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 Suite West Side Story Suite West Side Story Suite is a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins to the 1957 music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim and extracted from the eponymous musical which he had choreographed, with scenery by Oliver Smith, costumes by Irene Sharaff and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The premiere took place at New York State Theater on Thursday, May 18, 1995. Nikolaj Hübbe and Jock Soto, both members of the original cast, as well as Peter Boal all chose to include "West Side Story Suite" in their farewell performances at City