Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY - News & Discussion Thread — Page 31

Roscoe said: "Interesting that the Jets get such short shrift in the trailer. Am I the only one getting a bit of a gay vibe off of Riff (or at least the character I'm assuming is Riff)?"

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking that about Riff lol.

And that score sounds glorious!!

I have never gotten gay vibes about Riff, but cool, why not? That'd be a nice twist. I guess it's similar to people getting gay vibes about Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music and Henry Higgins/Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady.

I didn't get any gay vibes from this Riff, played by Mike Faist, either.

Interesting, however, that Faist turned down the chance to reprise his Tony-nominated performance as Connor Murphy for the movie of ''Dear Evan Hansen.'' He told the New York Times: ''I feel like I couldn’t do it. I started that when I was, like, 21, and was with it for five or six years. When you’re doing eight shows a week, it very much turns into relying on your technique and the job of it. And the show was such a zeitgeisty thing. It really took a lot out of me, and I didn’t really have it in me anymore.''

I'm also happy Mike turned down the part so he can do this instead. Not to mention he's a really good dancer, honestly Riff is kind of a perfect role for him.

degrassifan said: "I have never gotten gay vibes about Riff, but cool, why not? That'd be a nice twist."

Labelling any character in the play as "gay" may be going too far (with the possible exception of Anyways, who seems really coded to be a lesbian, as lesbians were imagined to be in popular culture at that time), but I think there's a pretty clear homoerotic subtext to Tony twisting Riff's arm behind him, bending him over and making him call out "Uncle" in their first scene together. There's a "boys horsing around together" potentially erotic thing going on there. I mean Tony's practically miming doing him doggy-style (and as we already know they live together in Tony's parents' tenement flat, which must be very small, I think we assume they share a room and possibly a bed--furthering the homoerotic nature of the moment). There's no way the almost entirely gay creative team behind the show failed to realize the possibility of other gay people reading the staging that way, even if the majority straight audience was expected to be oblivious to it. And it wouldn't be the first time "gay rebel buddies" were pictured as homoerotic through subtext. After all, in the movies, Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One has already been released.

And later in the show, Tony's reaction to Riff's death has a similar quality of something having existed between them more intense than just two guys who have been pals (I think Mercutio's death in Romeo and Juliet functions in a similar way).

Which is the least ridiculous thing he said in his entire paragraph. It's hilarious that he got alllllllllll that from a trailer. Shockingly (I know, I KNOW) straight men can (SHOCKER) be friends and even (OMG) roommates without any homosexual activity going on. Arm twisting is EROTIC all of a sudden? HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I will never stop laughing.

Cute though.

CarlosAlberto said: "joevitus said: "degrassifan said: "I have never gotten gay vibes about Riff, but cool, why not? That'd be a nice twist."

Labelling any character in the play as"gay" may be going too far (with the possible exception of Anyways, who seems really coded to be a lesbian, as lesbians were imagined to be in popular culture at that time), butI think there's a pretty clear homoeroticsubtext to Tony twisting Riff's arm behind him,bending him over and making him call out "Uncle" in their first scene together.There's a "boys horsing around together" potentially erotic thing going on there. I mean Tony's practicallymiming doing him doggy-style (and as we already knowthey live together in Tony's parents' tenement flat, which must be very small, I think we assume they share a room and possibly a bed--furthering the homoerotic nature of the moment). There's no way the almost entirely gay creative team behind the show failed to realize the possibility of other gay people reading the staging that way, even if the majority straight audience was expected to be oblivious to it. And it wouldn't be the first time "gay rebel buddies" were pictured as homoerotic through subtext. After all, in the movies, Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One has already been released.

And later in the show, Tony's reaction to Riff's death has a similar quality of something having existedbetween them more intense than just two guys who have been pals (I think Mercutio's death in Romeo and Juliet functions in a similar way).'

Sweetie, the character's name is Anybodys



"

"Sweetie," it couldn't matter less what the character's name is in terms of the points I was making. Literally totally irrelevant.

Reading queerness into a depiction of a hyper-masculine homosocial dynamic like a midcentury street gang is hardly out there or controversial. Such things were foundational for queer culture for decades (think of what kind of men Tom of Finland drew, for a more explicit example). Joevitus isn't saying WSS is definitively a depiction of gay romance, but there's definitely subtext there that people can parse if they so choose.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Chowd95 said: "Sondheim said glowing things about the movie on Colbert tonight. That's about as high a recommendation as you can get."

Indeed, and we know Sondheim doesn't always look favorably upon WSS. I'm curious to see what Tony Kush has done with the property."

I love what I've seen based on the new trailer. The characters feel more fleshed out. I loved when Maria stood up to Bernardo about wanting to have a life in NYC and be independent.