How ‘The Lost Boys’ on Broadway takes flight — literally

The new musical, adapted from the '80s vampire film, aerial team, designers, and director take us behind the scenes — and 60 feet off the Palace Theatre stage.

Summary

• The Lost Boys on Broadway is adapted from the same-named vampire film in which multiple characters fly
• The musical's director; set and lighting designers; choreographers; and aerial designers discuss the creative and technical challenges of creating the onstage flight sequences

Look up! Plan to do that during the thrill-a-minute new Broadway musical The Lost Boys, where vampires defy mortality — and gravity. The undead can bloody fly, and they do it with style.

In-flight finesse was a top priority for Tony Award-winning director Michael Arden (Maybe Happy Ending) and the team of aerial pros and designers of the show that launched March 27 at the Palace Theatre.

“When I was a kid, when you had to choose what superpowers you would have, mine was always flying,” Arden said. The Lost Boys characters who have that power may be fanged and fatal, but Arden still “wanted to express the idea of joy in flying.”

Written by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch (book) and the indie rock group The Rescues (music and lyrics), the show is based on the 1987 cult-hit movie of the same name. It’s a story about family in all its meanings, where Lucy (Shoshana Bean) and her teenage sons, Michael (LJ Benet) and Sam (Benjamin Pajak), discover vampires terrorize their fictional coastal community of Santa Carla, California.

David (Ali Louis Bourzgui) is the bloodsuckers' charismatic leader, who, according to the aerial team, spends a significant amount of time in the air. But he's not the only person who makes The Lost Boys take flight.

Turning airborne moments into effortless feats

Creating a flying sequence in theatre requires multiple components. That includes rigging, tracks and winches — all handled by the company Flying by Foy, a leading specialist in aerial effects — plus choreography and performers brave, skilled, and trusting enough to move in midair.

Actors trained periodically over six months to acclimate to being suspended in harnesses — and belting 60 feet off the ground — at Brooklyn's 5th Wall Studio, co-founded by The Lost Boys aerial designers Gwyneth Larsen and Billy Mulholland.

“It gave us time to work with the actors, to get them comfortable doing things they would not have been comfortable doing,” said Larsen. “As aerialists and teachers, we love giving people the sense that the impossible is possible.”

That rush goes in both directions, said Mulholland, adding that “the magic of flight is a wonderful thing to share. Seeing someone’s face light up when they do this thing they never thought would, these actors had that.”

Expect eight aerial sequences of varying length in The Lost Boys. Yes, the famous film scene on a railway bridge with Michael, David, and the vampires is in.

“One of the biggest challenges with this show is literally just finding the airspace,” said Larsen. “It’s a very full world that has been created.”

Another high hurdle: landing the right look and vibe, according to choreographers Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant, tasked with creating on-ground and in-air movement.

“With the flying, we really wanted it to not look circusy. That’s not the aesthetic we’re looking for,” said Yalango-Grant. “There’s a cool, punk sexiness about [the vampires]. Their physicality in the air has to be to represent that. It’s powerful, yet also effortless.”

The duo found inspiration in parkour, French aerial dance artist Arthur Cadre, and their own dance and gymnastics backgrounds. “The rule for the harness is keeping life in your limbs, especially in the legs,” said Yalango-Grant. “Otherwise, you just look like you’re a sack of potatoes in the air.”

In-flight movement leaves little room for error, and that’s amplified when multiple flights happen at the same time. “Building the choreography has to be very precise, within an inch of its life,” said Grant. “Actors are passing each other or going past the set pieces, and lines are close.”

Bold sets and brilliant lighting help make the show soar

Tony-winning set designer Dane Laffrey (Maybe Happy Ending) designed the world of Santa Carla, which takes us to Lucy’s house, the vampire lair, and beyond. The flying in the show presented him with “largely a new challenge,” he said. “I’ve certainly not done [a show] with this degree of involvement, where it’s so comprehensive spatially.”

The Lost Boys's set has to account for technical elements like wires and tracks, and create visual depth and perspective. “We really thought about it from the beginning and asked, ‘What would be best for the show? What could we accommodate and how?’” said Laffrey. “There’s a lot of physical infrastructure involved.”

Creative and pragmatic answers made sure aerial moments “felt unexpected and interesting,” Laffrey said, “while maintaining as much physical space as we possibly could to just do everything else we had to do.”

As with Laffrey’s work, part of the assignment for the show’s lighting designers — two-time Tony nominee Jen Schriever (A Strange Loop) and Arden, making his Broadway debut in the capacity — is keeping certain elements in shadows. After all, there’s nothing like wires showing to make special effects fall to earth.

“A lot of the planning has gone into making [flying sequences] feel like you’re not noticing the technology,” said Schriever. “Although behind it is a pile of technology that we’re deploying.”

So let there be light — and flight. But you can’t have vampires without a little darkness.

Get The Lost Boys tickets now.

Photos 1-2 credit: The Lost Boys in rehearsal. (Photos by Avery Brunkus)
Photo 3 credit: Michael Arden, Dane Laffrey, and Jen Schriever. (Arden photo by Luke Fontana; Laffrey photo by Stephen K. Mack; Schriever photo by Jenny Anderson)