Within a year of the publication of Alan Paton’s novel Cry the Beloved Country, the film rights had been snatched up by Alexander Korda. Shortly after that, Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson had written a musical based on the book, titled Lost in the Stars.

Jacky Vermaas has directed Lost in the Stars for Technikon Natal’s department of drama studies and it will be staged at the Courtyard Theatre in September.