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;">Chita
Rivera
Rivera performs in
2008
Conchita Figueroa del Rivero
January 23, 1933
Washington, D.C.,
USA
dancer, singer
Mordente (m. 1957)
website
Chita Rivera (born January 23, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her
roles in musical theater.
She is the first Hispanic woman to
receive a Kennedy Center
Honors award (December 2002). She was awarded the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in
2009.[1]
Rivera was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, D.C.,
the
daughter of Katherine, a government clerk, and Pedro Julio Figueroa del
Rivero,[2] a clarinetist and saxophonist for the United
States Navy Band. Her father was Puerto Rican and her
mother was of ScottishItalian descent.[3] Rivera
was seven
years old when her mother was widowed and went to work for The Pentagon. and
In 1944, Rivera's mother enrolled her in the Jones-Haywood School of
Ballet
(now the Jones Haywood School of Dance).[4] Later, when she was
15, a teacher from George Balanchine's
School of American Ballet
visited their studio and Rivera was one of two students picked to
audition in New York City; she
was
accompanied to the audition by Doris Jones, one of the people who ran
the
Jones-Haywood School. Rivera's audition was successful and she was
accepted into
the school and given a scholarship.
In 1952, Rivera accompanied a friend to the audition for a Broadway
production of Call Me
Madam and ended up winning the role herself. She followed this
by
landing roles in other Broadway productions such as Guys
and
Dolls and Can-Can.
In 1957, she was cast in the
role which was destined to make her a Broadway star, the firebrand Anita
in
West
Side Story. (The role would
bring fame and an Oscar to another
Puerto Rican, Rita Moreno, in the 1961 film
version). Rivera starred in a national tour of Can-Can and
played the
role of Nicky in the film adaptation of Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine.
On December 1, 1957, Rivera married dancer Tony Mordente. Her
performance was so important
for the success of the show that the London production of West
Side Story was
postponed until she gave birth to the couple's daughter Lisa. In
1963, Rivera was cast opposite Alfred Drake in Zenda.
The
Broadway-bound musical closed on the road. In 1975 she appeared as Velma
Kelly
in the original cast of the musical Chicago.
In 1986, Rivera was in a severe accident when her car collided with a
taxi on
West
86th Street in Manhattan.
Injuries sustained included the breaking of her left leg in twelve
places,
requiring eighteen screws and two braces to mend. After rehabilitation,
Rivera
continued to perform on stage. Miraculously revitalized, in 1988, she
endeavored
in a restaurant venture in partnership with the novelist, Daniel
Simone. The famous eatery, located on 42nd Street between 9th and
Tenth
Avenue, was named after her, 'Chita's'. It soon became a significant
attraction
for the after-theater crowds.
Rivera is regarded by many theatre aficionados as a "living legend"
and in an
In Theatre magazine interview, George Horsfall suggested, "You
must be
tired of the term 'legend', but let's get it out of the way. You have
long been
considered a Broadway legend." Rivera replied "Oh, God!" and laughed.[5]
In addition to her ballet instructors, Rivera credited Leonard BernsteinGwen Verdon, with
whom
she starred in Chicago, as being people from whom she learned a
great
deal. and
[edit] Later years
Rivera with president Barack Obama
prior to
receiving the Presidential
Medal of Freedom,
August 2009
She appeared in a filmed for the television version of the musical Pippin in 1981,
as "Fastrada". In 1993, she received a Tony Award for Best Leading
Actress in a
Musical for her portrayal of Aurora in the Tony-award winning musical Kiss
of the Spider Woman written by Kander and Ebb.
Rivera starred in the Goodman Theatre production of the Kander and EbbThe
Visit as "Claire Zachanassian" in 2001. In 2008 she appeared in a
revised production of the musical at the Signature
Theatre in Arlington,
Virginia, co-starring George Hearn.[6] musical
In 2003, Rivera returned to Broadway in the 2003 revival of Nine as
Liliane La
Fleur, and received her eighth career Tony Award nomination (Best
Featured
Actress in a Musical) and fourth Drama Desk Award nomination
(Outstanding
Featured Actress in a Musical). Chita appeared with Antonio Banderas.
She later
appeared on the revival's cast album.
On television, Rivera was a guest on the Judy Garland show.
She guest-starred along with Michele Lee in a
February 2005
episode of Will &
Grace, and in December of that year, Chita
Rivera: The Dancer's
Life, a retrospective of her career, opened on Broadway. She
received
yet another Tony nomination for her self-portrayal. Though she was
expected to
reprise her role in a Signature
Theatre staging of
The Visit in Autumn 2007, that was later postponed to the
following
season. Instead, she performed at New York's Feinsten's At The Regency
supper
club in New York for two weeks. Signature Theatre's production of The
Visit opened to rapturous reviews on May 13, 2008 and closed June
22,
2008.
Rivera had a cameo in the 2002 movie
version of Chicago. Rivera
guest-starred on Disney
Channel's Johnny and
the Sprites as Queen of
All Magical Beings. The episode debuted on March 15, 2008.[7]
In November 2009, Rivera released a new album titled, "And Now I
Swing" to
rave reviews.