“Some people go completely inward to create something; I go outward,” Ali Louis Bourzgui tells me, basking in the afterglow of a Tony win–Best Featured Actor in a Musical—for his performance as David in The Lost Boys a few weeks prior. He finds inspiration everywhere he looks, he says, from Norman Rockwell paintings to Alyssa Liu to the actors he saw come through the Berkshires’ Barrington Stage Company in his youth.

At 26, Bourzgui already boasts the resume of a much more senior performer. In addition to his work on The Lost Boys, he also held the titular role in the 2024 Broadway revival of The Who’s Tommy, and Orpheus in Hadestown in 2025. His story started, however, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a city in the artistic hub of the Berkshires. “I found [theater] because I was surrounded by it,” he says. Bourzgui’s first role, like many theater kids, was in a community production of The Wizard of Oz. “The second I started doing it, I knew it was right. I had this great mentor who played the Wizard, Ralph Petillo, who recently passed, and I dedicated my Tony to. He made sure to come up to all the kids who were playing all the Munchkins and make us all feel special. Everyone, especially at that age, needs to find something they feel they can make a difference with.” The Wizard of Oz, and a viewing of Pippin that “changed [his] brain chemistry,” had Bourzgui hooked. 

The Lost Boys, based on the ‘80s horror camp vampire classic, was as ambitious to prepare for as it was to produce. “I think one of my favorite parts of acting in general is the excuse to hyperfixate on something,” says Bourzgui, who spent months inhaling everything he could about vampire media: historical podcasts about vampirology, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a “whole genre of [martial arts] vampire movies from Hong Kong.” He also had to complete six months of “flying training,” all while meticulously honing a rock-focused sound for his voice (“I really wanted to bring that authenticity to it,” he says), overcoming a fear of heights along the way.

When Bourzgui won the Tony earlier this summer, he delivered a stunning speech dedicated to oppressed peoples around the globe and the importance of live performance in a world that begs us to isolate ourselves. “Theater is one of the last places that people can come to worship the power of true collective human presence,” he boomed to applause, before being whisked away to prepare for his performance. “I think I was in and out of my wig like six times,” he laughs to me, remembering the exuberance of the moment. “I forgot how to get dressed. I was having a positive panic attack.” At the conclusion of his raucous performance, a keen showcase of the gravelly, dynamic voice and embodied swagger he developed for the role, fireworks leapt from the stage as Bourzgui thrust his fist triumphantly towards the sky. “That was probably the most amazing 20-minute sequence of my life,” he grins.

This story appears in the pages of VMAN 57: now available for purchase!

Photography Isaac Anthony

Fashion Arut Arustamyan

Grooming Ben Jones (The Only Agency) using Oribe & MERIT

Editor Kev Ponce

Fashion Market Editor Gabby Buchan

Executive Producer Kevin Warner (WAK Creative)

Production Manager Nick Lambrakis

Production Coordinator Drew Bosset

Lighting Technician Andrew Beadsworth

Digital Technician Katelyn Markham O’Halloran

Styling Assistant Galina Vyrva, Sienna Young, Copelyn Bengel

Grooming Assistant Marin Mullen

Production Assistant Juliet Lloyd

Director of Editorial Film Mynxii White

Location Minetta Lane Theatre