Stories from the West Side and other places!

I truly have a lot of fun working on local shows.  At the moment I have finished producing two shows in the past six months, started a third and am about to begin a fourth.  Maybe the best thing about producing the latest show, West Side Story, is that it is bringing back a lot a great memories. 
West Side Story is as old as I am!  Literally it was released on Broadway the year I was born.  So I guess I've grown old with it!
My mother was a frugal Greek woman.  She looked for bargains everywhere, complained when the price of meat or milk was too high, and often outfitted my brothers or I with clothes from the local Thrift Store.  In fact I'm pretty sure the reason she volunteered there was so she got first crack at whatever was donated that week.  We didn't know any better.  Maybe it was because fashion wasn't a hot topic in the early 60's. 
My mother loved musicals.  In particular she loved Sound of Music, Funny Girl and West Side Story.  She owned about 5 record albums.  Those were those plastic black things that we put in a "record player" and a needle played the music.  Imagine that! 
She would borrow one of my brother's record players and play her favorites every day.  And West Side Story was certainly one of her favorites.  I knew the words to "Tonight", "Somewhere", and "Maria" before I knew how to sing my "ABC's" or really any other kid song.She had great taste. 
West Side Story has simply the most amazing music of it's era.  And I am absolutely loving the fact that I get to listen to it every night at rehearsal.  To make things even better, our cast is a collection of high school students from 14 area high schools.  The best of the best.  And to listen to them sing is truly heaven.
One quick aside, I knew the story to West Side Story so well that when I read "Romeo and Juliet" in my 8th grade English Lit class I asked the teacher why this Shakespeare guy ripped off West Side Story.  :)
The performances will be in June at Parkland Theater.  Sue Aldridge and Becky Murphy are directing and teaching the choreography.  I promise it will be wonderful.
In the meantime, I'm just having a nightly flashback to my youth.