"Chita: Nowadays" Chita Rivera at Carnegie Hall
On Monday, November 7th, two-time Tony Award winner Chita Rivera performed a one-night-only concert “Chita: Nowadays” at Carnegie Hall. Though a legend that has graced many of the world’s greatest stages, this was Chita’s first appearance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.Headlined, of course, by Chita, the evening was studded with a number of Broadway’s leading men. (In the words of Roxie Hart, “I’m gonna get me a whole bunch of boys!”) Alan Cumming, Andy Karl, James Harms, Javier Munoz, Matthew Deming, Brandon Victor Dixon, Stevie Van Zandt, Chris Newcomer, and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus shared the stage with Ms. Rivera along with her back-up dancers, Richard Amaro, Robert Mantano, Ramon Del Barrio, and Lloyd Culbreath (a chief reconstructed for The Verdon Fosse Legacy).
Between each song and dance number, Chita told an anecdote about her many male co-stars (the dreamy Antonio Banderas and the charming Dick Van Dyke, to name a few) or recalled a memorable phone call (John Kander and Fred Ebb soliciting Chita to play the role of Liza Minnelli’s mother in THE RINK, or Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon asking Chita to take on the role of Charity Hope Valentine in the first national tour of SWEET CHARITY).Produced by Daniel Nardicio and directed by Graciela Daniele, “Chita: Nowadays” celebrated Chita Rivera’s remarkable career on both the stage and the screen. Just a few of her most notable credits include originating the roles of Anita in WEST SIDE STORY, Rosie in BYE, BYE BIRDIE, Aurora in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, Liliane in NINE, Velma in CHICAGO, and, most recently, Claire in THE VISIT. Chita has starred in 18 Broadway shows, has been nominated for 10 Tony Awards, was the first Latino American woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors Award (2002), and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009.
