America

I hadn't yet completed my first year of living in the US as a poor graduate student when I watched West Side Story. 

Nope, it was not on stage.  Not live theatre.

I watched it on a small television set that my dental school roommate owned.

Yet, that miniscule screen size didn't take away the excitement of the musical in any way. 

I am reminded of all that because of the news that one of the people involved in creating that phenomenal musical, Stephen Sondheim, died. 

When I watched West Side Story, it is not as if I had been listening to Broadway musicals in India.  Not at all.  West Side Story was my first ever, and what a way to fall in love with Broadway!

I had no idea about Bernstein and Sondheim until that very day.  I sat there completely transfixed by the visual and aural experience. 

The more I think about it, I am not sure if I fell in love with Broadway musicals or with America itself.  Or both perhaps.

Naturally, the piece that really, really, grabbed my attention was "America." 

When I discussed migration and immigration in my classes, I often played "America" for my students too.  I always hoped that they, too, fell in love with the musical and America--as if they had not been born here but were experiencing it all for the first time.

Thank you, Stephen Sondheim.