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THE KHNER/SPIELBERG ADAPTATN OF ‘WT SI STORY’ IS SURE TO BE PRETTY, WTY AND GAY
Infed throughout Wt Si Story is a gay sensibily that’s exprsed subtextually the relatnship between the hero Tony and Riff, the lear of the Jets, and choreographilly through the homoeroticism of the all-male dance sequenc. Along wh Arthur Lrents, poser Leonard Bernste, director-choreographer Jerome Robbs, and lyricist Stephen Sondheim were all var stag of g to terms wh their homosexualy the opprsive atmosphere of 1950s Ameri. Wh the exceptn of Sondheim, the creators of Wt Si Story had narrowly ped profsnal durg the anti-gay and anti-Communist wch hunts of the McCarthy era.
By 1957, the persecutns were sentially over, the far Right was retreat, and Wt Si Story afford four gay men an opportuny to create a work of art that challenged prejudice and affirmed the power of love fiance of social norms. Reviewers praised Wt Si Story for s soclogil boldns and for changg the face of the Amerin mil theater, but they did not ment, at least publicly, on the gay subtext of character relatnships or the homoeroticism of the dancg.
Sixty years after s premiere New York Cy, the mil serv to be revised, cludg the gay elements that tiptoe through the story along wh an overall gay sensibily that shows up the story, the lyrics, and the dancg. As Khner scrib , “You have the four gay men wrg about the Jets, this vat of toxic masculy, and their ia of what prumably heterosexual street toughs sound like.