The objective of my presentation is to discuss similarities between Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and "Westside Story". As I looked at the similarities between the stories and even more between the characters of the stories, the question popped up if they are a coincidence or if the 20th century author of Westside Story had a desire to rewrite the Shakespeare original and why. Did the American author Arthur Laurent write Westside Story 40 years ago to …showed first 75 words of 2144 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2144 total…streets. Did he popularize Shakespeare's work? May be for a while, but Romeo and Juliet still today is the best known written love story. The Westside Story movie became very popular in the sixties. The music is still liked by many people. However, a recent film version of Romeo and Juliet proves that the original can be a box office hit today too. Somehow I think that the original will survive longer than Laurent's copy.