Posted on 01/30/2024 1:10:06 PM PST by nickcarraway
Chita Rivera, who appeared in more than 20 Broadway musicals over six decades has died, according to her daughter, Lisa Mordente. The three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway legend created indelible roles — Anita in West Side Story, Rose in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and Aurora in Kiss of the Spiderwoman. She was 91.
Rivera "was everything Broadway was meant to be," says Laurence Maslon, co-producer of the 2004 PBS series, Broadway: The American Musical. "She was spontaneous and compelling and talented as hell for decades and decades on Broadway. Once you saw her, you never forgot her."
You might think Chita Rivera was a Broadway baby from childhood – but she wasn't. Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, D.C., she told an audience at a Screen Actors Guild Foundation interview that she was a tomboy and drove her mother crazy: "She said, 'I'm putting you in ballet class so that we can rein in some of that energy.' So I am very grateful."
Rivera took to ballet so completely that she got a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York. But when she went with a friend to an audition for the tour of the Broadway show Call Me Madam, Rivera got the job. Goodbye ballet, hello Broadway. In 1957, she landed her breakout role, Anita in West Side Story, with a score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.
"Hearing 'America' was just mind-boggling, with that rhythm," Rivera told NPR in 2007 for the musical's 50th anniversary. "I just couldn't wait to do it. It was such a challenge. And, being Latin, you know, it was a welcoming sound."
West Side Story allowed Rivera to reveal not only her athletic dancing chops, but her acting and singing chops. She recalls Leonard Bernstein teaching her the score himself: "I remember sitting next to Lenny and his starting with 'A Boy Like That,' teaching it to me and me saying, 'I'll never do this, I can't hit those notes, I don't know how to hit those notes.' "
But she did hit them, and being able to sing, act and dance made her a valuable Broadway commodity, said Maslon. "She was the first great triple threat. Broadway directors like Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse saw the need to have performers who could do all three things and do them really well."
And, from 1960 to 2013, she headlined some big hits — as well as some major flops. In 1986, Rivera was in a serious taxi accident. Her left leg was shattered, and the doctors said she'd never dance again, but she did – just differently.
"We all have to be realistic," she told NPR in 2005. "I don't do flying splits anymore. I don't do back flips and all the stuff that I used to do. You want to know something? I don't want to."
But her stardom never diminished. And the accolades flowed: she won several Tony Awards, including one for lifetime achievement, a Kennedy Center honor, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rivera didn't do much television or film – she was completely devoted to the stage, says Maslon.
"That's why they're called Broadway legends," he says. "Hopefully you get to see them live because you'll never get to see them in another form in quite the same way."
Real talent, and great looks.
For those of a certain age, she was quite the spark.
She will be missed. RIP
RIP
ROde the genre all the way down in its decline.
West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Each one successively lower in quality. At least Cats isn’t on that list.
I’ll continue missing all the Broadway musicals that is humanly possible!
was standing behind her in line at the Staples store on Rte 59 in Nanuet NY musta been about 15 years ago....caught a view of her face from 3/4 rear...I told myself it must be her, and glanced at her credit card kind of automatically when she paid and it plainly said Chita Rivera, and I was thrilled. Said nothing, b/c I believe in leaving performers alone considering the world’s not their stage so much as the stage is.and i’d been on stage myself for most of the 70s
It was not rare to walk down the street and pass by someone who you know you've seen before on TV, movies, sports, etc., and then say to yourself "was that person who I thought it was?".
Had much the experience growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the late 60's--early 70's. I never bothered them as they were going about their normal business. Even then, I was kind of a private person and knew that sometimes people (especially celebrities) would sometimes just like not to be approached by strangers all the time. As Greta Garbo once famously said, 'I want to be let alone!'
Wonderful performer, and had to work hard to blaze trails after West Side Story. RIP, incredible dancer.
As a worker down there, it was an unwritten rule to not get star-struck, and just leave them be.
Fabulous talent. Condolences to family and friends.
I’d have started softly whistling her big number from West Side Story.
Actually saw her in the original West Side Story. Then bought the LP and played my two favorite songs till everyone was sick of them:
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