Highbury Opera Theatre

Highbury Opera Theatre is proud to present the fully-staged London premiere of Lost in the Stars, Kurt Weill's final 1949 musical.

With words by Maxwell Anderson.
Based on Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country.

Lost in the Stars gives passionate voice to Paton’s powerful, uncompromising social indictment of apartheid South Africa. Written in 1948, the stirring story is of two ageing men—a black country parson and a separatist white British planter—who are brought together by a shared grief.

With a powerful score often compared to Porgy and Bess, Lost in the Stars lays bare the tragedy of social barriers among all people, yet ends with a deeply moving promise of reconciliation and hope for the future.

HOT's production reunites conductor Scott Stroman and director Jean Lacornerie, who together created French premier productions of Weill's One Touch of Venus and Lady in the Dark, nominated for a prestigious Molière Award, France's version of the British Olivier Awards.

Presented during Black History Month, it will be supported by an education programme reaching over 600 school children throughout the London Borough of Islington.

Its cast will be led by South African operatic baritone Denver Martin-Smith and Zimbawean Lucky Moyo, who has toured the world as the lead voice of the popular a capella group Black Umfolozi. The large chorus is anchored by Eclectic Voices.