AdaptationHIGH
Romeo and Juliet influenced West Side Story
Added by Media Influence Map · 29 September 2026
The evidence
Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim moved Shakespeare's play to the Upper West Side of New York: the Montagues and Capulets become the Jets and the Sharks, the balcony becomes a fire escape, and Tony and Maria's love ends in a killing, though Maria, unlike Juliet, is left alive.
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