He's flying! Ali Louis Bourzgui lands a Tony nomination for ‘Lost Boys’

When he was in the seventh grade, Ali Louis Bourzgui was one of the lost boys in a production of “Peter Pan.”

Little did he realize, years later he’d be in a new musical called “The Lost Boys.” Cast as a vampire who heads a rock band, he gets the ability to fly and create a character who’s a Broadway original.

For his work, he has been nominated for a Tony, his first.

Two years ago, Bourzgui made his Broadway debut in a revival of “The Who’s Tommy” and was touted as a sure thing for the award. When he didn’t get a nomination, Bourzgui was actually relieved.

“I was just experiencing too many things all at once,” he says. “I was learning how to lead a show, how to do press, and if I had the Tonys on top of that, it would have been a little too much.

“Now, I have a better perspective on things, and I’m ready for it.”

Nominated for 12 awards (including Best Musical), “The Lost Boys” takes the 1980s movie and shows how newcomers to a coastal town try to fit in, even though vampires lurk.

Bourzgui’s character, David, leads the pack and tries to lure the newbies into his world.

“I had a nice four months leading up to this version of the show … and my favorite part of the whole process was doing the homework,” Bourzgui says. “I watched 25 different vampire films and all the famous vampire TV shows that I could get to.”

Still on the must-view list: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which he is in the process of binging.

The most helpful source? Anne Rice’s books.

“She gets to the human that’s behind the vampire and talks about their feelings and how an immortal person’s brain would work," he says. "It was very useful in crafting this guy as a hurt human.”

Then, too, there’s the matter of flying — a “Lost Boys” hallmark.

“It was a really big learning curve, because it’s very hard and very physical, and you have to move your body in different ways in order to turn in the air,” Bourzgui says.

Training for six months, the Massachusetts native also sings while flying.

“I actually sing my highest note in the show while I’m flying,” he says.

Because the show’s director, Michael Arden, also worked on the lighting, it’s often impossible for Bourzgui to see his co-stars’ wires.

“I just see them floating through the air, and I get tricked in the magic of it all — ‘Oh my god, I think we’re actually flying,’” Bourzgui says.

While the movement is choreographed, it can go awry.

“One night, I tried to make an acting choice and do something slightly different, and I learned my lesson," he says. "I tried to high-five LJ, who plays Michael, and one of my wires kind of clipped one of the other guys’ wires and we were swinging a bit.”

Bourzgui was rescued by stage managers and put back on track.

Now, because “The Lost Boys” has Tony nominations in nearly every category, the entire company can share in the excitement.

“The only thing that makes Broadway different from other theater is the high stakes of it,” he says. “Theater is theater anywhere. That’s the beauty of it. I thought I had it made when I was doing community theater at the Berkshire Theater Group and I was with all my best friends.”

Those friends called him when he got the Tony nomination and, finally, “I was able to process it. It was sort of connecting it back to my roots and thinking about this day when I was a kid. I always wanted to be successful in the theater,” Bourzgui says.

A graduate of Ithaca College’s B.F.A. Musical Theatre program, Bourzgui plans to make good on an early promise, too: “If I were ever to go to the Tonys, my mom would come with me. So I’m bringing my mom,” he says.

Creating the creatures

The thrill of creating a role is working with experts in numerous fields, Bourzgui says.

“I got to see this thing be built from the ground up. Michael sets up a wonderfully collaborative room. He’s steering the ship,” he says, but others get to contribute. “Everyone’s been open to every other department kind of bleeding into each other.”

David, he says, has long nails because “I’m a guitarist and I finger-pick … but I knew for the vampire in this, it would be useful. So, I grew them out.”

Bourzgui also got to add a series of keys as jewelry because “I wanted it to feel like David was holding on to the past a lot,” he says.

And then, there’s the wig that gives him a Billy Idol vibe. Designer David Brian Brown, he says, “created this amazing wig and Ryan Park created all these really cool costume plots for me.”

That involvement keeps “The Lost Boys” fresh and reminds Bourzgui of a key factor.

“Every audience is different every day and, for some people, it’s their first Broadway show," he says. "When I think about that, it gives me a kind of excitement and a freshness that’s contagious. If I’m feeling like I’m on autopilot, I will quickly take a breath and process being present in the moment.”