>) comes through again with explosions, flashes of fire and a goodly amount of blood-letting.<\/p>\n \n\tThe show\u2019s book by David Hornsby (It\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia<\/em>) and Chris Hoch has an easy, contemporary feel that doesn\u2019t go overboard on the \u201980s nostalgia (although that\u2019s here too for anyone who gets the passing reference to \u201cSunglasses at Night\u201d and remembers that buff, oiled-up, ponytailed sax player from the Tina Turner videos and Lost Boys<\/em> movie). The writers did some tightening by eliminating one significant character \u2013 the not-so-clueless grandfather played in the film by Barnard Hughes \u2013 whose absence requires the movie\u2019s fondly remembered final words to go to another character, a switch that undercuts the joke more than a bit. Perhaps that\u2019s why Arden and the book writers have added a brief post-curtain kicker that\u2019s worth hanging around for, a nice little narrative bite in a musical that has no shortage of them.<\/p>\n \n\tTitle:<\/strong> The Lost Boys<\/em>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-deadline-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.jpg\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>
Venue: <\/strong>Broadway\u2019s Palace Theatre
Director: <\/strong>Michael Arden
Book:<\/strong> David Hornsby & Chris Hoch (Based on the Warner Bros film The Lost Boys<\/em>, Original Story by Janice Fischer & James Jeremias)
Music & Lyrics:<\/strong> The Rescues
Cast:<\/strong> LJ Benet, Shoshana Bean, Ali Louis Bourzgui, Benjamin Pajak, Maria Wirries, Paul Alexander Nolan, Jennifer Duka, Miguel Gil, Brian Flores, Sean Grandillo, Dean Maupin.
Running time<\/strong>: 2 hr 30 min (including intermission)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n