The soliloquies in Romeo and Juliet have been translated into the songs in West Side Story. Students enjoy reading the soliloquies and then listening to the songs. Transcription of the song lyrics aids development of a deeper understanding of Shakespeare's text and provides an ideal platform for weaker readers.

Romeo and Juliet has also been done in painting, opera, symphony, and ballet. A number of young adult novels use the plot as their foundation. These include Motown and DeeDee by Walter Dean Myers and Children of the River by Linda Crew. Other Shakespearean connections can be found in Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, Avi's Romeo and Juliet Are Alive and Living in..., Othello by Julius Lester, and Valentine and Orson by Nancy Eckholm. The latter is a picture book that calls up the primitive quality of traveling theater in Shakespeare's time and the demand on the imagination that this type of theater required.

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