westsidestory

Mike Faist Tries to Keep His Cool as Riff in ‘West Side Story’
The actor, a star of Broadway musicals like “Dear Evan Hansen,” talks about playing the leader of the Jets in Steven Spielberg’s remake.

By Dave Itzkoff

He’s the menacing gang leader who fights, frolics and finger-snaps his way through “West Side Story”: that’s Riff, the frontman of the Jets, who commands a cadre of lost boys in their turf battles against the Sharks, and takes center stage in numbers like “Jet Song” and “Cool.”

In Steven Spielberg’s remake with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, the role of Riff is played by Mike Faist, a 29-year-old veteran of the New York stage. Faist earned a Tony Award nomination in Broadway’s “Dear Evan Hansen,” where he originated the role of the title character’s would-be friend, Connor Murphy; he also performed in “Newsies the Musical,” understudying its hero, Jack Kelly.
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West Side Story Star Mike Faist On Playing Riff & The 'Jet-Tivities' Weekend

BY JENNA BUSCH

Mike Faist is no stranger to musicals. He originated the role of Connor Murphy in the Broadway musical "Dear Evan Hansen," for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical. He also originated the role of Morris Delancey in Disney's "Newsies." He's been in films like "The Unspeakable Act," "Wildling," and "Panic." And now, he's taking on the role of Riff in the Steven Spielberg-directed "West Side Story." 
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Actor and dancer Russ Tamblyn sat with our head researcher in 1995 to look back on his career as a child star and reflect on growing up while working in Hollywood. He also reflects on dating in the business, his friendships with Dean Stockwell, Robert Blake and Bobby Driscoll and not being a professional dancer during his early start.

“West Side Story was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done. It’s lasted for so long and it’s so popular - they don’t make ‘em like that anymore”

Christian Borle on West Side Story.


Christian played Riff in the National Tour and the European Tour with Max von Essen as Tony

Casey Garvin?, Clay Thomson?, Christopher Rice?, Harris Milgrim?
I'm not sure who the other Jets are in the photo

'West Side Story's' first Riff

Chuck Darrow
Philadelphia Daily News

SOMETIME around 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Academy of Music, the Philadelphia debut of the latest iteration of "West Side Story," which runs through April 8, will conclude with a reprise of "Somewhere." At this point, the audience will no doubt rise to its feet and reward the cast with a loud and appreciative ovation. But no matter how enthusiastic the crowd's response may be, it probably won't match that of those at Washington, D.C.'s National Theatre on Aug. 19, 1957.

"We got like 15 curtain calls," recalled Michael Callan, 77, of the night the groundbreaking contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" had its pre-Broadway premiere. As the actor portraying Riff, the "commander" of the American street gang, the Jets, Callan was one of the recipients of that unforgettable roar of approval.
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To mark the golden anniversary of the cinematic masterpiece set on the 1950s streets of New York, Amy Robach sits down with Rita Moreno and other stars of “West Side Story.”

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Riff Lorton, the Lost Boy


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First Nighter: Betty Buckley Goes for Men in a Big-Hearted Feinstein's at Loews Regency Way

Maybe yes, maybe no, but I'm going to label Betty Buckley's current show, Ah Men! The Boys of Broadway, at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, as the most relaxed, the most consistently easy-going, the most personable, the funniest she's ever presented in the many years she's appeared at one or another of the major local boites.

The idea behind it is that over her Broadway years, which have stretched even longer, she's sung her share of stunners and made them even more stunning -- introducing "Memory" on Manhattan boards probably being the most notable. But she's been typed out of many others for the simple reason they were written for male characters to deliver.

That didn't stop her from coveting them and even standing in the wings nightly to listen while, as one example, Michael Rupert sang William Finn's "Venice" in Elegies. Making up for lost opportunities on her return to the room, she's taken on a series of her favorites, sometimes changing pronouns, sometimes not, sometimes not needing to.

Declaring at the outset that she's always loved men, if not fully understood them, she reports her passion for them began when, at 14 (Buckley's now in her mid-'60s), she fell for Russ Tamblyn as Riff in the West Side Story movie adaptation and for months fantasized about being a Jet. So much so that when on Sundays she would enact "When You're a Jet" with the Jerome Robbins choreography in the family driveway, her dad would interrupt her saying, "Get in the car. The Jets are going to church."
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