Movie Review: 'West Side Story'
“West Side Story,” produced by The Mirisch Corporation and Seven Arts Productions for United Artists, is a 1961 film adaptation of a 1957 Broadway musical conceived by Jerome Robbins and with a book by Arthur Laurents. Set in the West Side of New York in the late Fifties, the show is a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” As in the Bard’s 16 th Century tragedy, “West Side Story” focuses on a pair of “star-cross’d lovers” caught in the middle of a blood feud. Since the play takes place in post-World War II New York City, the two rivaling factions are two teen gangs: The Jets make up the “American” gang: the Sharks are Puerto Ricans. Tony, Laurents’ stand-in for Romeo, is a former Jet trying to go straight. “West Side Story’s” Juliet is Maria, the younger sister of Bernardo, the Sharks’ leader. Featuring music composed by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim, “West Side Story” was a big hit during its initial Broadway run. It won t...