Conformal field theories comprise a vast class of exactly solvable two dimensional quantum field theories. Conformal theories with an enlarged symmetry group, the current algebra symmetry, axe a key ingredient to possible string compactification models. The following work explores a Lagrangian approach to these theories. In the first part of this thesis, a large class of conformal theories, the so-called coset models, are derived semi-classically from a gauged version Of the Wess-Zumino-Witten functional. A non-local field transformation to the parafermionic field description is employed in the quantization procedure. Classically, these parafermionic fields satisfy non-trivial Poisson brackets, providing insight into the fractional spin nature of the conformal theory. The W-algebra symmetry is shown to appear naturally in this approach. In the second part of this thesis, the connection between the fusion algebra structure of Wess-Zumino-Witten models and the quantization of the Chern-Simons action on the torus is made explicit. The modular properties of the conformal model are also derived in this context, giving a natural demonstration of the Verlinde conjecture. The effects of background gauge fields and monopoles are also discussed.