“I think, being a child of the ’80s, those big Cameron Mackintosh shows where you would go see a musical and it would be a whole world you would enter… nothing’s cooler.”
Four days before the opening of The Lost Boys on Broadway, director Michael Arden recalls the wonder he felt on first encountering The Phantom of the Opera or Jesus Christ Superstar—musicals that took audience experience as seriously as artistic quality. His work on Lost Boys, for which he is also a co-producer and lighting co-designer, certainly follows in those giants’ footsteps; it is also, somehow, an even more thrilling sensorial spectacle than Maybe Happy Ending, the innovatively tech-heavy musical that earned him his second Tony Award last season.
Over a midweek martini at Julius’ bar in the West Village, he shares that he designed the lighting for his high school’s production of Supersta. “Get ready,” he teases of the spectacle to come.
Michael Arden and Andy Mientus at the opening of The Lost Boys.
Photo: Andy Henderson
The Lost Boy is yet another high-profile project for the extremely busy director, who this season also opened another high-profile musical, The Queen of Versailles. That latter production had its share of controversy, which has recently become a familiar element of Arden’s career; the beloved Maybe Happy Ending, which led with an all-Asian cast, came under scrutiny over the recasting of a main part last year. And Arden’s Parade, which transferred from a two-week concert production to win Arden his first Tony in 2023, was picketed by white supremacists.
While none of these extra-textual situations are remotely comparable, what connects the shows at their core is the superlative artfulness and human touch that the cinematically minded Arden brings to each of his productions. Speaking of cinema: the director will soon adapt Happy Feet for the stage, with renowned tap choreographer Ayodele Casel and legendary puppeteer Basil Twist on his creative team.
This month, Arden sat down with Vogue to discuss his latest show, navigating controversy, and what projects are still to come.
Vogue: How did The Lost Boys come to you?
Michael Arden: I got an email saying, “Patrick Wilson, James Carpinello, and Marcus Chait are producing a stage adaptation of The Lost Boys—we’d love to talk to you about directing.” And I was like, what’s that? I guess I’d heard of the movie, but I had never seen it, so we got it on Apple TV and I was like, I kind of hate this movie. But you know, it’s Joel Schumacher—it’s always kind of gay. That appealed to me, and I liked that it was, tonally, so weird. It’s an adventure comedy but also a horror, coming-of-age teen love story. It’s every movie at once, and I was interested in how that could work. It’s about sexy teen vampires trying to figure their shit out.
