Lost in The Stars - Response

Response

Critic Brooks Atkinson, in his review for The New York Times wrote of the original 1949 Broadway production that Maxwell Anderson and Mr. Weill had encountered "obvious difficulty" in transforming "so thoroughly a work of literary art" into theatre, and was sometimes "skimming and literal where the novel is rich and allusive." He suggested that people unfamiliar with the novel might not fully appreciate the "multitudinous forces that are running headlong through this tragic story." He praised Anderson's "taste and integrity" and described the last scene as "profoundly moving." Robert Garland, writing in the Journal American, similarly commented that "the beauty and simplicity of Paton's book infrequently comes through."

In contrast, Atkinson felt that the music positively added to the experience of the novel: "Here, the theatre has come bearing its most memorable gifts. In the past Mr. Weill has given the theatre some fine scores. But...it is difficult to remember anything out of his portfolio as eloquent as this richly orchestrated singing music.... overflowing with the same compassion that Mr. Paton brought to his novel...The music is deep, dramatic, and beautiful."

However, Paton did not agree with Anderson's ending. Paton desperately wanted the Christian aspect of his work to be a huge focus. Without it, it changed the meaning of the entire work. About Lost in the Stars, Paton thought that the opening lines were "profoundly unchristian and tantamount to an invitation to despair, and therefore they an expression of something directly opposed to what Paton intended his character to embody."