‘The Lost Boys’ Director Michael Arden on Honoring the Cult Horror Classic and His Plans for ‘Happy Feet’ Broadway Musical With ‘Anthropomorphic Animals’

By Haley Kluge

Haley Kluge

Senior Designer

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Last year, Michael Arden turned a musical about two robots into a Tony Award winner for best musical. This year, he’s taking on vampires.

The Tony-winning director is at the helm of “The Lost Boys,” a pricey stage adaptation of the 1987 cult-classic film. With 12 Tony nominations, including two for Arden himself (as a director and shared lighting design credit), the production has emerged as a frontrunner in several technical categories and become one of Broadway’s most talked-about new shows. But it’s also an expensive gamble, with a reported budget of $25 million. After all, the track record of shows based on vampires is truly frightening with everything from “Dracula, the Musical” to “Lestat” failing to draw crowds. Can “The Lost Boys” break the curse?

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