Jets v Sharks

West Side Story was concocted by a quartet of Broadway legends: Jerome Robbins (choreography), Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (score) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

The musical famously takes the star-crossed lovers of Shakespeare's tragedy and throws them into Hell's Kitchen in New York in the 1950s. Romeo becomes Tony; Juliet becomes Maria (played, in the production, by Ryan Silverma and Sofia Escobar) Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

Maria is associated with a Puerto Rican gang named the Sharks ... Photograph: Tristram Kenton

... while Tony has friends in a gang called the Jets. When the pair fall in love, the romance is threatened by the rivalry between the gangs Photograph: Tristram Kenton

The anniversary production is directed and choreographed by Joey McKneely, who was once the assistant to Jerome Robbins Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Lyn Gardner gives the new production four stars and says 'it makes most of the current crop of West End musicals seem dull, uninspired and rather silly ... it makes your spine tingle and your heart sing' Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

The musical runs at Sadler's Wells until August 31 2008 Photograph: Tristram Kenton