NEW YORK — Composer Kurt Weill's last work on Broadway is difficult — hard to sing and with a story that's not always so easy to watch.
In "Lost in the Stars," Weill mixed traditional Broadway show tunes with his trademark discordant operatic songs to an adaptation of Alan Paton's best-selling novel "Cry, the Beloved Country," a searing story of racial inequality in post World War II South Africa.
Overlooked for decades, New York City Center has dug it out for a stripped-down, four-day run that started Thursday as part of its Encore! series and proved it is worthy of another spin. Though Maxwell Anderson's book and lyrics are at times overwrought and slapdash, Weill's score has some haunting songs, including "Thousands of Miles," ''Trouble Man" and the lush title song.
The story hews close to the novel, telling the story of a black preacher (Chuck Cooper) who travels to Johannesburg to find his missing son, Absalom (Daniel Breaker). The son has fallen into petty thievery, made a woman pregnant (Sherry Boone) and has killed a rich white man during a robbery. The preacher and the dead man's father (Daniel Gerroll) must then come to terms as Absalom's execution approaches.
Weill's songs have an inconsistency of tone as he careens from lush and snappy tunes to stark staccato songs delivered by a Greek-like chorus. The inconsistency is partly because Weill and Anderson appropriated some of this musical's songs from a previous, unfinished collaboration.
So audiences will hear "Who'll Buy?" — a sexy come-on delivered by a prostitute (and knocked out the park by Patina Miller) — and then a few songs later they'll hear "Fear!" where a black chorus and a white chorus face-off about their different perspectives on racial violence.
Cooper, who won a Tony Award for "The Life," fills his songs with a resigned sadness and a haunting beauty. Boone wrestles with two stunningly complicated songs — "Trouble Man" and "Stay Well" — and emerges triumphant. Jeremy Gumbs, fresh from "The Scottsboro Boys," is absolutely charming with his toe-tapper song "Big Mole." And Quentin Earl Darrington as the Leader brings a thunderous voice and presence.
"Lost in the Stars" opened on Broadway in 1949 and played 281 performances. It was the last work Weill completed before his death in 1950. A Broadway revival in 1972 ran for 39 performances.
Online: