Lost in the Stars

Lost in the Stars is a video portrait of playwright Maxwell Anderson, who lived on South Mountain Road in New City, New York, from the 1920s through the 1950s. The title is from the 1949 musical of the same name, written by Maxwell Anderson with composer Kurt Weill while they were neighbors in New City. Written and coproduced by long-time Rockland County resident, Richard Connolly, this digitally reedited version of a 1988 PBS documentary includes rare interviews with Burgess Meredith and Helen Hayes. The DVD includes a bonus feature: an animated music video of the Anderson/Weill title song performed by Burgess Meredith.

MAXWELL ANDERSON was one of the most important American playwrights of the early 20th century. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Anderson wrote such classic plays, screenplays, and musicals as Key Largo, The Bad Seed, What Price Glory?, Anne of a Thousand Days, Knickerbocker Holiday, and High Tor.

KURT WEILL was a German-Jewish composer who was active from the 1920s in his native country, and in later years after his emigration to the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage, best known for his collaborations with Bertolt Brecht, especially for the classic, The Threepenny Opera, which included the ballad “Mack the Knife”. Weill believed in writing music that served a socially useful purpose—an ideal that was also held by his co-collaborator and neighbor, Maxwell Anderson.

RICHARD CONNOLLY is founder and director of Circumstantial Productions.

YOUR DVD PURCHASE WILL INCLUDE ACCESS TO A
STREAMING VERSION OF LOST IN THE STARS.