vampires — BLOG — ANTHONY R. CARDNO

I realized that while I’ve seen 8 live theatre productions so far in 2026 (5 Broadway, 2 Off-Broadway, 1 local high school), I haven’t posted a single review. So I’m going to try to squeeze in a few of the Broadway productions before the Tony Awards on June 7, starting with the most recent, which I saw this past weekend.

Admission #1: I was skeptical about a musical based on The Lost Boys. First of all, as has been well documented, vampire plays in general don’t do well on Broadway, and vampire musicals even less so. (Or even Off-Broadway. Years ago, we saw a production of Dracula with George Hearn as Van Helsing. It was … uneven to say the least. At the stage door, my friend told Hearn what big fans we were. His response: “Even after this performance?”) Second of all, while I haven’t watched the movie in a long time, it remains one of my favorite non-Dracula, non-blood-soaked/all about the violence, vampire movies.

I’m very glad I overcame my skepticism and went to see The Lost Boys at the Palace Theatre before the cast performs at the Tony Awards (and mostly before they’d performed on any of the TV talk shows). Because I have a feeling that even if performances on The Tonight Show and such haven’t boosted ticket sales, the Tony Awards performance will. As will, hopefully, word of mouth like this.

Michael Arden’s staging and direction are a perfect blend of vampire movie tropes (jump scares, bloody necks and mouths, lingering suspense) and musical theater tropes (the use of the ensemble as a bit of a Greek chorus; soaring solos). Deciding which moments needed to lean into which of the genres could not have been easy and could have resulted in a jumbled mess, but he pulled it off.

The book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch captured everything I loved about the original movie while shading in character nuances that added depth (especially for Lucy and Sam Emerson). The music by The Rescues moves from effusive rock (“I Have to Have You”) to musical comedy (The Frog Brothers’ “Murder Capital of the World” and the act two opener “My Brother Is A…”) to soul-searching (“Belong To Someone”) to romantic ballads (“Now, Forever”), and so on. Also, full marks for Gwyneth Larson and Billy Mulholland’s aerial design – another aspect of the show that was mind-boggling and which, done poorly, could have scuttled the audience’s investment. Dane Laffrey’s multi-level set has so many moving pieces and yet nothing feels temporary or “sketched in.”

LJ Benet is the story’s center as Michael Emerson. I knew nothing about him going into this, and I have to say … I’m surprised he didn’t get a Tony nom for Leading Actor in a Musical. Without a Michael who is relatable, who we can sympathize with and feel fear for, the show doesn’t work, and Benet really is that good in the role. His “Belong to Someone” got me to cry, not gonna lie.

Shoshana Bean is someone I should have seen on stage a long time ago, but somehow just haven’t. Her Lucy is real, down to Earth, just trying to do her best by her boys after leaving a bad situation, and her yearning to protect them at the same time she just wants to start a new life (as exemplified in “The Good Part” and “Wild,” her duet with Paul Alexander Nolan) gives her a strong arc to play. She does not disappoint. The Tony nomination is well deserved.

As is Ali Louis Bourzgui’s for David, the leader of the teen vampire gang. It’s hard to fill Keifer Sutherland’s shoes. Bourzgui does it – there’s enough of Keifer’s interpretation to recognizably be the same character, but it’s not an impersonation. And his voice – man, do I now wish I’d seen him in The Who’s Tommy. He is capably backed up (in both vampiric activity and as a band) by Brian Flores, Sean Grandillo, and Dean Maupin.

Maria Wirries, who I last saw in the Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends revue, brings some depth to Star that I’m not sure was in the movie. Her duets with Benet are beautiful, but her act two number “War” is show-stopping.

Paul Alexander Nolan (who I last saw in Water For Elephants) as Max is an understated presence for most of the show. He’s there, he’s clearly into Lucy Emerson, he’s a bit old-fashioned/conservative, he exudes no menace at all. Which is exactly what you want in Max. If you know, you know. Miguel Gil and Jennifer Duka as the Frog Brothers provide excellent comedy relief; as mentioned, “Murder Capital of the World” is over-the-top hysterical.

