Classic musical West Side Story debuts at the San Pedro Playhouse on May 10

Having spurred two Academy Award-winning film adaptations since its Broadway premiere in 1957, West Side Story has emerged as a timeless concoction of love story and cautionary tale. A modern spin on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the musical takes place on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the crosshairs of a power struggle between two rival gangs — the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. When Tony (Nick DeGraw Glavac), a former member of the Jets, and Maria (Jillian Juliet Sainz), sister of Sharks leader Bernardo (Alonzo Corona), start seeing each other in secrecy, tensions rise and the threat of a tragic fate looms.