Chita Rivera dies at 91 — she was Broadway’s ‘First Great Triple Threat’ : NPR

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Chita Rivera in May 1977.

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Standard Evening/Getty Images

Chita Rivera in May 1977.

Standard Evening/Getty Images

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 Storyrose in Goodbye little birdVelma Kelly in chicagoand Aurora in The kiss of spider women. She was 91 years old.

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, compelling and talented for decades and decades on Broadway. Once you saw her, you never forgot her.”

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You might think that Chita Rivera was a Broadway baby from childhood, but she wasn’t. Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was born in Washington, DC, she he told an audience in a Screen Actors Guild Foundation interview that she was a tomboy and drove her mother crazy: “She said, ‘I’ll put you in ballet classes so we can control some of that energy.’ For that I’m very grateful.”

Broadway legend Chita Rivera dances through her life in new memoir

Rivera dedicated herself so deeply to ballet that she earned a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York. But when she went with a friend to audition for the Broadway show tour call me ladyRivera got the job. Goodbye ballet, hello Broadway. In 1957, she landed the breakout role of Anita in West Side Story with score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.

“Listening to ‘América’ was simply amazing, with that rhythm,” Rivera he told NPR in 2007 on the occasion of the musical’s 50th anniversary. “I just couldn’t wait to do it. It was a great challenge. And, being Latino, you know, it was a welcoming sound.”

Chita Rivera, center, works with choreographer Jerome Robbins, second from left, and her colleagues West Side Story cast members at a rehearsal on July 22, 1957.

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West Side Story It allowed Rivera to reveal not only her athletic dance skills, but also her acting and singing skills. He remembers Leonard Bernstein teaching him the score himself: “I remember sitting next to Lenny and he started ‘A Boy Like That,’ showing it to me and me saying, ‘I’ll never do this, I can’t play those notes, I don’t know how to play.’ those notes.’ “

But she did get them right, and being able to sing, act and dance made her a valuable asset on Broadway, Maslon said. “She was the first great triple threat. Broadway directors like Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse saw the need to have artists who could do all three things and do them really well.”

And, from 1960 to 2013, he headlined some major hits, as well as some major flops. In 1986, Rivera suffered a serious taxi accident. His left leg was shattered and doctors said he would never dance again, but he did, just differently.

Chita Rivera, right, and Michelle Veintimilla perform at the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2015 in New York City.

Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions

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Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions

“We all have to be realistic,” he said. he told NPR in 2005. “I don’t do flying splits anymore. I don’t do backflips and all the things I used to do. You want to know something? I don’t.”

But his stardom never diminished. And the accolades flowed: She won several Tony Awards, including one for his lifetime achievement award, a Kennedy Center Honorand a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rivera didn’t do much television or film; she was completely dedicated to the stage, Maslon says.

“That’s why they’re called Broadway legends,” he says. “Hopefully you can see them live because you’ll never be able to see them the same way again.”