Ali Louis Bourzgui had never seen The Lost Boys.
When Bourzgui first heard that a musical adaptation of the 1987 cult classic was being developed for Broadway, the movie hadn’t crossed his path. Then his friend, actor Drew El Hamalawy, told him about an upcoming workshop.
Bourzgui was appearing in the show We Live in Cairo with El Hamalawy, who often worked with The Lost Boys‘ director, Michael Arden. Drew knew that Bourzgui played guitar and sang with a band, similar to the characters in The Lost Boys. “Drew started putting pieces together and thought, ‘This guy plays guitar and is in a band. And Drew knew what the show was,’” recalls Bourzgui. “So he said, ‘You should tell your agents to look out for this Lost Boys workshop that’s about to start soon.’”
His agents sent him audition material for both Michael, a teenager trying to find his place in a new town who becomes entangled with a group of vampires, and David, a charismatic vampire who leads the Lost Boys. Bourzgui learned both roles, but there was one character he was immediately drawn to.
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“I like this David material better, just for me,” he says. “Not that it was better, I thought, ‘I’m more interested in this character.’ Because it was something I hadn’t quite done before.”
At the time, Bourzgui had been playing what he describes as a young, naïve sweetheart in We Live in Cairo. David offered the chance to go in the completely opposite direction. “I thought, ‘It would be cool to completely switch it up and play the villain,’” he says.
He then watched the film. And it was love at first watch.
“It was my ideal movie,” says Bourzgui. “I love sort of the campy ’80s sci-fi thing.” He had seen all the other films in that genre, like The Goonies. “I don’t know how I had missed it, but I immediately fell in love with the movie,” he recalls. “I watched it twice in one week. Once I saw what Kiefer did with the character, I was even more interested.”
Ali Louis Bourzgui poses with his Tony award for The Lost Boys at the 79th Annual Tony Awards, Radio City Music Hall, June 07, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)How Ali Louis Bourzgui Made David His Own
Kiefer Sutherland’s David is one of those performances that seems to have seeped into pop culture. Yet Bourzgui noticed something fascinating about the character: David isn’t actually in the original film all that much.
“In the movie, when you watch it, David doesn’t actually have all that much to do. It’s who you remember because his performance is so iconic and the character’s so good,” says Bourzgui. “But he doesn’t actually really have all that many lines, and he’s not in the movie all that much, and you don’t really get to figure out what’s going on with David.”
That became one of the things Bourzgui found most exciting about the musical. He could help answer the questions the movie leaves unanswered. “I thought it would be such a cool journey to see in the musical version if there was more we could find out about him,” he says.
And because The Lost Boys was still being created during the workshop, Bourzgui helped build David adding his own personal input. “In many ways I got to build this character alongside the writers, [David Hornsby and Chris Hoch], the director, [Michael Arden], and the whole creative team.”
From the beginning, Bourzgui could see how Hornsby and Hoch wrote him so well. “They are brilliant writers. When I got that first packet [to audition], I could tell that they knew who this guy was.” Not only was he totally enamored with the script, he also loved the songs from The Rescues. “I could tell that the team was already firing on all cylinders to make something really cool,” he shares. “And I wanted to be a part of that.”
Bourzgui was particularly interested in making sure David wasn’t simply a two-dimensional villain. “I knew that the only way to make him realistic and tangible was to find the hero inside of him,” he shares. “And that he has to think that he is the hero and human. While at the same time, he is a monster and a vampire.”
Related: The Complete Winners List from the 2026 Tony Awards
For Bourzgui, that meant going deep. Before the Broadway production, he spent months constructing a history for David: imagining what his life had been like before he became a vampire, what he had experienced as a young person, the people he had lost and the wounds that shaped him.
“You have to figure out where a person has faced trauma and what drives them to do the things they do,” says Bourzgui. “And David went through so many hard things and lost so many people, he really never received a lot of real love.”
That loss, Bourzgui believes, is at the center of David’s warped relationship with love. “Because he has lost so much of it, he has decided to control it. And he doesn’t understand that you can’t do that with love. You can’t lock it down.”
How Kiefer Sutherland, David Bowie and Tim Curry Inspired His David
Bourzgui’s David is also shaped by three very different performers: Sutherland, David Bowie and Tim Curry. He studied each for something different. With Bowie, he found an otherworldly quality and a willingness to challenge convention. With Curry, it was the combination of creepy and alluring from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And from Sutherland, he studied the voice and the character’s almost unnerving stillness.
