Tony Winner Shoshana Bean Had To Keep Her Innate Jewish Mother Tendencies from Coming Out in “The Lost Boys”

Shoshana Bean always thought she had to choose between being a recording artist or a theater performer. She has done both successfully, but never at the same time — until this year when the right circumstances came along to star in a Broadway show and tour an album for the first time.

Bean made her Broadway debut in the original cast of “Hairspray” in 2002 and took over the role of Elphaba from Idina Menzel in “Wicked” in 2005. She took time off from Broadway when she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career. After being a replacement Jenna in “Waitress” in 2019, she originated roles in three Broadway shows: “Mr. Saturday Night” in 2022, “Hell’s Kitchen” in 2024 and “The Lost Boys” this year in 2026. 

She was nominated for Tony Awards for all three, finally winning one this year for the role of Lucy Emerson, a mother who moves her two sons to the mysterious, coastal town of Santa Carla, California, in “The Lost Boys.”

She released her fourth and latest full-length album, “Only Smoke,” in November, and was supposed to dedicate this year to promoting it, until “The Lost Boys” unexpectedly came along when Caissie Levy had to withdraw. Bean will taking two weeks off from the show starting in September to tour.

The Tony winner spoke to us about the unexpected directions her career has taken, playing Jewish characters and non-Jewish characters and more.

Other than the Tony win, what has been the most satisfying part of “The Lost Boys”?

The Tony is actually the least satisfying part. It’s icing on the cake. The most satisfying parts are the people that I get to go to work with, hang out with, play with, make something special with, take a bow with every night. Especially the two boys who play my sons, but everyone in that building is so special. I love this role, I love this character, I love the music I get to sing. I love doing this show every night. In that order: people first, material second and then the Tony is a nice pat on the back.

Caissie Levy, who was originally going to play your role in “The Lost Boys,” won a Tony for “Ragtime.” Do you feel like it was meant to be that each played the roles you did this season and have you talked about it with her?

Yeah, we talk about it all the time. It was absolutely designed to be this way. I can’t imagine not having done this show and she can’t imagine not having stayed at “Ragtime.” Neither one of us can imagine it having happened any other way, nor in a more perfect way.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

What was your Jewish upbringing like and what does your Judaism mean to you now?

Relatively conservative. I went to Jewish camp a few summers. I was in Hebrew school. The deal in my family was you are going to have this requirement of having your Jewish education until your bat mitzvah and after your bat mitzvah, you get to choose how you want to integrate your religion into your life. I continued my studies to an extent. I certainly dove more into it in college. I was curious about different perspectives and different ideologies, but my religion and my Judaism has always revolved around community and culture and that was harder in LA. I didn’t really have a Jewish community out there. When I moved back to New York, I felt much more connected to my Judaism.

Doing eight shows a week makes it impossible to show up to Shabbat dinner or take holidays off. So being able to connect in that way is a lot more challenging, but I think that my Judaism is a part of me, regardless of whether or not I’m engaged in a practice. I think I am the person I am because I was raised in a family that very much believed in not just taking care of their own, but expanding that to include taking care of everyone, whether they’re Jewish or not. Anyone who is marginalized or struggling, we take care of, we show up for community. And my community has expanded to include a lot of different cultures, religions, demographics, backgrounds. We expand the table to include people who don’t have what we have, so that’s everything from amplifying new young artists who don’t have a following to lending my voice and my time and energy to amplifying causes that need support.

Even though you aren’t playing a Jewish role, do you see any ways your Judaism impacts how you think about this show or character?

No. In fact, I had to work really hard not to make her a Jewish mom. Because I think Jewish moms are a really specific breed and she is not that, so I’ve had to work to move in a different direction because it’s just innate in me to make her a Jewish mom. I’m a Jewish mom offstage, no question.

I think Jewish moms are, and I say this with great love and respect and admiration, they are involved in their children’s lives, sometimes to a fault. They smother with love. This woman is trying so hard to just survive that she’s maybe falling short in a lot of ways as a parent. There are things happening in her child’s life that I just think a Jewish mom would never allow — not knowing where he is, not knowing what time he’s going to come home. 

Photo By Valerie Terranova

I think “Mr. Saturday Night” is the only time you played a Jewish character on Broadway?

I played Fanny Brice and Cee Cee Bloom regionally, but yeah, that’s the only one on Broadway. It was actually really cool, because in the earlier part of my career, when I would audition for Jewish roles, I wasn’t getting cast. And I was almost made to feel like I was too Jewish in a way, like they wanted to water down the Jewishness for these roles that I will not specify.

It came at a moment when I was being made aware of my own disassociation with my Jewishness. My own shame and where I make fun of myself or hide parts of myself. It came at a perfect time. And I’d never been in a cast that was for the most part, with the exception of a few people, all Jewish, so we had Shabbat every Friday night and celebrated Passover and holidays together. When you walk into a room of Jewish people, I don’t care what part of the world you’re from, you immediately feel like you’re home and with family.

How are you preparing for a tour while doing eight shows a week?

I’m so excited and also so grateful that I got to negotiate into my contract that they’re allowing me to take two weeks to tour my album. Part of my reticence of taking this job was how can I support and continue to promote my album if I’m doing eight a week. I’ve never gotten to go out and do a string of dates just for an album and that’s thrilling to me. The tour, of course, will have largely music from the new album and then I’ll dip back into the old catalogue. If you strung all of Lucy’s singing together, just the singing, it’s probably not even 20 minutes. A solo show is going to be an hour and a half of singing straight, so to do eight of those in a week as opposed to eight “Lost Boys,” I do need to start getting myself in vocal shape. I’ll probably start expanding my daily singing in August to start to prep for September. I just love this album so much. I’m so proud of it and I haven’t been able to perform it at all.

Photo via Polk and Co

Do you have any pre- or post-show rituals?

Pre is always my vocal warmup. There were some other characters like Jenna that were emotionally taxing, and I was so emotionally attached to her. I had to decompress after that show, but I don’t have anything now. Now my favorite pre-show ritual is my boys come into my dressing room and we bullshit a little bit and they look at themselves in the mirror and flex their muscles and it’s so gross. Boys are so gross.

What has surprised you most about the direction your career has taken?

I have been told to be patient my whole career, but still it surprises me that I’m almost 49 and I just won a Tony. Or that I took this long in my career to originate so many roles back-to-back. I think time is really the crazy thing. Because I don’t feel as old as I am, I’m certain I don’t behave as old as I am. I can’t believe how long it’s taken, but at the same time, I know why it’s taken this long. I know the places where I got in my own way. I know that I had to become who I am in order to give these women who I’ve played a voice. I wouldn’t have been able to do it 10, 20 years ago. And I think young Shoshana thought she would be so much farther along by now. Her biggest dream was to have a record deal and be Mariah Carey. I know why I’m not and I’m grateful. It’s not at all how I planned or dreamed, but in a lot of ways, it’s better.