Question: What do you get when you take a vampire action movie from the 1980s, add a rock score by a California indie band, and put it on stage at the majestic Palace Theater? The answer? The best musical of the 2025-26 Broadway season: The Lost Boys, which opened on Sunday, April 26. 

The 1987 movie, notably starring Kiefer Sutherland, chronicles the story of the Emerson family as they leave their life in Arizona and move to Santa Carla, California. This town seems normal on the outside, but is actually crawling with Vampires. It instantly became a cult classic for action-horror fans, so the next logical step would be turning it into a big-budget Broadway spectacle.

The musical doesn’t follow the exact plot of the movie; the vampires are now in a rock band, and there is a clear absence of Grandpa and the hellhounds, but it still nails all the major plot points and then some. The book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch, accompanied by the score by The Rescues, tells a story about loss, love, and accepting yourself even if you don’t feel you quite belong. LJ Benet as Michael Emerson delivers a powerhouse performance in his Broadway debut, and when accompanied by Shoshana Bean as Lucy Emerson and Benjamin Pajak as Sam Emerson, there is truly no stopping this family. The Lost Boys themselves are Ali Louis Bourzgui as David (Kiefer Sutherland in the movie), Brian Flores as Marko, Sean Grandillo as Dwayne, and Dean Maupin as Paul, and they deliver the performance of a lifetime: flying sixty-five feet above the stage, playing instruments live, and singing some of the most incredible harmonies (orchestrations and arrangements by Ethan Popp and The Rescues).

The rest of the performances don’t disappoint. Maria Wirries as Star performs showstopping numbers and Paul Alexander Nolan as Max is one of the show’s secret weapons. Speaking of secret weapons, the ensemble is delivering some of the greatest vocals and dancing Broadway has seen in a long time. Special shout-out to Ben Crawford (who plays a hallucination of Michael’s father and is also one of Broadway’s former phantoms), who has a featured number that is truly a marvel.

The spectacle of this show is also truly incredible. The set design by Dane Laffrey serves as an ironworks factory, a comic book shop, the Emersons’ house, and more. Scenes from the movie are shown in their entirety, including the infamous train bridge and “death by stereo.” The lighting design by Jen Schriever and Michael Arden is spectacular, creating stars, vampiric trances, and even carnivals. The aerial design and choreography by Gwenyth Larson, Bill Mulholland, Lauren Yalango-Grant, and Christopher Cree Grant include not only flying 65 feet in the air but also superhero dancing and ensemble combat choreography. The direction by Michael Arden seamlessly integrates all the elements to create an incredible piece of theater that feels cohesive even amid so many complicated elements.

So why should you go see vampires fly on Broadway? Well, for starters, why not? But actually, go see this show if you have ever felt like you don’t belong. Go see this show if you want to see a spectacle like never before. Go see this show if you want to experience connection. Go see this show if you want to hear some of the best music of all time. Go see this show if you want to laugh, if you want to cry, or if you want to laugh while you cry. But most importantly, go see this show if you want to see all the damn vampires.