From winning her first Tony Award to belting one of Broadway’s biggest songs every night, Shoshana Bean shares a behind-the-scenes glimpse into “The Lost Boys.”

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Between starring as Lucy Emerson in Broadway's The Lost Boys, taking home her first Tony, and gearing up for her Only Smoke tour, the Broadway powerhouse is having one of the biggest years of her career.

After seeing The Lost Boys twice (and immediately wanting to book a third trip to The Palace Theatre), I had one lingering question: How does she do it? Night after night, Shoshana delivers one of the show's most emotionally demanding performances, including the jaw-dropping number "Wild," all while making it look effortless.

I caught up with Shoshana to hear about her Tony-winning moment, her close bond with her onstage sons, and behind-the-scenes details that made me appreciate the show even more.

Shoshana: Thank you. (Laughs) I was mostly thinking, "Walk slowly, so you don't trip up those stairs!" 

What I remember being really conscious of was to slow down. I think I have a tendency to feel unworthy or apologetic when it's my turn to take up space. I don't always allow myself to really receive the moment — but once I got up there, and I looked out, I was like, "Wow. Just take it in."

When you've been in the business as long as I have and you're on your third nomination, you really feel like your community is behind you, and there's a lot of love and support. 

It was a really special moment, and to win for The Lost Boys makes it even better. It's been the sweetest experience, and to win for this character that I love so much and with this cast supporting and cheering me on the way — I couldn't have written it better myself.

Shoshana: I actually didn't connect with Lucy from the get-go. Of all the characters I've played, similarly to Jenna from Waitress, I felt Lucy was the farthest away from me.

When I have a situation like that, I start by going to the extreme of understanding and getting to know her: getting inside of how she speaks, walks, and talks. It's usually a lot of outside-in work.

Then I started finding the similarities between us in her resilience, tenderness, fear, where we hide, where we play small, where we've lost parts of ourselves. Our stories are very different, but our emotional experiences are the same. The circumstances that caused us to feel those emotions are different, but the feelings themselves are shared.

That's what's amazing about what we do and how we paint these characters. Whether I'm inside a musical or writing my own music, the circumstances may differ, but the feelings are universal. I think that's what's important, and that's where I found her — inside that feeling space.

Shoshana: It was really hard to do in the studio. I think I did three or four sessions on that song specifically, which is unheard of. Onstage, I'm so attentive to the physical action that it fuels the vocal. It's in my body now, where I just get to fly. 

Also, our sound design in the theater is incredible. What I hear onstage from my own voice honestly feels like the wind beneath my wings. It creates these amazing dynamics for me to sing into and against. Hearing my voice in the studio was an adjustment, and I had the engineer add a lot of reverb to try to simulate what I'm used to in the house.

There's also a beautiful version of "Wild" that already exists, so I felt like I had really big shoes to fill. I really wanted it to be great. At one point, they were saying, "Shoshana, we have what we need." But Kyler, one of The Rescues, was like, "I know how you live inside this song. I know who you become when you sing it. I feel like we need one more shot."

I'm so glad we did because I love where we landed.

Shoshana: Oh, I'm always down for action. I love a moment to stand and sing, but I also love having physicality fuel the power of what I'm doing with my voice. I was thrilled and actually wanted more. I remember asking, "Where are the swings? Why don't we have swings?" They were like, "Shoshana, we can't afford them. We don't have room!"

It is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do on a Broadway stage. Especially in the midst of so much technical trickery, "Wild" is such a grounded, pure musical theater moment to see two grown adults on a playground. 

Someone gave me a bracelet that said "Neverland" on it, and I was asking Michael [Arden], "In the playground, the lights that hang down say 'Neverland' on them. Is that a nod to Peter Pan?" He said it was, and also to the idea that you're reclaiming your youth.

I just thought, "Oh my gosh!" I sing this every night, and I never consciously put those two things together. 

What a gift to get a literal playground on a Broadway stage. Next to "She Used to Be Mine," "Wild" is the greatest song I've ever gotten to sing on a Broadway stage.

Shoshana: It's definitely not a straight line. It's really hard in the beginning, getting it in your body and figuring it out. It is something you really build up the tolerance and stamina for. It is athleticism. 

One of our co-producers is Steph Curry, who's arguably one of the greatest athletes of all time. We had conversations with him about that, and he's like, "I get days off, Shoshana. You guys are here every day, no matter what." So even elite athletes are blown away by what we accomplish. It's an elite sport, and I'm really proud of our ability to do that. 

It is something to navigate, because the body is fallible and inconsistent, and everything affects that. From your diet, to the air, to how much sleep you've had — it's a million factors. Tony's time is insane with all the interviews and loud rooms and parties. Once we got on the other side of that, I felt like I trained for a marathon with a weight vest on. 

It is a mental and physical game for sure.

Shoshana: I actually fought for that line. I've had two other mother roles in the past two years, and I've never said "I love you" to my kids in the show. 

I do love them deeply offstage and onstage, and I think it's an important thing to say. Also, in my daily life, as Shoshana, I say "I love you" to the people I pick up my dry cleaning from, you know what I mean? I'm very effusive with that phrase, and I knew Lucy would absolutely say that. 

The relationship with those boys offstage is why you see what you see onstage. It's why the family dynamic works. There's a synergy and an energy with the three of us. 

We had a listening party the other night, and LJ and I were having quite an emotional moment together. He said, "I was thinking about 10 years from now, I can call you and ask you questions." I told him, "You have me forever." 

Shoshana: That is such a great question because it is an entire gear shift in both directions. When I've only been doing my own music, getting back into character work is like having baby deer legs. Then there's also a gear shift toward being myself, and not hiding behind a character or other people's material. That's wildly vulnerable and an adjustment in its own right. 

I'm so excited to go on tour because I haven't been able to perform the music from this album. Only Smoke came out in November, and The Lost Boys offer came in just a few weeks after that. 

I'm so excited to do a tour to celebrate this body of work that I'm insanely proud of, and I'm excited to wrap my voice around these songs. 

Writing and recording them was such a cathartic experience to heal through a breakup, so I don't know what stories they tell beyond that. That's the gift of having your own music and singing it for year after year after year — they take on new meanings.

Shoshana: It's been a reinforcement of the importance of being grounded and leading with heart instead of trying to impress people. This particular show has been a graduation of sorts into a leadership position. I've had a leadership position in all of my shows in certain ways, but this one is very different. 

I'm the eldest in a company full of younger actors and a lot of first-timers. I've taken great care in how I show up and who I am in that building, because I know that all these young people are watching and listening, whether they know it or not. I know that the majority of what I learned, I learned by observation, not by being told. 

Personally, it's been expanding my capacity to receive and hold love. To allow people to celebrate and love me is really hard for me. I feel like I spent the previous part of my career not feeling seen in that way. 

It's been hard to shift into the gear of being celebrated. I've navigated my career fighting for every inch that I have, and I didn't have to fight this time. I just had to receive.

Tickets to Shoshana's Only Smoke tour are available now.

Note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.