1. February12,2015
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SunGazette
ChitaRiveraPrepstoBring
HerShowtoAldenTheatreWILLIAM GETLEIN
StaffWriter
Talk to Chita Rivera for a while, and
it’s easy to see how this Broadway legend
and native Washingtonian won two Tony
Awards and was nominated for eight.
Rivera (“this is Chita,” she announces
from the other end of the telephone line),
is cheerfully positive, focused on giving her
all to her work, getting the most out of her
life, and letting the negatives, both large
and small, fall far behind her.
Rivera has a lifetime of accomplish-
ments – originating the roles of Anita in
“West Side Story” and Velma Kelly in
“Chicago” are just two of many – and she
showcases the top numbers from her roles
in a one-night show coming Feb. 24 to the
Alden Theatre at the McLean Community
Center.
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero
was born and raised in the District of Co-
lumbia, the daughter of Katherine and Pe-
dro Julio Figueroa del Rivero.
Her father was a clarinetist and saxo-
phonist with the U.S. Navy Band, but died
when she was 7 years old. Her mother got a
job at the Pentagon, raising Chita and her
four siblings single-handedly.
In spite of the family’s troubles, Rivera
remembers this time fondly.
“We were a warm, close family,”she said
in a Feb. 6 phone interview. “Still are.”
Rivera described herself as an extro-
verted tomboy during childhood. Her
mother dealt with that nonstop energy by
enrolling her in ballet school when she was
11. Her life revolved around family, school
and weekend ballet lessons, which started a
pattern of too little time and too much she
wanted to do that continues to this day.
Rivera joined the Jones-Haywood
School of Ballet and was in awe of her
teacher Doris Jones, co-founder of the
school. “She must have had great train-
ing, because she had great technique and
knowledge of ballet,” Rivera said.
Jones taught well and her new pupil
was attentive. When a teacher from George
Balanchine’s School of American Bal-
let came scouting, Rivera was one of two
students picked to audition in New York
City. She passed her audition and won her
scholarship.
(When asked about how different life in
New York was from Washington, she ex-
claimed, “I was too busy to notice!”)
After two years, Rivera was working
hard toward a career in ballet when her
life took another dramatic turn. A friend
asked her to come with her to an audition
for the musical “Call Me Madam” and of-
fer moral support.
“I was relaxed, and she wasn’t,” Rivera
recalled. The result: Chita passed the audi-
tion, her friend didn’t, and Rivera became
a principal dancer in the 1950 Ethel Mer-
man vehicle, a huge first step into musical
theater.
“I was nervous about telling the school.
I called my mother first, and she asked
ALL the questions,” she said. “Once I told
her that I loved the audition [process], then
she said it was OK.”
The school wasn’t as easy to convince,
but reluctantly let her go, and Rivera’s ca-
reer on Broadway was launched.
She followed up “Call Me Madam”
with roles in “Guys and Dolls” and “Can-
Can,” among others. In 1957, she topped
everything she had done before by taking
on the pivotal role of Anita in “West Side
Story.”
After that, her career reads like a list of
iconic Broadway hits: “The Rink,”“Chica-
go,” “Jerry’s Girls” and numerous others.
When asked if any role stands out, she
eventually picks Anita from “West Side
Story,” but also adds, “When you work
with Robbins, Sondheim and Bernstein
– and all in the same show! And Kander
and Ebb. Laurents. And so-o-o many other
great songwriters, choreographers, danc-
ers, actors, you name it. I’ve had a great
life!” she exclaims.
A showcase of her life (or the high-
est peaks of it, complete with live music),
will be appearing at the Alden this month.
“Chita: A Legendary Celebration,” will
feature numbers from “West Side Story,”
“Sweet Charity,” “Chicago,” “Kiss of the
Spider Woman,” “Bye, Bye, Birdie” and
“The Rink.”
In addition, there will be a tribute to
John Kander and Fred Ebb, as well as
other musical-theater legends from her
lifetime career.
Soon, it’s back to Broadway: Rivera,
who was feted with the Kennedy Center
Honors in 2002 and the Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 2009, is slated to open in
“The Visit” – featuring book by Terrence
McNally, lyrics by Ebb and music by Kan-
der – in March.
The musical, with Rivera at the helm,
had an earlier run at Arlington’s Signature
Theatre in 2008.
Tickets for the Feb. 24 “Chita: A Leg-
endary Celebration” are $45 for McLean
residents, $75 for others. For tickets and in-
formation, see the Web site at www.mclean-
center.org.
BeforereturningtoBroadway,ChitaRiverawill
headline a performance Feb. 24 at the Alden
Theatre of the McLean Community Center.
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pocket-sized.
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are, you can get all your local
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then follow all the news in Northern
Virginia, anywhere you go.
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