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Originating in 1957 as a successful Broadway musical conceived, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, the movie adaptation of West Side Story premieres in New York. Co-directed by Robbins and Robert Wise, from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film, like the stage production, transplants Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the West Side of Manhattan where two waring street gangs – the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks – redefine the Montague and Capulet feud when the sister of the Shark’s gangleader falls in love with the Jets’ former co-founder. With music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Steven Sondheim, and a cast that includes Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno and Russ Tamblyn, the film is a box-office success, winning a record 10 Academy Awards.
