Anybodys' West Side Story update in the 2021 remake saw the character played by non-binary actor Iris Menas, and the ing figure was altered from a tomboy to a trans man, fixing a major problem with the character in the original. The musical-turned-motion-picture West Side Story takes the story of Romeo and Juliet and sets it in 1957 New York City as tensions are rising between the Puerto Rican Sharks and White American Jets. It follows the main characters, Tony and Maria, as they fall in love despite being on opposite sides of the fight.
The 2021 Steven Spielberg remake of West Side Story differs greatly from the original 1961 movie version, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, mostly to appeal to a modern audience. Spielberg adds a few characters, like Valentina played by Rita Moreno from the 1961 film, and he changed the order and staging for some of the songs. Most importantly, many of his changes add the sociopolitical context necessary for understanding the nuance of the musical. One of those changes is taking the tomboy character Anybodys and making him a trans man, which fixes the problems with the character in the original movie.
Anybodys' West Side Story role in the original doesn't make a lot of sense, and that's mostly because she doesn't serve much of a purpose. While other characters have direct roots from characters in Romeo and Juliet, Anybodys doesn't have an equivalent, so the addition of her character was a choice Ernest Lehman actively made in the original, but he didn't do anything of substance with her. In the original 1961 version of West Side Story, she doesn't sing, and her subplot of a girl trying to an all-boys gang is played for laughs. The gang is terribly rude to her, declaring that she's a girl and will always be a girl, and they exclude her from their group even though she's desperate for their acceptance. She does eventually earn their respect by warning of Chino's plan to kill Tony, but then she immediately participates in the terrible things the Jets do, calling into question whether earning their respect was even worth it. In the end, she's again exiled from the Jets to protect her from the other boys in the gang, ending her story in the same place it began. The character is a strange choice in the original movie.
Anybodys' Trans Identity In Westside Story 2021 Adds Depth And Purpose
In remake's biggest differences from the original West Side Story, Anybodys isn't exiled by the group. Instead, his story ends in a better place than it started as an accepted member of the gang, and he actually has a character arc.
By making Anybodys a trans character, West Side Story adds a layer of representation that wasn't there before. Spielberg's affirmation of Anybodys' identity validates what viewers already related to, as the LGBTQ community felt a connection to Anybodys' gender-nonconforming character in the original, and for many, the character was already trans. Without these changes, Anybodys' character would just be a throwaway joke like the original.
Why Letting Anybodys Sing "Cool" Would Have Been A Bigger Step Forward
Spielberg's adaptation of the musical does offer a solid update by making Anybodys trans, but 2021's songs could have done even more to make him a fully fleshed-out character with purpose. While many of the film's characters, especially Tony, have plenty of songs in their repertoire, Anybodys noticeably does not but easily could have. The song "Cool" would have been a perfect moment to highlight Anybodys more, as they could have been the voice of reason for the Jets urging them to cool off before the rumble with the Sharks. This song already has a history of being adjusted to fit different iterations of West Side Story, so making this update would have felt perfectly natural. As is, while West Side Story 2021 effectively provided trans visibility with Anybodys, the movie could have ventured a lot further toward making him a more prominent character within the story.
