On this day in 1957, the musical West Side Story opens at the Winter Garden Theater in New York. The musical, featuring music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, updated and retold the story of Romeo and Juliet and set the romance in contemporary New York. The show was the first Broadway credit for Sondheim. When the show was released as a movie in 1961, it won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress.

(With thanks to History.com)