Balcony Scene Smackdown

Who does it best?


Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's 1997 Romeo + Juliet:

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey in Franco Zefirelli's 1968 film:

Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer in George Cukor's 1936 version:

Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in a 1966 performance of the balcony scene from Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet (1935-36):

Which Shakespeare Plays Do Students Read in High School?

I surveyed the students in my upper-division college Shakespeare course to find out which plays they had read in high school.

Most had read Romeo and Juliet (70%) and Hamlet (68%); fewer than half had read Macbeth (39%) or Julius Caesar (36%). Three plays brought up the rear: Othello (31%), A Midsummer Night's Dream (24%), and—surprisingly—The Taming of the Shrew (21%).

The other thirty canonical plays were untouched or had been read by one or two students.

DISCUSSION: Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet

Romeo and Juliet Movie Clips on the Web

Complete Films

• ShakespeareandMore has posted Renato Castellani's 1954 film, starring Laurence Harvey as Romeo, Susan Shentall as Juliet, and John Gielgud as the Prologue.
  
• FilboidSludge has posted the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli film, with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.
  
• Titanicfanz has posted Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo + Juliet, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes. 
  

2.1: The Balcony Scene

• Whiting and Hussey. 
  
• DiCaprio and Danes. 
  

3.1: The Death of Mercutio

• From Zeffirelli's film, with Michael York as Tybalt and John McEnery as Mercutio. 
  
• From Luhrmann's film, with John Leguizamo as Tybalt and Harold Perrineau as Mercutio. 

5.3: In the Tomb

• Whiting and Hussey.
  
• DiCaprio and Danes. 
  

Actors

• Olivia Hussey talks about playing Juliet.
  
• Leonardo DiCaprio talks about playing Romeo. 
  
• Clare Danes talks about playing Juliet. 
  

Music and Dance

Berlioz

• Charles Munch directs the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Berlioz's symphonie dramatique.
  

Tchaikovsky

• Valery Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture: Part One, Part Two. 
  
• André Rieu plays the love theme. 
  
• Mikhail Lavrovsky and Natalia Bessmertnova in a Bolshoi Ballet performance. 
  

Prokofiev

• Manuel Legris and Monique Loudieres in a Ballet de l'Opera National de Paris performance. 
  

Gounod

• Sumi Jo, Anna Netrebko, Maria Callas, and Angela Gheorghiu sing "Je veux vivre" from Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.