THE LOST BOYS Previews- Page 12

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 12:23am

lots to appreciate here but not as much to actively enjoy.

kudos to michael arden because the book here is truly meh, the jokes so klunky, the characters so dull. the songs blend into one (well sung, and certainly pleasant) tune, so the fact that without anyone all that interesting or any dialogue worth listening to, there is still a somewhat watchable show here---again, kudos to Arden.

this is a production with so many moving pieces, and so many flying actors, and so many well executed scares and stunts--it all comes together well around the emptiness at its core. it seems tailor made for tourist high school students, and is a poor mans Outsiders. I hope it finds its audience. its fits real well into the enormous Palace Theater, which was sold out tonight.

kudos also to this wildly talented cast. sho bean continues to perfect the struggling mom who makes breakfast, and does some incredible vocal tricks here. she does the most she can with a horribly written character, as does LJ Benet who really anchors the first act with incredible vocals and real leading man charisma (before fading into the story in act 2). Maria Wirries is way too sweet and ingenue for this role, but her voice is out of this world. She made me sit up straight with those belts from the jump and brings the house down with a solo number that i cant remember for the life of me a few hours after i heard it. Bourzgui continues to elevate everything he touches, and I genuinely wonder why they have him in such a ridiculous wig. 

i really do hope this finds an audience--theres nothing new or original here but the audience around me seemed like newbies to broadway, and they want WILD for this show. its alot of the spectacle and technical and schmaltz that we all love so i hope this lands OK even if iI didnt love it.

the post bows scene is still there and pretty clever-- almost sets up a sequel, for better or worse.

 

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 12:56am

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]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 2:59pm

I wanted to enjoy this a lot more than I did. The opening prologue scene is great fun and sets the evening up brilliantly, only to entirely fail to deliver on it. The set is fantastic, but it's all so thoroughly ordinary besides that, including the flying, which isn't a patch on what many other shows have achieved. Others have written here at length, so I won't belabor things, but despite having been warned that it was a score of ballads, I was still dulled by just how repetitive the music is, often inappropriately so to the narrative. One of the greatest bits of staging is on a bridge, and then they jump off, and it all feels like it's building to something exciting, and that something is ballad #7.

It's not a disaster, it's just long, a bit boring, and tonally all over the place. I'm just not sure what this show really wants to be or who it's for. There's lots that feels squarely aimed at Gen Z and then a load of 80s jokes that have that same crowd turning to each other asking what they mean. There are darkly gory bits and then absurdly camp bits, often just a song apart. It just doesn't work. That post-credits scene was there, I assume purely for the free marketing of people filming it, as it otherwise makes no sense.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 5:17pm

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.

 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 8:33pm

I was in my mid 30s when the movie came out, and saw it in the cinema like everybody else. I remember how excited I was that Oscar winner Wiest was the young mother, and of course, it made the most of teenish heartthrobs of the era over a decade younger than I was, Jason Patric and Sutherland. And Jamie Gertz (fan here). It was fresh because Santa Cruz was such an original locale for the genre, used so evocatively. When I first visited, I immediately thought of the movie..

I'm going this week, and hope they captured any of those elements, that distinctive above-LA California ambiance critical. What's fascinating: even for a cult film, it doesn't quite have Carrie's luster. But many of the reports here remind me of the way the revised musical Carrie was received: with a dutiful respect for a fix but not much love for outrageousness or daring. We always hope for something stylistically ambitious (which the original Carrie was) From all of the clips and the score, this feels oddly ... for lack of a more evocative word ... safe. Maybe that's 2026 Broadway.

Updated On: 4/19/26 at 08:33 PM

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 9:08pm

This preview period seems like it has gone on forever. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/19/26 at 9:41pm

rosscoe(au) said: "This preview period seems like it has gone on forever."

That’s how I feel after seeing the third or fourth preview of BEACHES, which began the same night as this but opens four days earlier,

I believe SALESMAN is the only preview period of the season that lasted more than a month.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/20/26 at 12:45am

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

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 4/20/26 at 1:10am

Updated On: 4/20/26 at 01:10 AM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/21/26 at 5:56pm

Anyone else going on TDF get 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. I'm guessing the show is heavily discounted this week to fill every seat for critics, which begin to come as early as tomorrow, so they released more seats than usual. This week was the first time I've seen The Lost Boys on TDF, certainly for a midweek matinee. Snatched 'em up.

Updated On: 4/21/26 at 05:56 PM