“Kiefer’s thing is that he’s super stoic, and so I use the stoic moments to contrast to certain points where I’ll just be really still, and just use my eyes to hone in on something like a predator, which has been fun.” Plus, he borrowed how Sutherland said “Michael” in the film. “It’s a total homage to how he did that,” says Bourzgui. “Plus, I kick it in a little extra weird.”
But Bourzgui was determined not to simply imitate the actor who originated the role.
“Doing what I did in creating a really personalized version of the character in my head allowed me to have my own thing,” he says. “So I never felt like I was taking the reins, or taking the character that already existed. It felt like I was creating something new, and then thinking, there’s this other David that is similar, and they share these certain traits. But my version is a totally different person than that version.”
What Kiefer Sutherland Thought of Bourzgui’s ‘Lost Boys’ Performance
That philosophy became particularly meaningful when Bourzgui finally met Sutherland who has seen the show. Some actors might be intimidated performing a role made famous by the person who originated it. Bourzgui says their encounter felt much more like two actors comparing notes.
“Some people ask me, ‘Oh, is it weird when Kiefer is there? Does it feel like you’re trying to do justice?’ But it’s more just that we actually appreciated each other’s versions, and we got to share a little bit and talk to each other about what we found.”
Now a producer on the musical, Sutherland has been supportive of Bourzgui’s interpretation. “No one really owns the character,” says Bourzgui. “The entity exists and we both got to sit in his mind for a little bit and share in that, which is cool.”
Sutherland created the David who became an indelible part of ’80s movie history. Nearly four decades later, Bourzgui is taking the character into an entirely new world.
The Story Behind David’s Platinum-Blond Mullet
And then there is the mullet.
The famously platinum-blond wig was created for the show by hair and wig designer David Brian Brown. Bourzgui also had the chance to offer his input on the look. The wig was cut directly on Bourzgui’s head. He suggested, “What if we had one little Billy Idol kind of lick coming down the front into that little hair that hangs in front?”
The result has become part of his transformation. “It really helps me with the transformation,” he says. “I feel different when I’m in the wig and feel a little outside of Ali.”
How ‘The Lost Boys’ Changed Ali Louis Bourzgui
For Bourzgui, the ability to transform has been part of his life since he was a child growing up in the Berkshires, surrounded by Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, Barrington Stage and other artistic institutions. “I got to be inspired from a really early age, which gave me the permission to explore and to be a sponge.”
But his theatrical journey almost didn’t begin. When Bourzgui was 10, his mother drove him to an audition for The Wizard of Oz. They had made it to the theater when Bourzgui suddenly realized what was about to happen.
“We got all the way there, we were in the lobby. I thought, ‘Wait, I’m gonna go up and sing in front of people?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ My shyness kicked in. I said, ‘Let’s go home right now.’ My mom said, ‘No, we came all the way here. You’re doing this.’”
He did it. And he got the role of one of the Munchkins in the Lollipop Guild.
That little boy who nearly turned around in the lobby eventually discovered that theater wasn’t simply something he loved. It could be his life’s work. After graduating from Ithaca College, he joined the national tour of The Band’s Visit as a swing, covering seven tracks before stepping into a principal role. “It happened really fast,” he says. “I graduated in May, and then I joined the tour in August.”
Then he made his Broadway debut with a bang, starring as Tommy Walker in The Who’s Tommy. His other credits include Paul in the U.S. National Tour of Company, Amir Off-Broadway in We Live in Cairo, and Orpheus on Broadway in Hadestown. And Bourzgui plays guitar with his own band, Resident Lightweight, bringing another side of his musical life into his work.
The Lost Boys has now added another remarkable chapter to that career. This past June, Bourzgui won a Tony Award for playing David. Bourzgui says that the role has opened him up and helped him be less shy. “It has given me a bit more confidence in my real life.”
David has also inspired Ali to think about how he engages with love. “I’m learning lessons from the things David has done wrong,” he says. He is more inspired to be empathetic and care for people so that they are comfortable being themselves and loving them in the process.
“One of the best things in life is letting people blossom and giving them the space to turn into themselves. That they don’t have to stay where they are,” he says. “As life continues and they learn more about themselves, they can grow. And you’ll still love them. I have learned that from him.”
