Interview: G Tom Mac Talks A LOST BOYS STORY Musical, the Legacy of “Cry Little Sister,” and THE LOST BOYS TV Series

This year marks the 30th anniversary of when viewers first heard the soul-stirring chords of "Cry Little Sister," the theme song for The Lost Boys. Created by musician Gerard McMahon, aka G Tom Mac, the song has become synonymous with Joel Schumacher's 1987 film and is still an anthem for those who have ever empathized with the movie's creatures of the night.

Now, G Tom Mac is looking to expand the world of The Lost Boys with a new musical called A Lost Boys Story. Currently in development, A Lost Boys Story dives into where David and the Lost Boys came from and further explores their stories through songs like "Be One of Us" and "Death by Stereo."

Daily Dead recently had the great pleasure of speaking with G Tom Mac about developing The Lost Boys musical, getting Joel Schumacher's blessing, and expanding rather than remaking the story of The Lost Boys, and he also reflected on his creation of the iconic "Cry Little Sister" and talked about conversations he's had with the creators of the in-development Lost Boys TV series for The CW.

The Lost Boys just celebrated its 30th anniversary, and it seems to have only gotten more popular as time has gone on. On their own, both the film and your song, “Cry Little Sister,” have seen their fan bases grow. Did you ever expect it to have this legacy, where 30 years down the line, people are still connecting with “Cry Little Sister” and Joel Schumacher’s movie?

G Tom Mac: Well, I didn’t. And of the fifty-some movies I’ve been lucky to do, and a lot of them being good ones, I never thought that that movie–I loved what it was. When I read the script, I just thought, Wow, this is cool. And I got up in my New York apartment the next morning after reading it and banged out “Cry Little Sister” between my piano in my living room and driving up to my studio.

I didn’t get to watch the movie properly like you would normally do to get the vibe of the film. I read the script, and so much in my head was a different look and feel. You know how when you read a book, you make up your own visuals? Once I made the demo for the song, which is what I did when I went up to the studio, I sent it out to Joel and he got back to me three days later, going, “This is unbelievable. I can’t believe you’ve gotten what we’re shooting here,” because they were shooting the film in Santa Cruz. He wanted me to get a head start on it and come up with an idea because he was a big fan of mine and wanted to see if I could come up with a theme song.

But, I always say, I don’t know if I would have written “Cry Little Sister” if I had seen the film. It was just what was in my head after reading the script, and what was going on in my life at the time that was a combination of what that song became. But 30 years later, it’s pretty amazing in a sense that it’s really one of the films from that period that has been turned over from generation to generation of fans.

When I saw The Lost Boys for the first time and I heard the opening to “Cry Little Sister” as the camera pans over the water, that song let me know that this was something different. I’m amazed at how well that fit with Joel’s vision. It’s like you two were tapping into the same wavelength, and people are still discovering it.

G Tom Mac: Yeah, it’s stood the test of time, it’s a great film, and that has a lot to do with it. It really holds its own as far as the craftsmanship of filmmaking, which is all Joel, who is just brilliant at that, and having a real differentiation of the vampire world of filmmaking or theater. He really brought it into a whole new light. When I was writing that song, I wanted to make something that was haunting, but I also wanted something that was wide and didn’t have to relate to necessarily a lonely vampire. It related to and tapped into what we all feel in trying to find family and a way to connect. And that’s what I found that the characters were doing in the script, the main character, David, especially. And it wasn’t until some time later on when Kiefer Sutherland told me that, “As badass as David was, I felt lonely in that palace.” And I said, “Absolutely,” and that’s what I tapped into.

And upon reading the script, you kind of got that vibe. You didn’t know if he was this rebel without a cause, James Dean kind of guy. I always try to write something broader when I’m working on a film, because I hate it when a movie is so spot-on with what the film is. Our job as songwriters and performers is to widen that gap so it can be relatable outside the film. With “Cry Little Sister,” I have a lot of fans who have never even seen the film come to my shows and I go, “God, you guys don’t know the half of why this is the way it is,” [laughs] but it’s cool that “Cry Little Sister” stands alone on its own, but I like the idea that it’s attached to this wonderful film that it’s inspired by.

I was excited when I read your announcement that you’re working on A Lost Boys Story, a musical version of the film. If anyone is the perfect choice to tell this story through music, it’s you. How did you come up with the idea to expand this story and explore these characters more through music?

G Tom Mac: I started thinking about it five or six years ago. There was always this thought in my mind that it could be a good musical. I’ve studied musical theatre, so I understand the do’s and don’ts and what you should really think about going into an idea and how it’s going to relate theatrically. Making a movie or deriving from a film like Lost Boys or deriving from a book is not an easy task. My fear along the way is that vampires don’t succeed on Broadway very well in the theater world. I just didn’t want to fail. But when I thought about Lost Boys, I said, “You know what’s great about this film? It’s got humor and horror to it.” You can get that right, but you can’t copy the film. You take all of the components that are there—the characters, they all stay the same, but you broaden where David comes from. You don’t know the story of any of these people. You don’t know what happened, how Star arrived, what’s Laddie’s story? It’s fantastic material to open up, which I’ve done in what is called the book in the theater world, the musical book, where you have dialogue [and songs].

