The show was first adapted into a 1961 movie that became a massive box office smash and won 10 Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture.

In on-set snaps from the new version, Mike Faist as Riff was seen leading his New York street gang in their introductory number The Jet Song.

With a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by newbie Stephen Sondheim and music by Leonard Bernstein, the original show was adapted from Romeo And Juliet.

In place of the Capulet and Montague families, the plot concerns a conflict between rival gangs, the Puerto Rican Sharks and the white Jets.