BROADWAY | AGEING
Musical Theater Nerds Unite: Time To Honor Chita
Miss Chita Rivera did it FIRST and aged with grace
You may’ve heard the name in passing over the years .
Such a catchy name, but couldn’t quite place her.
Old-time movie star? Puerto Rican musical import? Variety show hostess?
Never fear, my buried musical theater maniac mindset has been reignited. On January 30th, we lost one of Broadway’s best, at the age of 91.
Allow me to tell you about Miss Chita Rivera.
West Side Story
Even if you didn’t know her, I’m sure your life has been touched by the art that she helped create, the art she in fact originated.
Ever see the movie West Side Story? You know, where Rita Moreno wears the purple dress and dances on a rooftop to the pulsating rhythms of the song “America?”
Great number.
Chita did it first.
Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents and choreographer Jerome Robbins — musical theater heavyweights and not exactly easy men to please — selected her to originate the role of Anita in their masterpiece, West Side Story, which opened all the way back in 1957.