It’s taken a good deal of time. I’ve written probably 40 songs to get 12 things to be really right and spot-on, and to really have a thread within the book and a thread within the sound. I’ve used titles like “Be One of Us” and “Sleep All Day, Party All Night.” We’ve even got “Death by Stereo,” and the song “Once Upon,” which opens up the musical. I don’t want to give it away, but the only thing I can say is that David is born in Lithuania as an orphan and gets adopted by American parents, and then the story begins. The idea was to open up the story. To get to know why the characters ended up in Santa Carla. The worst thing anyone can do is to copy the movie and just make it be that, and take all of the songs from the movie and make it be that. Obviously, “Cry Little Sister” is going to be a part of the musical, but they’re all new songs, and so far the powers that be seem to think I’m knocking it out of the park.

I understand that you’ll be releasing some songs from the soundtrack of the musical this September?

G Tom Mac: Yeah, late September. Probably in the last week of August, first week of September, we’re shooting a video to the song “Once Upon,” and it’s going to be very theatrical-looking, sort of a Baz Luhrmann vibe, like a Moulin Rouge! look to it. I’ve got a really good director and he storyboarded the idea of it. It will give a hint as to where the musical is going. We can’t give all of it away, obviously, but “Once Upon” really tells the story of David and his journey. I sent Joel Schumacher a copy of “Once Upon,” and he got back to me saying, “Boy, this is incredible. You’ve created the brother to “Cry Little Sister. It is just astounding.” I couldn’t have gotten a higher compliment. Even though he’s not involved in the musical, it was a bit nerve-wracking when he asked me if I would send him something for it. Having his blessing on what it is—and I know he knows musical theatre—that blessing alone, I can’t even begin to tell you the thrill of hearing his compliments about what I’ve created.

He is the Godfather of everything Lost Boys, so that’s the highest praise you can get. It’s also exciting that you’ll be going on tour around the world this fall in celebration of The Lost Boys, including appearances with some of the cast members such as Tim Cappello, Jamison Newlander, and Billy Wirth. Will you be performing some of the songs from the musical with those guys? 

G Tom Mac: There are going to be three or four tracks that we’re going to put together the visuals and stuff like that for come the end of this month, so you’ll be able to hear the music. But the bigger picture is for people to be able to get it on vinyl so I can sign autographs, and it will be streaming, too. So you’ll be able to get it in the heads of people before the actual theatrical release, because that’s a ways away. But the idea was to release this soundtrack, much like what The Who did with Tommy back in the day, where there’s this grandiose, musical rock opera that Pete Townshend wrote, and it became theatrical.

It was great because you could get to know the songs. Especially with what’s going on with Hamilton now. I have a 12-year-old kid who knows all the songs from Hamilton, but he’s never seen the play. It’s a good way to get the buzz going, so I feel it’s a good decision to release this way in advance of the actual theatrical release. We’re going to go out and do a lot of these shows and conventions and we’re going to be playing select cuts from the musical as well as some of my other hits. We did a show in New Jersey that was amazing with the fans that turned out and just seeing the reaction to the songs we played from the musical. The true test is when people are in the audience hearing it for the first time.

The Lost Boys could potentially become a TV series on The CW. If they do a TV series, would you be open to do music for it if they approached you?

G Tom Mac: They’ve already approached me—Bill Bindley, who is one of the primary producers of the show, and the showrunner/writer/producer Rob Thomas, who did Veronica Mars and iZombie. We all had a chat probably last September or October. We’ve had ongoing conversations. With the musical, there may be a way in which they could use some of the music from the musical integrated into the series. It’s still early days with that, but we’re hoping to get something up and running by sometime around this time next year. I think it could be cool, and it’s a great idea what they’ve got going on. They’re going to take it in decades and start in 1967 and the Lost Boys travel through decades and years. I think Rob’s been good. I loved Veronica Mars, I thought that was a really cool series. He’s got a handle on it. He’s a really good showrunner.

Is there anything else you have coming up that you’d like to share with your fans?

G Tom Mac: September 8th–10th I’m in Indianapolis for a show along with Billy Wirth and Jamison Newlander and Tim Cappello, and I’ll be performing songs from A Lost Boys Story the musical. And September 30th in Malibu there’s a big overnight Lost Boys campout, which I’m already told will have a couple thousand people showing up to that, so it’s a Lost Boys gone Woodstock kind of thing. And then I’ll be at the Liverpool Horror Con in England. Just come on my website at GTomMac.com and all of the social media, from Instagram to Twitter to Facebook, I’m there.

*Photo courtesy of G Tom Mac.