And then there’s Benjamin Pajak as Sam Emerson (played by Corey Haim in the movie). He’s the annoying little geeky brother, part comic relief/part plot device for Michael and Lucy’s arcs. I saw Pajak as Oliver! at City Center a few years ago and was impressed by his stage presence and his singing (my review of OLIVER! HERE. (He was also great in The Life of Chuck, which I still need to post a review of.) So (Admission #2) when we got to the end of Act One, and Sam was the only Emerson family member who hadn’t had a Big Solo Number/“I Want” song, I was disappointed. I’m a savvy enough writer that I should have known there was a reason. I believe other reviews have already mentioned that the writers and director have added a subtle “coming of age/coming out” nuance to Sam. Comments are made in act one that pay off in act two in two big ways: Pajak’s big solo number, “Superpower,” which elicited cheers and long applause at the performance I was at, and an absolutely hysterical line during the big vampire showdown that I will not spoil.

The show ends with a fantastic and cathartic eleventh-hour ensemble number, “If We Make It Through The Night,” that really wraps the show up well … or does it? Come on folks, this is based on a classic 80s horror movie … you KNOW there’s a stinger at the end.

If I haven’t made it clear, The Lost Boys is my favorite show so far this year. I’m hoping it does well at the Tonys and I can’t wait to see which number they perform. It’s at the Palace Theater … if you’re near New York and you love vampires and musicals, go see it!

I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is an occasional series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.

MY RATING: Recommended*

REVIEW: Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a moody, often fever-dream-like, occasionally brutal vampire novel set against some of the bloodiest moments of Montana history. It is part vampire memoir, part family drama, and part mystery, takes a number of surreal turns, and plays with modern expectations of vampire lore – all of which adds up to a thrilling, engrossing, and thought-provoking novel.

The set-up: Etsy Beaucairne is informed of the discovery of a journal written by her great-grandfather Arthur, a Lutheran priest in Miles City Montana in the early 1900s. The journal is not only a link to lost family history, it may also provide Etsy with a way to move her stalled life forward. What she discovers in the journal is the confession of a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab, who professes to be a vampire. Good Stab also appears to be behind a string of deaths and disappearances in both San Francisco and Miles City. The book alternates between Etsy’s 2020’s present, Arthur’s journal entries in the 1910s as he's taking the confession, and Good Stab’s recounting of his existence through the 1800s.

Good Stab’s memoir is the most surreal, fever-dream like part of the book (at least until near the end), especially in his early days as a vampire coming to understand what he has become, what he can do, and the limitations he is faced with. It is here that Jones plays most with genre expectations of a vampire’s existence and abilities, as the blood Good Stab consumes affects not only his physical appearance but his cognitive abilities. (If there are other vampire novels that touch on this the way Jones does, I haven’t come across them yet.) Good Stab is not the sparkly teen or brooding aristocrat of so much modern vampire fiction, but he has more character depth than the vampires of fiction from the Gothic era. There is also no romance in his story – but there are moments of unexpected beauty in his connection to the natural world and to his people.

There is also a lot of mystery connected to the telling of Good Stab’s story. Why has he chosen Arthur to tell his story to, and why now? What is Good Stab’s connection – if any – to the spate of dead bodies showing up on the outskirts of Miles City? Arthur’s personal history has some mystery as well, alluded to and hinted at in his self-observations throughout the journal: how did he come to be a pastor in this frontier town? How did he get the injury that affects his ability to walk? I would describe this mystery element of the book as “fair play:” in that the answers to all of these questions are embedded, some subtly, in the narrative and after the reveals the reader can go back and string those hints together.

The mystery also ties into the family drama, as Etsy tries to understand her great-grandfather’s journal in the context of what her family knew and didn’t know about his life and disappearance. Etsy and Arthur both encounter crossroads at which revealed knowledge forces a decision that will change the course of their lives.

Throughout the book Jones deals straightforwardly with how colonialism and American westward expansion affected the native population, and how steeped in blood the history of Montana (and by extension, all of the American West) is – a history many of us did not learn about in school, a history we should know about and learn from.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is not an easy read, but it is an engrossing and thought-provoking one. I recommend it.

*I have moved away from a star-based rating system here on the blog (I can’t avoid using stars on Goodreads, NetGalley, and the various bookseller sites). Instead I am switching to ranking books as “highly recommended,” “recommended,” “satisfactory” and “not right for me.” I may add other levels as I refine this concept. I’ll be including this note in all of my reviews for the next several weeks.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I finished the book well before the release date but fell behind posting reviews. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is available now wherever books are sold.