"Scary, Sexy, And Rock And Roll": How Director Michael Arden Brought "The Lost Boys" From Screen To Broadway

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If you're looking for a bloodsucking good time, The Lost Boys is a show that needs to be on your radar.

Pictured: LJ Benet and Maria Wirries.

I went into the show completely blind (yes, I will be adding the 1987 vampire classic to my watch-list), not entirely sure what to expect. Within minutes, it was clear to me that this was a truly special show. With its mix of high-flying spectacle (literally, there's flying) and '80s rock energy, The Lost Boys feels like something entirely its own.

To celebrate The Lost Boys opening on Broadway, I sat down with iconic director Michael Arden to discuss bringing the cult classic to the stage.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I saw the matinee a few days ago, and was blown away. When you first heard The Lost Boys was becoming a musical, what was your initial reaction?

Michael: I think my initial reaction was, "A vampire musical??" I wasn't sure what to think, but that's usually what makes something a good idea. It means there's an interesting avenue that people haven't found yet.

I was excited by the youth of it, and that it wasn't all about century-old vampires. It's about a family, and about young people wanting to belong, and those stories have always resonated for me.

It felt like it was an opportunity that could really sing — scary, and sexy, and rock and roll. 

Company of The Lost Boys.

You’re directing, co-lighting, and co-producing the show. What does a typical day look like when you’re juggling so many pieces?

Pictured: Michael Arden and Jen Schriever.

Michael: It's been exciting to think about the direction from a lighting perspective, a production point of view, and vice versa. Those aspects all really work together. It's exhausting, but I love it. 

A normal day right now is meeting and talking about script stuff from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., and then I'm working on lighting, some tech, and notes from 9 a.m. to noon. Then I have half an hour for lunch. After that, we start working on changes with the actors from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and give notes on the performance until maybe 5:30 p.m.

Between then and showtime, I can meet with actors and think about tomorrow's work list, and kind of pregame for the next day. Then I watch the show, have a meeting after, have a smaller group meeting after that, get home around 1 a.m., and do it all over again.

BuzzFeed: That's a very full day. 

Michael: It is a full day. Sundays are my day to recover and reflect on what we learned the previous week and what we want to change. We didn't have an out-of-town tryout or anything like that. We're doing it all in front of audiences, and it's wild times, but it's really exciting. Everybody's really got their head in the game.

The Lost Boys is such an ambitious production, especially the lighting [co-designed by Tony-nominated Jen Schriever and Michael], and the set design [by Tony Award-winning designer Dane Laffrey]. What was one major creative challenge where you thought, "I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but we’re going to get it done?"

Michael: Definitely the flying. We're flying in a way that hasn't really been done in traditional theater before — our tracks are kind of on different angles and cross over scenery. Everything fits together, like a Rubik's Cube, and it's a challenge to make sure nothing collides. 

Safety is the number one concern. There are deep holes that appear in the middle of the stage, and things like that. Just making sure that everybody's safe has been the most time-consuming, but also the most important part of the process.

LJ Benet, Ali Louis Bourzgui, and the company of The Lost Boys.

Was there a moment during the process where everything clicked?

Michael: There's a moment in Act 2; it's a nightmare sequence called "You Belong to Me." It's incredibly complex, and the entire cast is involved. I remember being in tech and thinking, "This is the feeling I want to have." 

It was sexy, and it was scary, and it was sad, and it was haunted. That's a moment where I remember feeling that all the elements are working together.

Your past work spans a wide variety of productions. Is this a show you could have done earlier in your career?

Pictured: Dane Laffrey and Michael Arden.

Michael: Oh, no way. This is the biggest project I've ever worked on, and one of the most complex. But I see reverberations of everything I have done in this show. For example, some elements are a lot like Spring Awakening, or Maybe Happy Ending, in terms of their automation, and then you have the company work of Parade. 

I'm revisiting my toolboxes from different shows — but each project is unlike anything else, and that's what I love about it. I never want to do the same thing twice. However, The Lost Boys feels like a real amalgam of different things I've worked on in such a cool way.

The score has strong '80s rock influences, which I loved. You brought in the band The Rescues — how did you envision the sound of the show?

Pictured: LJ Benet, Ali Louis Bourzgui.

Michael: Their music is anthemic, dramatic, theatrical, emotional, and epic, like the story is. I thought of them, and I had been dying to work with them on something, because I just think they're so cool. 

It's been interesting because we wanted to have an '80s sound without being a pastiche. We want to sound like the best parts of the '80s, but also let the show have its own sound and feel incredibly current. It's all been a balancing act. 

I think tone is the trickiest thing with this show. It's comedy, and it's horror, and it's a love story, and a family drama — it's all these things. I think they've done a beautiful job with the score, and they've written and rewritten and written and rewritten. We all share the same goal of making something really unique. When you enter the world of The Lost Boys, it's not like any other place.

Do you have a personal favorite song from the show?

Michael: It changes all the time. "Belong to Someone" is just a perfect song. I love what we get to do with it in this show. I love the song, "Wild," that Lucy sings in Act 2. I love "If We Make It Through the Night" and "Superpower." It's hard to choose for sure.

The Emerson family, played by Shoshana Bean, LJ Benet, and Benjamin Pajak, is the heart of the show. What were you looking for in casting them?

Pictured: Shoshana Bean, Benjamin Pajak, and LJ Benet.

Michael: They're all incredible actors. They all felt like they could live in the same world, because they each have to be slightly different. You need the closed-off brood of Michael that LJ has. He's so effortless in his singing and his acting that he's very relaxed on stage, which is key for this character.

Then there's Shoshana, who is so connected to her body and her voice and is so authentic. She is so loving, and that exudes from her. She's no-nonsense, like Lucy is, and great at playing comedy.

Benjamin is a one-in-a-million performer. He's so funny. This kid just turned 15, and he's holding his own on a Broadway stage. He's delivering jokes, and dramatic moments, and really carrying the show a lot of the time.

They're all stars. What I love most about them is how selfless they are when they take the stage together. I love it when I go to a musical, and I forget I'm at a musical. I'm sitting here watching this believable family that's been through something pretty traumatic.

They're just lovely human beings, and they love each other. What you see on stage is the same as offstage.

On a broader level, what does theater mean to you right now?

Michael: I think theater is so important. It's art, religion, it's part therapy, it's part Samaritan service. It is one of the few activities that brings people together to appreciate art and to uplift human ingenuity and the human form. All the people who make a show happen every night are a celebration of collaboration and humanity. 

People literally get to be changed on a molecular level by the vibrations they have felt, and the feelings they've had — getting to sit peacefully and both laugh and cry with the stranger next to them.

I think that is one of the most important things we can do when you look at a world that is so disjointed and at war with itself. It's a great way to connect with people. We tell stories and listen to stories so that we feel less alone and so that we create empathy in the world.

Finally, what do you hope audiences take away from The Lost Boys?

Michael: I think the point of a vampire story is to acknowledge one's own brevity of life, and to be grateful for it. Even though we are born to die, we get a chance to live each day. We get another moment to choose to step into the light, and that requires forgiving our mistakes and forgiving others. I hope people leave with a sense of the beauty of living. 

There's a responsibility we have to take care of each other. Family is much bigger than we know — it's family with a capital F, and not just a lowercase one. Family can mean more than just the people you're related to. That's always been something I've wanted to hand to people in my work, and this show is hopefully doing that.

Thank you, Michael, for an awesome behind-the-scenes look at bringing The Lost Boys to life!

The Lost Boys is now open on Broadway at the Palace Theatre.

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