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Chita's New Kick
A show from Broadway's first lady of dance
 BROADWAY (By Marc Peyser,
Newsweek) August 29, 2005 - Leave it to Chita Rivera to do a one-woman show
about her own life and end up sharing the stage with eight dancers. "I came
from the gypsies," she says. "Even today, when I was rehearsing my show with
the boys, they had to say, 'Chita, move down,' 'cause I always wanted to be
up with them." Of course, calling Rivera a gypsy is like calling Tiger Woods
a duffer. She's only the greatest musical-theater dancer ever. Go ahead,
argue with us. Better yet, argue with "West Side Story," "Bye Bye Birdie,"
"Chicago," "The Rink" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman," all of which
originally starred Chita. What's more, she's in good enough shape—at 72!—to
recreate her signature numbers in "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life," which
begins a pre-Broadway run this September in San Diego.
"The Dancer's Life" follows the footsteps of
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, a girl from Washington, D.C., who
wowed Balanchine (at 14) and Jerome Robbins (at 17) and hasn't stopped
since. It's funny to think of Rivera's training under the elegant
Balanchine, because her signature is passion, whether she was seducing a
roomful of uptight Shriners in "Birdie" or inciting a rooftop riot in "West
Side Story." She leaves her ode to the "West Side" showstopper "America" to
the end of her own show, probably because it provided her biggest
breakthrough and heartbreak—she was in-famously replaced by Rita Moreno in
the film adaptation. Chita doesn't dish—"I don't believe in telling
tales"—but the tart playwright Terrence McNally is crafting her dialogue, so
expect a few juicy moments, including tidbits about her love affair with
Sammy Davis Jr. and performing in "Call Me Madam" with the hurricane-force
Elaine Stritch.
Besides, the main attraction will be the
dancing. It was the reason she agreed to do the show. "I certainly had to be
talked into it, and then I realized I had to," Rivera says. "I'm carrying
Jerry Robbins, I'm carrying Michael Kidd, I'm carrying Bob Fosse." Don't
look for her to re-create every dance-step-kick—she may be superhuman, but
she's still human. "When we do 'Can-Can,' I don't do any cartwheels, but I
don't have to," she says. "You know I've got a generator that's still
popping."
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