NEW YORK (AP) — For their third Broadway show, husband-and-wife choreographing team Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher “Cree” Grant faced a high-stakes challenge: They were asked to make vampires fly.Not just fly, but also fight and hang upside-down, 60 feet off the stage. Not just that but also make it effortless, like gliding. And, of course, completely safely, despite darkness and haze and props whizzing by.Making “The Lost Boys” soar was a little like a real-life game of Tetris, the couple say. And for creating some of the best visuals of the season, the couple has earned their first Tony Award nomination.“You just have to break it down slowly and bit by bit, build one block and then you just keep adding so that no one’s going to get hurt or feel too chaotic. Because gravity is going to gravity,” says Yalango-Grant. “As much as Elphaba taught us you can defy it, you cannot.”
From screen to stage“The Lost Boys,” an adaptation of a 1987 teen movie vampire thriller starring Jason Patric and Corey Haim, follows a pair of brothers who tangle with a gang of young vampires who have taken over a California beach town.It became a cult hit due to its stylish neck-biters on motorcycles, with feathered hair, earrings, leather jackets and gloves. That meant the stage flying had to be awesome.“They have to look cool, effortless, a little bit sexy, a little dangerous, but they don’t have to try too hard because they’re vampires — they’re all powerful, right?” says Yalango-Grant. “So, we worked really hard on just this effortless cool, laid-back kind of vibe, not circus-y, not a lot of tricks.”
