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
Cheapjack Shakespeare Cheapjack Shakespeare Cheapjack Shakespeare is a webcomic and stage play created by Shaun McLaughlin and produced by Gabriel Benson. Though it was initially published as a webcomic, it was adapted from a screenplay and the storyboards for an unproduced film. "Cheapjack Shakespeare" was later adapted as a play. "Cheapjack Shakespeare" revolves around a college Shakespeare company falling apart as they attempt to stage an outdoor production, with cast members being unfaithful with each other. In June 2010 it was announced that the comic would be produced as a stage play, "Cheapjack Shakespeare: The Non-Musical". This premiered in Buffalo, NY on