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Fri. May 4 Go to Youtube, and you’ll find a clip of Chita Rivera from 1982 at the Kennedy Center, where she was an honoree. The singer-dancer is in fabulous form, doing songs from two of her famous musicals, “America” from “West Side Story” and “All That Jazz” from “Chicago.” Directly under the video, top of the comment thread, someone wrote: “Absolutely one of America’s greatest talents! She is truly missed.”
“Oh my God!” said Rivera, on the phone from her Rockland County home outside New York, when this was mentioned. “Hopefully, they don’t think I’m dead. Maybe it’s because I haven’t done a Broadway show since ‘A Dancer’s Life’ in 2005.”
Chita Rivera, at 79, is not dead by a long stretch. And she’s still a spitfire.
On Friday May 4 the two-time Tony winner (“Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “The Rink”) and a six-piece orchestra will present “My Broadway” at the Shubert Theatre. It will be a trip down memory lane, songs and stories culled from Rivera’s world on stage, which dates back to 1952’s “Call Me Madam.”
It’s also a benefit, with a goal of raising $50,000 for Boston Youth Moves, which offers dance training to 75-80 area teens a year. “I so believe in the school and I want to support it anyway I can,” Rivera said. “They have their finger on the pulse and there are some wonderfully talented people there. The school produces some wonderful dancers.”
Rivera is not pleased with arts funding cuts and feels arts have been under-valued in today’s tough economy.
“The arts have taken such a hit,” she said. “It’s so hard to believe that somebody can’t understand what their lives would be without music. What are their lives without hearing the wonderful words that inspire, that take them out of their dull, sad or whatever lives? That can’t happen. And we all have [talent] in us. Everybody’s got it; some of us have a little more than others. But everybody has an art, for God’s sake. It’s like saying you don’t believe in colors, that everything’s gray.”
A self-described “tomboy” from Washington, D.C. Rivera enrolled at dance school at 11. At 15, she was chosen for a scholarship to the George Balanchine’s cqSchool of American Ballet. And she was off. Looking back, Rivera places high value on formal training.
“You get your life organized,” Rivera said. “You pay your dues and you last longer. You see these reality TV shows that are appalling. There’s something called “Toddlers and Tiaras.” it’s horrific. These children, I don’t know if they teach them to dance or teach them to compete as …”
Little hookers?
“You said it. I didn’t but I was certainly trying to say that.” Rivera has a jaw-dropping resume, including star-making turns as Anita in the original “West Side Story” and as Rosie in the original “Bye Bye Birdie.” Three years ago, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. If Rivera wanted to rest on laurels, she certainly could do so. And why doesn’t she?
“Oh God, why did you ask me that today?,” Rivera said, with a laugh. “I’m having one of those days. I don’t want to say ‘Is that all there is?’ I’ve had a lot of great years, but I’ve been thinking lately, ‘I can’t waste my time, I only have five minutes left’ and stuff like that. I honestly believe you have today and maybe tomorrow. And sometimes I forget about that.” I guess I want to say, ‘That was then and this is now.’”
“I honest to God wish I could be a little more comfortable with everything that I’ve done,” she added. “I wish I could wallow in it and say, ‘Oh boy that feels good!’ but I can’t. In our line of work, the physical is so important. Having the energy to do these things, I still want to connect. It’s like putting a plug in a socket and you’re the one that puts it in the socket. It’s only you that can do it. I never rated myself very highly, but my spirit is high, and that carries me through a lot.
Tickets: $25-$80. Starts at 8.
(This is an expanded version of a story that ran in the Boston Herald today, www.bostonherald.com.)
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