Original Broadway Cast, 2026 (Atlantic) (2 / 5) For a musical about vampires, the score for The Lost Boys has surprisingly little bite. Featuring music and lyrics by indie pop-rock group The Rescues and a book by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch, the show is based on the 1987 cult classic movie of the same title. The plot follows brothers Michael and Sam Emerson (LH Benet and Benjamin Pajak), along with their mother, Lucy (Shoshana Bean), after they move to a California town where Michael becomes entangled with a charismatic vampire gang. The writers struggle to balance the brooding vampire melodrama with juvenile humor, and the score often sounds like two different shows awkwardly stitched together. Much of that inconsistency stems from the orchestrations, which vary wildly from song to song. Tracks such as “Take My Heart With You” are filled with rock-ballad earnestness, while others (for example, “My Brother Is A…”) play like bouncy musical theater numbers. The errant saxophone lines that surface in “Hurt a Little” and “Superpower” may be a nod to the film, but they’re eyebrow-raising for those only listening to the cast album. In addition, the material for the central vampire band, fronted by Ali Louis Bourzgui in the role of David, lands surprisingly flat. Stripped of the Broadway production’s visual spectacle, these rock songs lose their energy and never quite deliver the menacing, seductive edge needed to sell the threat of the undead. Amid the tonal jumble, Bean is the album’s main saving grace as Lucy; her powerhouse belt is effortlessly rich, and her solo moments emerge as the clearest vocal highlights. Bean duets with love interest Max (played by the excellent, under-used Paul Alexander Nolan) in “Wild,” to stunning effect. Still, not even Bean’s formidable talents can fully disguise how thin and one-note the role of Lucy is. In the end, this album may cause some listeners to feel that The Lost Boys never quite settles on what kind of show it wants to be.  — Forrest Hutchinson