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Weill’s Lost in the Stars Shines at Glimmerglass

Sep. 04, 2012

Weill’s <em>Lost in the Stars</em> Shines at Glimmerglass

The warm New York summer got even hotter in July and August when the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown presented Lost in the Stars, Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s 1949 “musical tragedy” based on Alan Paton’s classic anti-apartheid novel, Cry, the Beloved Country. Directed by Tazewell Thompson and conducted by John DeMain, the co-production with Cape Town Opera featured Eric Owens as Stephen Kumalo and Sean Pannikar as the Leader. Audiences were moved to tears, as were the critics, who called Lost in the Stars “powerful lyric theater of the top tier” (Opera Today) and the “most timely and deeply felt” (Albany Times Union) production of the acclaimed Glimmerglass season.

For her second season at the Glimmerglass Festival... artistic and general director Francesca Zambello has hit a home run. The high point is Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars.... This hybrid of opera and music theater is ideally served by Tazewell Thompson’s sensitive, understated production; the splendid Glimmerglass chorus; ... and especially the towering, heartfelt performance of Eric Owens.... Lost in the Stars resembles an oratorio, and the chorus, with the terrific Sean Panikkar as the Leader, brings weight and pathos to the show’s great laments and its theme about how fear keeps the races divided.... Michael Mitchell’s simple set suggesting the corrugated metal of South African shanty towns, Mr. Thompson’s subtle stage direction, and John DeMain’s thoughtful conducting let the deep emotion of this piece come through. – Wall Street Journal

The story of apartheid and repression is sadly still relevant. But Lost in the Stars also embodies themes of redemption and deliverance that are important, welcome, and cathartic.... Powerful lyric theatre of the top tier. – Opera Today

With the lush, urgent conducting of John DeMain and the full-voiced singing of a winning cast, the production, directed by Tazewell Thompson in a dark, affecting and fluid staging, draws out the operatic resonances of Weill’s score. Mr. Owens triumphed in the lead role of Stephen Kumalo.... [His] complete identification with Kumalo comes through in every moment of his searing portrayal.... Unbearably moving. – New York Times

Beautifully conceived, brilliant in its theatrical effects... and so affecting in its emotional content that not only was the audience at the performance’s end in tears, so were the cast members.... A great theatrical experience. – Opera Warhorses

European American Music Corporation congratulates The Kurt Weill Foundation, Glimmerglass Festival 2012 and Cape Town Opera on this outstanding success. Performance materials for individual numbers are available from EAM. Licensing inquiries for the complete work should be directed to The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, www.rnh.com.

Learn more on the life and music of Kurt Weill at kwf.org.

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