Fifty years ago tonight, the ground-breaking musical West Side Story premiered on Broadway. While it has become an indelible part of American culture, with a film adaptation and well-loved songs, the show's success was anything but assured back in 1957.
Drawing on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the gritty musical was the work of director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, playwright Arthur Laurents, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and composer Leonard Bernstein.
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