Romeo and Juliet
Wrapped up in a passionate embrace, the bronze figures of Romeo and Juliet stand in front of the Delacorte Theater, home of the annual summer theater festival, Shakespeare in the Park.
In the 1970s, publisher and philanthropist George Delacorte donated Romeo and Juliet as well as The Tempest by the American sculptor Milton Hebald to the Park. They were both installed in 1977 in front of the Delacorte Theater, which he also funded. Before the theater was built in 1962, the Shakespeare Festival presented free summer plays on a portable stage in the vicinity. Romeo and Juliet was the first play the festival presented in Central Park in 1957.
In addition to the Delacorte Theater, George Delacorte is responsible for funding some of the Park’s best-known sculptural features, including the popular sculpture Alice in Wonderland in 1959 and the Delacorte Clock in 1965.