Lost in the Stars Plays City Center

The Encores! production of Lost in the Stars begins performances at New York City Center. The musical, featuring a score by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, stars Patina Miller, Chuck Cooper and Daniel Breaker.

Based on Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country, Lost in the Stars was billed as a “musical tragedy” when it opened on Broadway in 1949, playing 281 performances. The show provides an uncompromising social indictment of apartheid South Africa through the story of two aging men (one black, one white) brought together by a shared grief. Weill’s score includes operatic arias, chorales, blues, folk music, and pop tunes, and makes abundant use of the chorus (representing the blacks and whites of Johannesburg) to comment upon the action and propel the story forward.

Lost in the Stars will play through February 6.