“Turning a movie into a musical reeks of desperation.“ That line, uttered by a character in The Lost Boys, earns a good laugh but it’s also a shrewd meta assessment of the current crop of film-to-stage adaptations occupying Broadway theaters these days. The Lost Boys is among the latest, based on the 1987 horror/comedy film starring Kiefer Sutherland as the leader of a band of young vampires terrorizing Santa Carla, a fictional seaside town in southern California. The musical hews closely to the film with some plot adjustments for the stage. The show’s creative team also worked hard to preserve the film’s mix of laughs and scares. That’s no easy feat, and while the production values are topnotch with an excellent cast, the story-telling doesn’t always fly.
But when it literally flies, it’s sensational. Special mention to the aerial design team that created the flying effects. All of the technical elements under Michael Arden’s direction deserve high praise, but more on that later.
Book writers David Hornsby and Chris Hoch kept the basic story line but departed from the film in several key areas. The musical takes a decidedly thematic approach with a focus on family values. It begins very differently. In the dark, we see the flickering light of a TV screen with President Reagan talking about “the strength and integrity of the family,” and that’s quickly followed by a mysterious murder.
[Read Frank Scheck’s ★★★☆☆ review here.]
From there, we meet the Emerson family – newly divorced mother Lucy (Shoshana Bean) and her two teenage sons, 14 year old Sam (Benjamin Pajak) and his older brother Michael (LJ Benet). They are leaving Phoenix en route to Santa Carla where Lucy grew up. They’re all hoping for a new start as they move into the home of Lucy’s late father, a collector of artifacts and taxidermy. In the film he’s very much alive. But like the film, some of those weird collectibles will be put to good use later on.
Michael is a disaffected teen whom we later discover, is scarred by the physical and emotional wounds he received at the hands of his abusive father. On the boardwalk he meets and falls for Star, an intriguing young woman who sings in a band fronted by David, the lead vampire and his posse. Their wild biker lifestyle, free of parental control, is appealing to Michael and he unwittingly falls in with them. Meanwhile, Sam befriends a pair of young vampire hunters – Edgar and Alan Frog. And Lucy gets hired by the local video store owner, Max.
The tone of the show toggles between jokey sitcom and deadly serious. Young Sam and the Frog siblings mostly provide comic relief which often goes over the top. By contrast, Michael, Star and the vampires do the heavy dramatic lifting. The two opposing styles tend to neutralize each other, rendering the show neither funny enough nor creepy enough to fully cast the intended spell.
The shortcomings almost don’t matter because the production looks and sounds so good. Dane Laffey’s detailed multi-tiered sets are architectural marvels. They fly up and down, seeming to magically switch back and forth from family home to beach boardwalk. And it’s showcased beautifully by the lighting design – credited to Jen Schriever and director Arden – making ample use of fog shrouded spots that paint haunting imagery inside the vampires’ subterranean lair. The slow reveal of the sleeping vampires dangling upside down is truly the stuff of nightmares.
The music and lyrics are by The Rescues (Kyle England, Adrianne “AG” Gonzalez and Gabriel Mann). They also did the orchestrations with Ethan Popp which deserve a big shoutout. They make excellent use of strings; and one number in particular featuring a cello sounded sublime. The rock-infused songs do a good job moving the story along while helping to shade the characters with added depth. And there are some real winners among them. Shoshana Bean, in yet another fine-tuned performance, lends her gorgeous pipes to “Wild”, a sweet number about Lucy’s early days as a hippie.
As Sam, 15 year old Benjamin Pajak has the timing of an old pro. He knows how to land a punchline with talent to spare. And when he sings but maybe I can be a hero here/ and make it cool to be queer, he brings to mind a young Nathan Lane.
Maria Wirries and LJ Benet as the romantic leads, don’t draw blood but sparks do fly when they sing “Now, Forever.” They carry the emotional weight of the production, singing and acting impressively with subtlety and solid conviction.
The lead vampire, David, is played by Ali Louis Bourzgui, another performer with outsized talent. With his silky voice and commanding presence, he possesses a natural charisma that is simply mesmerizing on the stage.
The show does not reek of desperation after all. In fact, I think it’s better than the film, even with its flaws. And while none are fatal, there are enough to keep The Lost Boys from achieving that one thing vampires and Broadway musicals desire more than anything else – eternal life.
