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 from rival New Utrecht High School. In the third season of the series "Glee", three episodes feature characters auditioning, rehearsing and performing a school production of "West Side Story." Songs from the musical are performed in episode 2 "I Am Unicorn", episode 3 "Asian F" and episode 5 "The First Time" and also given digital releases. The "Animaniacs" episode "West Side Pigeons" features a parody romance and rivalry that mirrors that of the Jets and the Sharks. In the "Tom and Jerry Tales" episode "The League of Cats", Tom's and Jerry's respective leagues act very similar to the Jets and