Upper West Side Story the next morning. The poem was ultimately included in a scene in which Neal is teaching an English class. Kenny Herzog of "The A.V. Club" pointed out that the episode contained various references to Shakespearian and Victorian-era literature, specifically mentioning "Romeo and Juliet". He stated that these metaphors helped move the plot forward. The initial broadcast of the episode drew 3.472 million viewers, and earned a 1.1 rating in the 18–49 demographic. "Upper West Side Story" ranked seventh place among cable series for the night in the 18–49 demographic and fourth in its timeslot, surpassed by "Teen Mom 2", "Storage
West Side Story be centered around anti-Semitism of the Catholic "Jets" towards the Jewish "Emeralds" (a name that made its way into the script as a reference). Eager to write his first musical, Laurents immediately agreed. Bernstein wanted to present the material in operatic form, but Robbins and Laurents resisted the suggestion. They described the project as "lyric theater", and Laurents wrote a first draft he called "East Side Story". Only after he completed it did the group realize it was little more than a musicalization of themes that had already been covered in plays like "Abie's Irish Rose". When he opted to