West Side Story 
What can I even say about this movie? There are just too many things I love. I fell in love with the soundtrack at the age of nine when I got the cassette for my birthday long before I saw the film. It’s still probably my favourite musical of all time. Cabaret is my favourite film which happens to be a musical, but West Side Story is my favourite musical.
It’s good right from the start with the sweeping shot of New York from above moving in to the way the dance and music give you the syncopated rhythm of the gangs’ interactions. (OK, so they’re not the toughest looking street gangs in cinema history). The grey streets are illuminated with flashes of colour (mainly red, for passion, anger and blood) which looks good but also serves as an appropriate visualisation of the lives of the characters. It’s not dissimilar to the look of a Jaques Demy film, but with a layer of grime instead of a candy coated outside. Watching it this time I noticed the use of colour more.
The songs! I love the songs. If I start listing all my favourite songs it will probably be all of them, but Jet Song, Something’s Coming, America, Tonight (especially the ensemble), Gee Officer Krupke, Maria, Somewhere, Cool… But the music between songs is just as important - the dance fight at the beginning, the dance at the dance, the rumble, the whistling. The dancing and dance-related acrobatics are impressive.
The story is an old one, an updating of Romeo and Juliet. But then the Shakespeare version wasn’t the original either, and sometimes the old stories are the best. It works well, unfolding naturally with nothing shoehorned in, New York apartments working perfectly as a substitute for Juliet’s balcony . There are different emphases here, on the conflict between locals and immigrants, the sometimes well-meaning but mostly hopeless attempts of the older generation to get the youth to play nice (“You was never my age, none of ya!”), the dynamic between Maria, Anita and Bernardo.
The absence of a sensible adult voice in the film is interesting - there’s only Doc, really (“weapons? You couldn’t play basketball?” “Why do you kids live like there’s a war on?”); Maria’s parents are mentioned but notable by their absence. These themes are cleverly encapsulated, sometimes amusingly, in the songs - the different facets of the immigrant experience in the song America, the way delinquents are handled by different systems in Officer Krupke. While the outfits may be dated, a lot of the themes still have a lot of resonance today, and nothing is ever quite clear cut, nobody is without blame ("You all killed him!" - Maria's 'a plague on both your houses moment.)
While West Side Story has all of the fun of a light musical, it also packs a dramatic punch. Some of my favourite dramatic moments include the supremely insensitive police officer at Doc’s insulting everybody - and in the process reminding the Jets that a lot of their parents were immigrants too. Doc’s comment to Tony that he’s cared enough for the both of them. The two sides getting ready for the rumble. After the fight when the Jets mention Riff’s name and suddenly go quiet. Doc telling Tony that Maria is dead. Tony running through the empty streets calling for Chino to kill him and then when he sees Maria in the red dress.
The acting is mostly good, especially Rita Moreno who is effective in a more comedic role at the start, but is really good towards the end when things become more dramatic. When she fails to deliver the message, it’s heartbreaking not just because of the effect that has on what happens to Tony and Maria, but because it’s all too obvious why after the way the Jets behave and the effect it has on her (“Don’t you touch me.” delivered with such meaning). Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer are not ideal casting, but they are pretty and charming enough that their sudden romance works.
It sometimes looks a bit stagy, and there are times when the visuals go a bit sixties in their attempts at jazzy special effects which are largely unnecessary, although I do like Tony and Maria’s first meeting when the dancers behind them fade into the background leaving them in the foreground.
All in all, a classic.
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But it will be along the lines of what gbgoodies said. 
Very cool Ed, glad you enjoyed this Hof and got to see some musicals you've never seen before.
I think if he would've worn just a NICE suit, everyone would have had a nice little laugh about it and life would've gone on. This was an important night for not only Esther, but John, too (at least it should've been for him). All that mattered was that they got to spend this night together.
But at least you can now see why I had issues with that part of the story. 
