Exactly How ‘Euphoria’ Pulled Off Maude Apatow and Austin Abrams’ Homoerotic Dance Number

thewrap.com:

Tony-winning musical, was a fanciful retelling of her adolescence, including characters based on her sister, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), and best friend, Rue (Zendaya).

But like any great theatrical impresario, she saved the best for last.Lexi treated her high school crowd to a full-blown musical number set in an all-male gym, in which Ethan (Austin Abrams) — embodying a full-bro version of East Highland’s resident tortured jock, Nate (Jacob Elordi) — performs a full-out sexual rock ballet to Bonnie Tyler’s iconic “Holding Out for a Hero.” The production came complete with a hunky male ensemble, lots of well-placed squirting water bottles, and a whole lot of gyrating, grunting and genitalia-specific exercise balls. (Watch the NSFW clip below.)“[Creator] Sam Levinson’s direction was, ‘I want you to make David Bowie look straight,'” said choreographer Ryan Heffington, who returned to work on Season 2 of “Euphoria” after working on the HBO series’ Season 1 finale.

He was more than up to this particular challenge.“We wanted to be big, over the top,” Heffington said. His considerable background creating routines for artists like Sia, Arcade Fire and FKA Twigs was put to good use here; larger-than-life set pieces like a “huge, phallic punching bag” dropping from the ceiling helped bring that mission to life. “That’s the kind of playfulness that really turns the piece into like something special.

It’s just the absurdity of it — and the overt homoeroticism appealed to me, as well.”The broadly comic scene is a departure from the usual tone of “Euphoria,” which is intensely dramatic.