West Side Story based loosely on "West Side Story" and adapting parts of the musical's music and lyrics, was performed a total of more than 500 times in Miami Beach, Florida, Stockholm, Gran Canaria and Los Angeles. The show lampoons the musical's tragic love story, and also lip-synching and drag shows. 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
Kenton's West Side Story very limited by the theatrical content of the music and Johnny Richards trying to stay true to the music with his orchestrations. The "Kenton's West Side Story" LP charted for 26 weeks in Billboard starting in October 1961, peaking at #16 in November on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 albums. Stan Kenton is listed in Today's Top Record Talent honor roll in Billboard's April 4, 1963 issue citing both "Adventures In Jazz" and "Kenton's West Side Story" as top selling hits. Grammy Awards "Arranger Johnny Richards is responsible for the sometimes wild, sometimes mournful, but always interesting reading by the