Costume designer Ryan Park pumps fresh blood into the world of 'The Lost Boys' on Broadway

With '80s-inspired flair alongside plenty of iconic looks from the same-named Joel Schumacher film, Park is giving the cult-classic vampire story new bite.

Summary

• The Lost Boys costume designer Ryan Park discusses his work on the musical adaptation of the same-named 1987 vampire movie
• Among Park's design influences are '80s rockers and iconic accessories and hair pulled directly from the film
• The costume choices reflect the struggle between light and dark that's central to the story

It's not just Broadway singers who have to project loudly enough to reach the back of the theatre. Equally important is what costume designer Ryan Park calls a show's "visual volume." He's turning it all the way up for The Lost Boys at the 1,648-seat Palace Theatre, home to the fittingly larger-than-life story of a vampire gang who prey on a family newly arrived to fictional Santa Carla, California.

The Lost Boys is set in 1987, the year director Joel Schumacher's same-named movie came out, so that era was a natural starting point for Park when he was hired for the Michael Arden-directed musical adaptation last fall. Much of Park's inspiration came from '80s music icons — Billy Idol, Steven Tyler and Aerosmith, Guns n' Roses — because the stage show contains rockers of its own. Unlike in the movie, the titular Lost Boys aren't just bloodsuckers, but an actual beachside band, adding a new layer to the costumes even as they mirror the leathered-up digs from the film.

"We really wanted to make sure they're, at face value, a rock band, and then we come to learn they're vampires," Park said. "Going into the design, it was really about coming up with a look for this rock band in California in the '80s and having nods to vampire or gothic aesthetics, but not to be too overtly like, 'These people are a bunch of vampires.'"

Park also observed that the members of '80s bands "all have their own personality that comes through, or their own style; it's not so homogenized." The Lost Boys have, for example, "the glam one" (arguably lead singer David, played by Ali Louis Bourzgui in Kiefer Sutherland's film role) and the "hair-band" one (definitely Dean Maupin's Paul, with a sky-high afro by wig designer David Brian Brown). But the same logic applied to the mortal characters, too, ensuring that everyone, down to each ensemble member, feels distinct even from the back row of the balcony.

"Everything you put out there is going to tell you something," Park said. "With the ensemble [...] a lot of times they don't have a lot to say, necessarily, in any one scene. You have to tell the audience [...] a whole backstory with the visual of what they're wearing, what their hair is like, in one moment or in a few seconds."

Immediately, the vamps' ominously dark threads contrast with the warmer, brighter colors worn by characters like single mom Lucy (Shoshana Bean) and her comic book-obsessed son Sam (Benjamin Pajak), who signify warmth and safety. Characters who straddle the line, like Lucy's rebellious and conflicted older son Michael (LJ Benet) and the mysterious video store owner Max (Paul Alexander Nolan), are put in neutral tones to keep you questioning their alliances until the end.

"In the movie, the production designer, Bo Welch, is a constant collaborator of Tim Burton. There is always an exploration of light and dark in a lot of [...] films of this period," Park said, adding that he wanted his own work to reflect those forces.

The half-vampire Star (Maria Wirries), who's part of David's band but attracted to Michael, is another character who reflects that conflict. Her costume design also changed the most over time, according to Park. Initially, he threw out Star's airy onscreen look for a fully dark rocker vibe to jive with her inclusion in the band: ripped tights, leopard-print shorts, a bustier, heavy makeup.

"We all collectively thought [...] that design had missed the mark," Park said. Star is torn between two worlds, and for Park, the character's "ethereal" vibe was crucial to keep. "I was like, 'What is it about her look that that is iconic?' She's in this white peasant top and a bohemian handkerchief skirt. And so I thought, why don't we do a white cotton corset and a purple hippie skirt? It had an accessibility and a softness."

There are plenty of costuming choices that map directly onto The Lost Boys's source material. "The costume designer from the movie [Susan Becker] created a really specific world and very specific characters," said Park. "I definitely wanted to retain that and not have things be too general."

Park knew Michael's single dangly earring, David's platinum-blonde mullet, and a sexy sax player were nonnegotiable (though the onstage saxophonist, as played by Cameron Loyal and outfitted by Park and Brown, now has a Lenny Kravitz vibe). Park also snuck in a few less obvious Easter eggs, like a woman in a red polka-dot bikini from a film montage, during Lucy's song "The Good Part."

It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment among many visual spectacles: multi-level sets, flying actors, below-stage pits, Park's approximately 200 costumes comprising thousands of individual pieces. Just as important as cranking up the "visual volume," after all, is knowing when to lower it.

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Photo credit: The Lost Boys on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)
Costume sketches credit: Courtesy of Ryan Park and the production