This season’s batch of Best Musical nominees doubles as a wildly varied map of sorts, as each show opted for a different path to Broadway. “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)” transferred from the West End to a regional theater; “Schmigadoon!” traveled from television and an out-of-town run. “Titanique” debuted Off-Broadway and opened all over the world before the Main Stem, and “The Lost Boys” flew directly to Broadway.
Broadway News spoke with the producers of each of the Best Musical nominees about their show’s respective path and how it impacted their methods of producing this season and moving forward. Though the shows and journeys are diverse and unique, they all share one common trait: amid the industry’s unpredictability, producers must embrace a forthright boldness and flexibility while building a Broadway run. And regardless of who wins the top award, their collective nominations are proof that, especially these days, there’s no right way to get to Broadway.
Directly to Broadway with ‘The Lost Boys’
Producers James Carpinello, Marcus Chait and Patrick Wilson had a vision: a musical take of “The Lost Boys,” the 1987 movie about a single mother and her teenage sons who move to a coastal vampire haven. “We knew it had the scope, size, scale and potential appeal of something that could reach a mass audience, so from the get-go, Broadway was always the goal one day,” said Chait. “But I don't think that we anticipated from the beginning that we would go directly to Broadway.”
After a promising 2023 reading of the show’s first act, director Michael Arden suggested this direct route for early 2026 — the rare window in his busy schedule. Though the plan was risky — there would be no testing the material for audiences or building up any word-of-mouth before Broadway previews — it could be a smart financial move, saving millions of dollars in materials necessary for out-of-town tryouts.
“As actors, we know what it looks like to create an original musical from the inside,” said Wilson, who started his career alongside Carpinello and Chait as a performer. “There are just as many shows that have gone out of town and had different reactions [compared to eventual Broadway reactions], so there’s no real template. Once we decided that this would be our best path forward, we felt like we could keep our nose down and just get the show as good as we can get it.’”
The producers instead invested in numerous readings and workshops, including a larger soundscape exploration with an orchestra at Open Jar Studios and a five-week rehearsal period at Baryshnikov Art Center. A separate workshop centered on the spectacular flying effects was held at SUNY Purchase, which has a comparable fly space to their eventual Broadway venue, the Palace Theatre.
“Our vampires needed the time to learn how to feel comfortable in the air, and our designers, choreographers, aerial designers, Michael and [scenic designer] Dane Laffrey needed to figure out the architecture of how that works,” said Carpinello. “Everything’s automated, and we were able to essentially pre-program and choreograph what we were going to do in the Palace. That was an invaluable development step, because even though we had a long tech period in the Palace, we never would have been able to afford to do that in real time under the gun on Broadway.” (Of note, that “long tech” was three and a half weeks compared to the more typical two.)
Swooping directly onto Broadway was a risk that paid off, as “The Lost Boys” landed 12 Tony nominations. To leap straight to Broadway, “you have to have something for everyone,” said Carpinello. “You have to have something for the kid who is dragging their parents, and the parent our age who’s dragging their child and saying, ‘This is a story that I loved when I was your age.’”
“We didn't force this at all, we just made an educated decision based on something we love,” he added. “There’s lots of places to produce theater — it doesn’t have to be on Broadway.”
From TV to D.C. with ‘Schmigadoon!’
Should a love letter to Broadway … actually go to Broadway? When Apple TV+ didn’t renew the two-season series “Schmigadoon!” for a third — about a married couple who stumbles into a mystical village akin to a Golden Age musical — this question wasn’t necessarily met with a resounding “yes.” However, series co-creator Cinco Paul always envisioned it as a stage show, and had received numerous licensing requests from schools — a demographic that embraced his “Bubble Boy” adaptation.
