Chris Evans recently fanned the flames of the internet’s crushes when he revealed a deep love of both Disney movies and Broadway musicals at a Wizard World event in Philadelphia this weekend. During a panel alongside Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, a fan asked the trio about their dream roles. The moderator quickly noted that Evans is a Disney fan and might like to be in one of their non-superhero films. That led Mackie to sing a line from The Little Mermaid’s “Under The Sea,” which in turn led Evans to jokingly cast Mackie as Sebastian and himself as Prince Eric, inadvertently revealing he’s got a pretty solid knowledge of both Disney princes and animal sidekicks.
In fact, Evans previously revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he’s actually memorized all the lyrics to The Little Mermaid (and Aladdin), so his Disney fandom is very real. But preempting articles like this one that would make a mountain out of a Disney prince molehill, Evans clarified that his real answer would be starring in a remake of West Side Story. He explained, “They’ve always been flirting with the idea of doing a remake of West Side Story. I always thought that would be cool. I grew up watching that movie, liked it a lot. Some role in that would be cool.” He later name drops Riff as a possible casting choice, although Evans is obviously much more of a Tony.
Like his love of The Little Mermaid, Evans’ affection for West Side Story is also well documented elsewhere. For instance, when he stopped by Anna Faris’ podcast and she quoted a lyric, Evans immediately noted, “You’re speaking my language. I grew up with women. I know this reference.” He then casually revealed that he once played Action in the show, although, sadly, no one followed up on that delightful piece of information. (The brief discussion starts around the 45:30 mark.)
Evans even played Riff in a very elaborate yet random West Side Story-inspired Vanity Fair photoshoot back in 2009, alongside Jennifer Lopez, Camilla Belle, Ben Barnes, and Rodrigo Santoro. So there’s photographic evidence that he fits into the look of the show, also evidenced by his ability to rock a vintage wardrobe in Captain America: The First Avenger. His singing skills are a bit more a mystery, although this brief video uploaded by his brother proves he can play the piano, thus adding yet another item to the list of reasons he’s the tenderhearted hunk of the internet’s dreams (sorry, Kit Harington).