Jen Schriever & Michael Arden Win Tony for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for The Lost Boys*

 

Jen Schriever & Michael Arden Win Tony for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for The Lost Boys*

Jen Schriever and Michael Arden won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical for their work on The Lost Boys 

The win is a major moment for their groundbreaking lighting design that turns the Palace Theatre into a living vampire world. Their work features a massive lighting rig that drops to near-eye level during the motorcycle race scene, creating a rock-concert spectacle that critics called "tricked-out" and "breathtaking."

Arden serves as both director and co-lighting designer, making this Tony win especially significant—it's a rare double duty where the director's visual vision earned the highest honor. Schriever's collaboration with Arden transforms the vampires' subterranean lair into dust, shadow, and cobalt darkness, making the lighting inseparable from the story itself.

The Lost Boys is the most Tony-nominated musical of 2026 with 12 total nominations including Best Musical, and this lighting win caps off the show's technical mastery. The production runs through November 21, 2026, at the Palace Theatre in Times Square.

This win cements The Lost Boys as Broadway's breakthrough horror-musical sensation and proves that lighting can be the heartbeat of a story, not just decoratioN