Ansel Elgort cried when he found out he was cast as Tony in the upcoming West Side Story movie, the performer told The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Even though he couldn’t tell anyone, he did call his parents.
The stage is where Elgort feels most at home. “Musical theatre is my first love—I saw Oklahoma when I was 4 and decided ‘that’s me, the guy with the lasso!’”
This isn’t Elgort’s first West Side Story—he starred in a theatre camp production when he was 12. While discussing the experience, he sang a bit of “Officer Krupke” from the Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins musical.
READ: Andréa Burns Joins West Side Story Movie
Despite having some dance experience from seven years at theatre camp, Elgort added that the cast of the film is undergoing intensive training with Tony-winning choreographer Justin Peck (Carousel).
Watch the interview above and check out the cast of Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation below.
