The Lost Boys (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

The VHS Tape from 1987, on Broadway in 2026

If you’re my age, your family definitely owned a VHS of The Lost Boys (1987).

Directed by Joel Schumacher: vampire town Santa Carla, two teenage brothers moving in with their grandpa, the elder seduced by a cool vampire gang, the younger teaming up with two comic-book nerds to save him. Teen movies of that era were thirty percent horror and seventy percent motorcycles, earrings, beach concerts, and “what does growing up even mean.”

On April 26, 2026, that VHS tape officially opened at Broadway’s Palace Theatre. Previews began March 27, word of mouth built all spring, and Atlantic released the cast recording on July 24.

Who Wrote It? One Correction First

Some corners of the internet credit Dave Bassett or Liz Phair — there is no such connection. Stop spreading it.

The real songwriters are The Rescues: Kyler England, Adrianne “AG” Gonzalez, and Gabriel Mann, a pop-rock trio. The book is by David Hornsby (yes, from It’s Always Sunny) and Chris Hoch, directed by Michael Arden — the same Michael Arden who carried Maybe Happy Ending to Tony glory.

That lineup dictates the album’s entire sound: not traditional Broadway brass blasts, but guitars, synths, and stacked harmonies — pop-rock with a musical-theater skeleton showing through. When lead single “Secret Comes Out” dropped at the end of May, the top comment read: “This is for those of us who grew up.”

Shoshana Bean: A Tony Twenty Years in the Making

Who is Shoshana Bean? If you’ve seen Broadway’s Wicked, she was the first standby ever promoted to full-time Elphaba; Hell’s Kitchen and Mr. Saturday Night each earned her a Tony nomination, but the trophy never came home.

Here she plays mother Lucy Emerson — a woman fleeing domestic violence with two sons, starting over in a strange town. Her numbers show off nothing; they’re all sung the way a mother cooks dinner while swallowing her tears. The 2026 Tony for Best Featured Actress was her first, and she cried too hard to speak that night.

The Vampire King Was Played by Orpheus

Even better is the featured actor. Ali Louis Bourzgui won the Tony as David the vampire king — and just a year earlier, he was Orpheus in Hadestown, the innocent boy who descends into hell for love.

From Orpheus to vampire, from “I’d go to hell for you” to “welcome to hell” — the transformation is a drama in itself. Listen to his voice on the recording: bright tenor as Orpheus, lowered, dirtied, smiling as David. Same man, two kinds of eternity.

Why Vampire Stories Always Work

Every generation of teenagers needs a vampire story. In 1987 it was AIDS and Cold War dread; in 2026 it’s social media and climate anxiety — different names, same shape of fear: adults can’t be trusted, the world is breaking, only your friends are real.

Among the recording’s 28 tracks, the mother-son duets and the finale chorus deserve the most repeats. The vampires die, but nobody truly wins — that’s growing up: you slay the monster, then realize you’re turning into a different one.

The Palace is still playing it, open run, booking past September. If New York is out of reach, start with this Atlantic recording. Press play and the Santa Carla sea breeze blows in — mind your neck.