The Lost Boys is a bona fide vampire cinema classic. The 1987 Joel Schumacher movie shows us a gang of perpetually young teenage vampires in a beachside resort and Kiefer Sutherland’s performance in it has become legendary. The CW has been hard at work trying to adapt the movie for television, though right now the project is on hiatus due to quality issues and the COVID-19 pandemic.
But while the TV show might have hit the brakes, the world of The Lost Boys is branching out in other directions. The original movie’s composer G Tom Mac (aka Gerard McMahon) has been developing a prequel Broadway musical called A Lost Boys Story and discussed the project in a new interview with SYFY.
He explained that it fleshes out the backstory of Kiefer Sutherland’s David, who was an orphan in Lithuania and emigrated to the USA. Things seem good for a while, only for him to wind up back in an orphanage that’s run by a vampire named Max. I think you can probably guess what happens to David there.
McMahon went on to describe the story as so:
“At 17-18 [years old], he hits the road, and that’s when he picks up the other vampires and basically creates a family with the three other guys. They all come from different walks of life in Middle America, the Midwest, Arizona, and then they head to California. That’s when all the good stuff starts. We tried to take a twist, whereby we know the story of the movie, but we don’t know how it all got there. And in the musical, we do. It’s very much a story of immortality, but it’s also a story about how people in their 20s think they’re immortal, anyway. It kind of runs that parallel of pop culture.”
Songwriting for the show is complete, and in fact, the entire album is up on Spotify if you want to check it out. Casting is also currently underway, with the show having apparently secured Malcolm McDowell to play Max the orphanage vampire. McMahon revealed that he also had lengthy discussions with Joel Schumacher prior to his death, who provided input and is described as the musical’s “biggest champion.”
However, A Lost Boys Story is currently on hold due to – you guessed it – COVID-19. The pandemic has shut down Broadway until at least early 2021 and the show is now planned to debut sometime in 2022. In addition, McMahon has pitched a crossover with The CW’s The Lost Boys, potentially meaning we could get a musical episode of that show (if it ever makes it to air).
More on both of these projects as we hear it.
