Chita: A Legendary Celebration

"I'm from what was known as the Golden Age," said legendary Broadway performer Chita Rivera, as she entered in a shimmering black dress to a rapturous audience response. Indeed she is. Having recently celebrated her 81st birthday, the perpetually vivacious and seemingly ageless actress-dancer-singer appeared at Cal State University in Northridge in a one-night solo version of "Chita: A Legendary Celebration," the stellar evening she offered in New York last October as a benefit for Equity Fights AIDS.

Rivera's musical-theater accomplishments include originating the starring roles in some of the most beloved and honored shows in Broadway history: "Bye Bye Birdie," "West Side Story," "Chicago, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and more. Among the many honors she has received are the Kennedy Center award and nine Tony nominations, which include two wins ("The Rink" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman"). Movie fans will remember her for her costarring role with Shirley MacLaine in "Sweet Charity" and her delightful prison-toughie cameo in "Chicago," while diehard TV buffs should recall her regular role in "The New Dick Van Dyke Show" (1973).

Yet there are few performers who radiate the warmth and electricity that Rivera achieves in live performances. For about 80 minutes, she kept the capacity crowd spellbound with her delicious combination of funny and touching career anecdotes and songs and dances from her remarkable career. Her vocal skills and her dancing remain incomparable and her energy limitless, while her love for what she is doing is infectious.

Considering all of this, it seemed quite apt that her first song was "I've Got a Lot of Living to Do" from the 1960 Broadway classic "Bye Bye Birdie," in which she starred opposite Dick Van Dyke. She quickly followed that rollicking opening with a couple of evergreen songs from the Sondheim-Bernstein masterpiece, "West Side Story" (1957), where she played the fiery Puerto Rican hellfire Anita, crooning the tragic ballad "A Boy Like That" and the hell-raising dance number, "America." Rivera was bypassed for this plum role in the 1961 film version, where Rita Moreno earned an Oscar in the part, and both performers proceeded on toward astonishing careers.

She offered some interesting tidbits about her work with Bob Fosse and his wife Gwen Verdon in "Chicago" (1975), the great John Kander-Fred Ebb musical. Speaking fondly of the late Verdon, Rivera played tribute to her costar with hilarious results in a solo version of their climactic song-and-dance duet "Nowadays." When Verdon's vocal part came up, Rivera expertly imitated the superstar's unique, crackly voice-providing a warm and highly amusing touch.

As a longtime favorite collaborator with "Chicago" composer Kander and his late lyricist partner Ebb, Rivera offered spectacular numbers from additional musicals from this duo. From "The Rink" (1984) in which Rivera costarred with Liza Minnelli, she tore into the rousing "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" to bravura effect. She shared an amusing recollection: when she was first approached by the songwriters about teaming with Minnelli in a show, she expressed enthusiasm, saying she had always wanted to play sisters opposite Minnelli. (She recalled how the two had briefly appeared together in "Chicago" when Minnelli temporarily took over for an ailing Verdon during the mid-1970s Broadway run). No, she was informed. Her "Rink" role was as Liza's mother, not her sibling.

From the searing "Kiss of the Spider Woman," she performed three of her finest numbers in the show: the powerful title song, the vibrant song-dance number "Where You Are," and the haunting "Good Times." She also offered the gorgeous ballad, "I Don't Remember You" from "The Happy Time," a charming K&E show, starring Robert Goulet, in which Rivera did not appear.

An unexpected treat was a gorgeous number from "The Visit," which appears to finally be on track as the last Kander-Ebb musical to finally reach Broadway. Originally written for Angela Lansbury, the role eventually went to Rivera, who starred in two pre-Broadway mountings (in 2001 and 2008).

An upcoming production is slated for Williamstown, hopefully followed by a Broadway destination. Terrence McNally's book is based on the 1956 German play of the same name by Frederick D�rrenmatt and its classic film adaptation. As it is a story of greed and revenge, Rivera made a wry mention of the "dark" quality of the vehicles in the latter part of her career, while expressing satisfaction for these challenges.

Among other superb offerings were the poignant "Where Am I Going?" (from "Sweet Charity"), an energetic rendition on "My Wish For You," a song of unknown origin, in which she elicited buoyant audience participation, a showstopping take on Jacques Brel's remarkable "Carousel," and an endearing encore number, "Circle of Friends," featuring lyrics by Rivera.

Besides kudos for the incomparable Rivera, salutes are due to music director Michael Croiter (also on percussion and guitar), associate music director/pianist Michael Patrick Walker and Jim Donica on bass.