The Sound of Music

I can't remember how old I was, nor can I remember who took me to see the production. All of those details fell aside when the curtain lifted on the King and I; nothing else mattered once Yul Brynner took control of that stage. I have no earthly idea what I was wearing, but I could still probably reconstruct many of the ornate costumes from memory. It beats me what we talked about as we waited for the show to begin, but I can still recite most of the song lyrics verbatim. The circumstances surrounding my presence at that performance slipped my mind years ago. But that joyful spine tingling emotion of watching it has never left me.

I've been to plenty of notable theatrical performances since that auspicious start, both in New York and here in London. I've loved some of the things I've seen and been indifferent to others. But I hadn't felt that spine tingling chill in a theatre again until this past weekend.

This time, the joy was in experiencing the familiar and beloved rather than discovering of the magical and unknown. The plot was one I knew by heart, the songs some of the first that I ever loved. The storyline brought back memories of a time when annual television airings were true events. The music brought back memories of a time when I had the self confidence and desire (but alas, not the talent) to step into the spotlight myself. The staging was superb, the cast outstanding and the performance on its own enough to inspire some chills, I suspect. But to top all of that off, my daughter sat rapt beside me quietly humming along, her eyes as wide with wonder as my own had been many years ago at my first big Broadway show. And the combination of my pleasure in what was happening on stage and my delight at what was happening beside me inspired nothing less than a serious case of the chills.

"Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could," Maria and the Captain sang on the vast stage before us. "So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good." I knew exactly what they meant.