KURT WEILL COMES TO TOWN: If you are familiar with German composer Kurt Weill, it’s most likely from his The Threepenny Opera, which he wrote before immigrating to America in 1935. Weill continued to work once he got here, but those musicals are not seen as often as the ones he wrote in Germany. Theatre Three is aiming to change that tonight when it stages Lost in the Stars, the adaptation of Alan Payton’s novel Cry of the Beloved Country, which Weill worked on with Maxwell Anderson. The story centers on a black pastor in South Africa looking for his missing son.  Lost in the Stars musical director Terry Dobson discusses the challenges of staging Weill’s ambitious work in the above video. The show runs at Theatre Three through June 14.

CLIBURN KICKOFFS: The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition begins on Friday, and each of the major North Texas dailies devoted major space over the weekend to getting everyone ready for the event. The Fort Wort Star-Telegram traveled to New York to get to know four of the competitors: Naomi Kudo, Spencer Myer, Vassilis Varvaresos and Andrea Lam. If you’re into all things Cliburn, definitely spend some time pouring through the online features on the paper’s sister site, DFW.com. Meanwhile, The Dallas Morning News gets into a debate about competition in the arts and the purpose that it serves.

AND THEY SAID IT WOULD NEVER BE BROKEN: This is normally the time of year when college students are taking final exams and possibly trying to get a job. But 242 students at the College of William and Mary had more important work to do, like breaking the world record for most people simultaneously doing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance in one location. The previous record was 147 people. What does that have to do with North Texas? Absolutely nothing as far as I can tell. But the urge to pass along a link to the video was too strong to ignore.