West Side Story is one of the great contributors to musical theatre, in particular Broadway where it originally opened on September 26 1957 at the Winter garden Theatre. The production ran for 732 performances before entering the world of film in 1961. However, I believe its significance lies in the heart of the theatre where the audience is subjected to different styles of music, dance and of course an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In fact, Leonard Bernstein first decided to call his play East Side Story but opted against it, due to social relevancy. Instead the story would take place on the West side of New York; Brooklyn, under a realistic urban setting, hence West Side Story.

This decision may have improved the way in which we perceive the show today as the "street gang image" makes the story more effective and real to an audience of any age. In...