Currently playing at the Palace Theatre, The Lost Boys earned four Tony Awards, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Bourzgui, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for Shoshana Bean, Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Dane Laffrey, and Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Jen Schriever and Michael Arden.
For Bourzgui, the music is another important connection to the original film. The Rescues—Kyler England, Adrianne “AG” Gonzalez and Gabriel Mann—created the musical’s original music and lyrics. He also adores the original soundtrack of the movie. “I listen to it a lot,” says Bourzgui. “Those songs are great, and it’s cool that they’ve kind of taken little pieces of them and put it into the score, which is fun.” In fact, Atlantic Records just released the show’s original Broadway cast album with The Rescues’ music and lyrics.
The Rescues also bring a cinematic quality to the musical, something Bourzgui particularly appreciates. “They have written film scores, and I know Gabriel has done some video game scoring,” he says. “There is something really fun about the fact that they know how to make not only good songs, but also good underscoring.”
The result, he says, captures the atmosphere of The Lost Boys while giving the musical its own sound. “The music is just unlike anything I’ve ever really heard,” says Bourzgui. “It has been fun for me because I nerd out about music and albums. I’m a big fan of them.”
The Heartbreaking Story Behind Bourzgui’s Tony Award Dedication
And when Bourzgui accepted his Tony, one person was very much on his mind: Ralph Petillo, his longtime mentor. In his acceptance speech Bourzgui dedicated his Tony Award to Petillo.
Petillo had known Bourzgui since he was that shy 10-year-old auditioning for The Wizard of Oz. Petillo played the Wizard. The next year, Petillo played Fagin in Oliver!, while Bourzgui was one of the orphans. They worked together again on Seussical, with Petillo as the Mayor of Who-ville and Bourzgui as JoJo.“He was always the father figure in the show as well as the community,” says Bourzgui. “There were all these kids, and he would be so supportive to all of us, and he’d make sure that we were doing okay, and would check in.”
But Petillo did something even more important: He saw Bourzgui.
“For me and a few other people, he would come up to us and say, ‘You know, you are really special, and I see the work you’re doing, and I think you could really make a life out of this,’” says Bourzgui who keeps a photo of Petillo in his dressing room.
For a young actor, those words can change everything. “He made me feel really seen, that I had a place. I’m not sure if he knew the magnitude of the way that made me feel,” he shares. Petillo remained in his corner through college and beyond. They would talk on the phone and have lunch when Bourzgui came home. Petillo was also deeply involved in his community and, says Bourzgui, “just put the most insane amount of love out into the world.”
Then, just two weeks before The Lost Boys opened on Broadway, Petillo died.
“He was always rooting for me and my successes,” shares Bourzgui. “And this is the first thing where a lot of these big things happened and he wasn’t here. That was really sad that he was not here for those moments.”
When Bourzgui won his Tony, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. “He always told me that these things were going to happen for me, and he was part of the team manifesting this for me,” says Bourzgui. “So to speak his name into the world when that win happened felt like, of course.”
And what would Ralph think of his performance in The Lost Boys? “I imagine he would be so proud,” says Bourzgui. “He would love it.”
And there is another reason Bourzgui thinks Petillo would have connected with the role. Petillo himself had played some wonderful villains, including Fagin and Captain Hook. “I feel like a lot of his performances are probably subconsciously in this as well. He also would be in tears because the sweet thing is that he always would cry.”
It is a beautiful image to hold onto when thinking about Bourzgui’s David. Yes, he is the vampire with the platinum mullet. Yes, he channels the swagger and stillness of Sutherland, the otherworldliness of David Bowie and the delicious sensual swagger of Tim Curry. But underneath all of that is an actor who understands that the most compelling villains aren’t simply evil. They’re human beings who have made very different choices.
And perhaps that is also why Ralph Petillo’s belief in him mattered so much. Long before the Tony, long before Broadway, long before the mullet, there was a 10-year-old boy suddenly too shy to audition, and a mother who told him he was going to do it anyway. Then there was a mentor who kept telling him he was special and that he could make a life out of this.
For Bourzgui, that belief became part of the journey. And perhaps it is also the key to understanding the David he has created: not as a copy of Kiefer Sutherland’s iconic vampire, but as a fully realized person with a history, wounds and a heart buried somewhere beneath the monster.
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