The Carnegie Mellon Connection Behind Broadway’s ‘The Lost Boys’

“The Lost Boys” just might be Broadway’s “most” show this season — most spectacular, most rock-and-roll, and most Tony-nominated. It also has the most Carnegie Mellon University alumni as part of its production team, racking up seven of CMU’s 15 nominations this year.

The show’s three lead producers, James Carpinello (CFA, 1997), Marcus Chait (CFA, 1997) and Patrick Wilson (CFA, 1995) met over 30 years ago in the School of Drama(opens in new window) as acting students, but early on, Chait had his sights set beyond the stage.

“My goal was always to be producing,” he said. “The three of us started looking at films and TV shows to produce together. I tried to get the rights to ‘The Lost Boys’ 25 years ago the first time and was unsuccessful. Cut to many years later during the pandemic: the movie was on TV all the time. I called these guys and said, ‘You remember, I had this idea? I think we should try to do it.’”

This time around, they were able to get a meeting with Warner Bros. who holds the rights to the film, thanks to Wilson’s long-standing history with the company’s franchises “Aquaman” and “The Conjuring.”

“They appreciated the way we wanted to do it,” Chait said, “and we were off and running. That was six years ago.”

In the time since, the trio has worn more hats and made more decisions than they thought imaginable. “The Lost Boys” went straight to Broadway without an out-of-town tryout. Some productions opt to test audiences, refine the show and build buzz in a regional theater setting before moving to the bright lights of Broadway. But for a show like “The Lost Boys” with so much stage spectacle, that wasn’t practical. Instead, they had 30 preview performances in which they feverishly fine-tuned the production to get everything just right.

“You have to work to make the product as good as it can be for opening night,” said Carpinello. “A long preview process was sort of terrifying, but we just did it. We would show up every day and put our heads down and do the work.”

Wilson attributes at least some of their grit and determination throughout the process to the culture of rigorous collaboration they all experienced at CMU.

“How to work together is a really important piece of what Carnegie Mellon gave me,” Wilson said. “And that certainly applies to this adventure we’re on now. We were like heads down, making changes constantly, not afraid to kill your darlings, cut that number, add this one. People say, ‘Oh my God, you guys did so much.’ But this is the way we work.”

Assembling the team

It takes a village to adapt a cult-classic vampire movie into a full-spectacle stage musical. Some of the first people Carpinello, Chait and Wilson sought were the book writers — playwrights who would take on the actual script adaptation of the film — Chris Hoch (CFA, 1998) and David Hornsby (CFA, 1998).

Inseparable during their time at CMU, Hoch and Hornsby were freshmen in the School of Drama when Carpinello and Chait were sophomores and Wilson was a senior. They jokingly referred to themselves as the Carnegie Mellon Mafia.

“You never get out,” said Hoch, with a laugh.

After graduation, they went their separate ways — Hoch to New York City, where he starred in Broadway musicals including “Beauty and the Beast,” “Spamalot,” “Shrek, the Musical,” “La Cage aux Folles,” “Matilda the Musical,” and many others; and Hornsby to Los Angeles, where he acted and wrote for film and television, perhaps most recognizably in his role as Rickety Cricket in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”

The producers brought Hornsby and Hoch on in the beginning of “The Lost Boys” process as resources and thought partners, and eventually the pair pitched their idea for adapting the script.

“For us, it just made sense,” Wilson said. “There's a shared experience and a shared knowledge of going to college together and understanding how someone works, and honestly, all the pieces kind of fell into place.”

Another of those pieces came by way of costume designer Ryan Park (CFA, 2009). “The Lost Boys” is Park’s first Broadway credit as lead costume designer. He was the technical costume designer for this season’s “The Queen of Versailles,” and has worked as assistant and associate costume designer on nearly 20 Broadway productions. Along with this first lead credit comes his first Tony Award nomination.

“It feels kind of surreal, I have to be honest with you,” Park said. “It’s such an amazing honor. My first thought whenever I found out was an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being recognized, but also for our team because it really is a huge, collaborative art form.”

Park worked with a large team of designers and artisans who all helped create upwards of 150 costumes for the show and thousands of individual pieces.

“So many people put their artistry into the costumes,” Park said, “and I’m so proud of all the work we’ve done together.”

Park’s process began with a lot of research, starting with the source material — the 1987 Joel Schumacher film. Michael Arden, the director of the stage adaptation, wanted to achieve something that referenced the film and the late 80s, but still had a contemporary and sexy approach, Park said. 

He looked at yearbooks and fashion magazines from that time period and studied 80s rock bands. He also spent a lot of time with the music of The Rescues, the band who wrote the original score for “The Lost Boys” musical, listening to their demos on repeat before rehearsals had even begun.   

Once Park had an idea of the world of the play and these characters, he then had to consider the very real — and spectacular — circumstances these costumes would have to endure.

“We have flying, we have amazing special effects, we have mosh pits where people are rocking out. There's a lot of work that goes into designing things and making them able to move and function for the show,” he said.

For a production with so much to juggle and balance, and with so many people and processes to manage, Park is grateful for the leadership of Carpinello, Chait and Wilson.

“They've been the most supportive producers ever,” he said. “They obviously bring their experience and knowledge in this industry, which is exceptional, but they were also constantly asking questions and really trying to understand all of the different moving parts. It was always, ‘How can we give you what you need to do your best work?’ which, in my mind, is really amazing producing.”

“The Lost Boys” is nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best New Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Costume Design of a Musical. The cast will perform at The Tony Awards live on CBS on Sunday, June 7.