Chita Rivera — a singer, dancer and actress who lit up Broadway levels over six a long time in such exhibits as “West Side Story” and “Chicago” as one of many foremost entertainers of her era — died Tuesday, her publicist stated. She was 91.
Rivera died in New York after a “brief illness,” her daughter Lisa Mordente stated in a press release launched by publicist Merle Frimark.
Trained in voice, piano and ballet from a younger age, Rivera was dancing on Broadway earlier than she was 20 and saved at all of it the way in which into her early 80s.
Rivera turned probably the most nominated actors within the historical past of the Tony Awards, Broadway’s highest prizes — with 10 nods.
In 2002, she earned Kennedy Center honors — a prime U.S. arts distinction — and was feted on the White House in 2009 with the presidential medal of freedom.
Sensual and with a brassy stage presence, Rivera performed a few of Broadway’s most acclaimed roles, and labored below legendary abilities together with Leonard Bernstein, Bob Fosse, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins.
She and fellow actress Rita Moreno paved the way in which for different stars of Puerto Rican descent, resembling actor-songwriter-playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda of “Hamilton” fame – to beat Broadway.
Rivera earned the breakout function in 1957 of Anita in “West Side Story,” the twentieth century American adaptation of the Shakespeare story “Romeo and Juliet,” which made her a star and earned her a primary Tony nomination.
But when the movie was made, the function of Anita went to Moreno. It was the primary however not the final time a serious Hollywood function would elude Rivera after she lit up the stage in the identical half.
Born on the top of the Great Depression on January 23, 1933 within the U.S. capital Washington, Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was considered one of 5 youngsters of a Catholic couple.
Her father, a navy musician, died when she was seven.
At age 11, she enrolled in a neighborhood ballet college, and at 16 she auditioned for the famend School of American Ballet run by George Balanchine and traveled to New York City after profitable a scholarship.
After three years of coaching, Rivera sought small Broadway roles as a dancer.
Seeking to downplay her ethnicity, she modified her identify to Chita O’Hara, earlier than finally deciding on Chita Rivera.
Still, she usually felt misplaced, recalling in her 2023 e-book “Chita: A Memoir” what she noticed round her at an early audition: “Standing subsequent to me… had been leggy, busty blondes in body-revealing attire with slashes of purple lipstick highlighting their fairly faces.
“And here was I, short, dark, dressed in a black skirt and leotards, and with a nose like ‘a chicken’s butt.'”
But a fierce dedication noticed her via, together with an audacious try to department into singing elements.
After “West Side Story,” Rivera received the lead a part of Rose in “Bye Bye, Birdie,” starring reverse Dick van Dyke within the fascinating musical loosely primarily based on Elvis Presley, wherein a New York-based songwriter desires up a publicity stunt when his key consumer is drafted into the military.
But when it got here time for a movie model, she was handed over as soon as once more by Hollywood, with Janet Leigh of “Psycho” fame getting the decision to play Rose.
In 1975, Rivera starred as Velma Kelly in “Chicago” reverse Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart within the musical directed by the legendary Bob Fosse. She would later make a cameo within the 2002 movie model.
“Chita’s influence, warmth, and other-worldly talent will inspire us always. Tonight’s show is for her,” stated the official social media account for the newest Broadway revival of “Chicago.”
Rivera by no means held any overt grudges over such slights, all the time returning to Broadway in new roles.
She appeared 3 times on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” a well-liked tv selection present that gave her an enormous nationwide viewers.
Rivera married a fellow dancer from “West Side Story,” Tony Mordente, in 1957. Their daughter Lisa was born earlier than the wedding led to divorce in 1966.
In her memoir, Rivera recounted how in the course of the run of the musical “Mr. Wonderful,” she had an affair with costar Sammy Davis Jr.
Her different notable exhibits included “Sweet Charity,” “The Rink,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (for which she received a Tony in 1993) and a 2003 Broadway revival of “Nine,” wherein she co-starred alongside Antonio Banderas.
Rivera received a Tony for lifetime achievement in 2018.
© 2024 AFP