‘Officer Krupke’ burst from the lungs of the taunting but playful Jets as they made fun of the local police officer. Arab was just about to do his solo when his left contact lens popped out and landed somewhere on stage.
During the intervening hi-jinks he crawled on the floor trying to find it. Groping the stones of the pseudo New York street, sliding his hands across the floor boards, knowing that if he didn’t find it, the remaining hours of dance and staging would certainly crush the fragile piece of plastic.
But, no luck. And, the show had to go on. Two hours later, after the curtain call, on a seam in the curtain, a plastic contact lens was discovered, clinging to life, and happy to have survived another performance of West Side Story at the San Jose Civic Light Opera in 1967.
Sometimes things just work out.