Chanukah story? Or the greatest musical of all time, West Side Story?

This magnificent five-minute a cappella performance by the Manhattan Jewish Experience is both. Shoutout to David Schwartz for the link!

As with all take-offs and parodies, it helps if you’re familiar with both the original Chanukah story and the musical (either in stage form or movie form).

My original intent was just to introduce the West Side Chanukah Story. But before we go to the performance, I have to report the notification I read as I was writing this: as you have probably heard by now, the great Stephen Sondheim, lyricist for West Side Story and writer of words and music for so much more, has suddenly died at age 91. RIP.

Lovely three-line tribute by Lea Salonga:

Rest In Peace, Stephen Sondheim, and thank you for your vast contributions to musical theater. We shall be singing your songs forever. Oh, my heart hurts…

And now for the performance:

Categories: Life