THE LOST BOYS Previews — Page 12

Last minute comps.  The show is 15 minutes shorter but it still feels long.

Arden picked the band and the book writers for this show. He collaborated with both from the beginning.  Maybe he enjoys building under average material to stage or the former is not a strength.

The wires, clipping and unclipping seem more present now - maybe it's any seat not dead center? The lighting is so similar throughout the eyes adjust to all of the mechanics of it.

Bean, and some of the cast still sound good - but the new song is almost just as blah is the one they cut?   The music still generally not for this show.  and lyrically .... That end of bows scene is back.  I'll never understand why.   (to follow the film genre structure?)

This still seems a play towards first time theater people who are fans of the movie, haven't seen Stranger Things and young theater groups.  Surface spectacle - the flashy Beaches of the season.

Updated On: 4/19/26 at 12:56 AM

Bobster159 said:  "It's not a disaster, it's just long, a bit boring, and tonally all over the place. "

Lol, it just has no identity.

 

This preview period seems like it has gone on forever. 

What’s the record for most above the title co-producers and could The Lost Boys be taking that trophy?

UPDATE: TDF sent an email asking us to arrive extra early, at 10:00 a.m. for the 2 p.m. matinee, because of long lines. My first in 20 years of TDF membership. Wisely offered advice, because at 12:15 when I got to the Palace, they had a single window open, selling advance seats and pre-show pick-ups from the same person, and the line crawled and went down the sidewalk. It was bizarre in the unwillingness to address what TDF alerted. 

What's new to say about the show that hasn't been said? I found the music overall better than many posters, and the vocal and band arrangements far more interesting and varied than expected. It's amplified like Tommy or Jesus Christ Superstar, sometimes diminishing rather enhancing vocals, but loud and big mostly serves.

To me, the best sequence in the show occurs late in act one, the staging of "Belong to Someone," and I won't spoil it, but the elements required to musicalize this story come together for the introspective song, and the operatic result feels emotionally and theatrically sharp. It looks like a Magritte painting. Its wallop took me by surprise, and LJ Benet rises to the moment - literally it must be noted - with soulfulness and brio. It is so effective I hoped something comparable would match it later, but nothing quite conjures the inventive magic. "Wild," the other known song from the show is a rafter-raiser for an ex-Elphaba, and Bean attacks it with signature power and investment. I'm in the minority: I found its staging busy and even dizzying, when a simple shared moment on a playground might sell it. 

But everything here is busy, everyone moving in and out of every possible kind of theatrical lighting. And the lighting is spectacular, no argument. Yet ... yet whenever the actions slows to let its wonderful singers sing in shadow and find some quiet around the explosiveness the show goes deeper. The second act doesn't tread water, but the comedy set pieces do take up valuable stage time, and this dark tale of abandoned and abused children is at its strongest when it wears its heart on its sleeve. In the best moments, The Lost Boys makes earnestness a virtue.

This is sad musical that seems afraid to own its core sadness until it has no choice. And then, it rushes through the plotting that reaches the sobering catharsis and resolution. We get a "Children Will Listen" styled address at the end, in a decent enough song. But the efforts to construct traditional musical comedy, embellished with FX ornamentation, don't always sell its strength. Again, that underbelly of melancholy is its strong suit. We feel for these  adolescents trapped a century in hip young bodies that cannot age. As much as the family unmoored by divorce and displacement. The allegory may be bald - it's even stated outright by one character late in the show: our boys are in trouble - but a persuasive enough case is made. The silliness in the Stephen King-styled efforts to capture the ostensible villains seems at odds with what the show wants to say - without apology - about loss and found family. Everyone seems scared of holding onto the darkness for too long. Maybe that will make it more commercial. But I felt a trade-off that hurts an ambitious piece artistically. 
 

Updated On: 4/22/26 at 05:56 PM

This was the most fun of the new musicals I have seen. As many other people have said, they take such massive swings and that's really exciting. Everything is just BIG. Awesome cast and everything just looks really cool. 

Also, this seems to be the most talked about online, their marketing started really early releasing a few songs and really building that excitement, and they have excellent socials which is crucial. It seems to be the "cool" musical of the season, like The Outsiders two years ago.

Those big swings are what I really felt drawn to. This is not a show that took the easy way out and it really is trying to balance that "beloved film" with "working stage musical." Things like the prologue, the bridge, entering the lair, even just giant set pieces like that impossibly high dock that's Star's favorite place. I'm bad with heights as a rule and the stagecraft decisions added an extra thrill to the show for me. Because why not hang the second floor of the house from the ceiling or leave those giant holes open on the deck for fog to come out of?

I really do want to see it again now that it's frozen. I got spoiled on the revised epilogue and see even minor shifts working better. That one tiktokker Kate that does really good criticism on her own dime around the country has been regularly visiting the previews and reporting on updates, down to individual line changes in dialogue. The Lost Boys really made the most of this long preview period to actually address changes. That cast has been working hard to keep up, that's for sure.

WiCkEDrOcKS said: "The cast is mostly strong. While perfectly fine, I’m not entirely convinced LJ Benet has the "it"factor needed to anchor the show (and the repeated "screlting"he's subjected to lookedgenuinely painful), but Shoshana Bean and Ali Louis Bourzgui are standouts."

I pretty much agree with you. Did anyone else who saw the show wonder how it might have looked with Ali and LJ swapping roles? 

trentsketch said: "YvanEhtNioj said: "Someone said the post-bow scene is back. For people who have seen it previously and more recently, is it still exactly the same?
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So funny I didn’t even remember the husband at the start having a hat on, it was so dark and the over acting turned me off. 

The big swings are what I'm drawn to as well.  Unfortunately, they are mostly foul balls.   They don't hit.  The best part is the amount of money to make the physical production exciting - yet it sill falters and doesn't fly.  The stage managers are doing excellent work.

We will see many an elevator show at the Palace now.  Because it's been lifted they have a LOT of space below the stage.  (Tammy Faye used large pillars lifting up cast members on elevators upaward.   Lots Boys is primarily just the first to be able to use the option.  There will be lots of radio city lifting and upward elevations from now on.

AJ felt flat for me as well.  I kept identifying him as a "Michael Arden"-actor type.  Vocally , mechanically and from an acting place - it's as if the director placed himself in the leading role via AJ.    The cast overall are not great actors (except Bourgouzi & Nolan - and maybe Bean?)--  but instead great vocalists - and they don't seem to be helped any further.   The direction is VERY uneven as is the development of the show - and relies on the tech in full to create a world of interest.  The music still feels like emo-church pop.   Just not sure Arden is cut out for developing new musicals but instead has fun with tech (who wouldn't with 25m+)

That said, the tech is fun to watch on the first watch despite seeing all the mechanics/wires (the 2nd not so much) - where as Stranger Things I enjoyed the three times I have seen it.  Lafferty has once again done great work making the show more exciting than it is.  

Despite a song swap or two - and some small tinkering here and there - the material itself is very similar to the workshop.  No big swings in changes.  The tech opts for swings but the show, material and its music come off a bunt.

You love STRANGER THINGS but hate THE LOST BOYS? 
 

Mmmk. 

Sutton Ross said: "You slammed this show for months and now you have reviewed the performance you saw like 14 times. We GET IT."

I've seen multiple performances now and will be there Sunday.  you're welcome.