West Side Story West Side Story West Side Story is a musical with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid 1950s, an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood (in the early 1960s, much of the neighborhood was cleared in an urban renewal project for Lincoln Center, which changed the neighborhood's character). The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of
West Side Story (soundtrack) the song now called "Tonight". Although it was not industry standard at the time, Nixon arranged to receive a small percentage of the royalties for sales of the soundtrack, which, as she did not receive credit for her performance on the album, she indicates helped "salve any wounds". All music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Vocal performers listed parenthetically after song title. West Side Story (soundtrack) West Side Story is the soundtrack to the 1961 film "West Side Story". Released in 1961, the soundtrack spent 54 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's album charts, giving it the