West Side Story (film) Brittany Snow and Drake Bell. West Side Story (film) West Side Story is a 1961 American romantic musical tragedy film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70. Released on October 18, 1961, through United Artists, the film received high praise from critics and viewers, and became the second highest
Kenton's West Side Story Kenton's West Side Story Kenton's West Side Story is an album by Stan Kenton that won the Grammy Award in 1962 for Best Jazz Performance – Large Group (Instrumental). The album was recorded in 1961 and released quickly to take advantage of the movie premiere of the musical "West Side Story". Kenton won his first Grammy Award. He won again the next year in the same category. "Kenton's West Side Story" peaked at No. 16 on the "Billboard" magazine album chart. The Kenton orchestra had been on a slow decline in sales and popularity in the late 1950s with having