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West Side Story re-invents what's really fabulous about Romeo and Juliet:


One of the strengths of West Side Story is that it re-invents what's really fabulous about Romeo and Juliet, and takes them to a whole new level. Both the stories behind West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet are creative, deep, fascinating, and intense, all of which make it easy for the vast majority of people to want to see them both on stage and on screen. West Side Story re-invents the conflicts between the Montegues and the Capulets of Verona of Old Italy by expressing the conflict between NYC's white ethnic American Jets and the newly-arrived Puerto Rican Sharks through intense, emotion-displaying dance. All told, West Side Story re-invents Romeo & Juliet by turning it into a famous movie/musical.

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