Hailed by critics as one of the major hits in theatrical history, West Side Story is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, with its action set amid the street feuds of youthful Americans and Puerto Ricans in a Manhattan slum.

As in the case of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, the musical's story tells how the blossoming of a romance of the star-crossed lovers between a boy, Tony, and a girl, Maria, belonging to mutually hateful gangs, leads to intense gang fights, to heartbreak, and to the death of the impassioned lovers. The youthful brutality of the street gangs between the Jets and the Sharks create even more pity and terror because of the racial tensions between them.

Jacob Holdaway and Ashley Mendez have the leading roles of Tony and Maria, whose rapturous romance steams up the racial conflict already existing when they meet and fall in love.  This will be the fourth time Modesto Performing Arts has produced West Side Story. It is one of the most requested and most popular shows of all time.