Chita Rivera – A Legend and a Friend

I first met Chita Rivera in April of 2008, during a production of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Visit at the Signature Theater in Arlington, VA. I was cast as one of Chita’s sidekicks Louis Perch, a blind, old, eunuch who the audience later learns played a crucial role in ousting her character, Clair Zachanassian from the fictitious town of Brachen when she was a young girl. It had an all-star cast including George Hearn, many Broadway veterans, and the creative team was made up of the industry’s most prominent artists. Director Frank Galati spearheaded the production, which was choreographed by the legendary Ann Reinking and was scripted by the late Terrence McNally. 

Chita Rivera in West Side Story. (Stock Photo: Alamy)

To say that I felt overwhelmingly unqualified to share a stage with that roster of talent is an understatement. 

However, on the very first day of rehearsals, a small group of cast members was greeted by a wonderful sight: flying in came the legend herself, Chita, who quickly introduced herself as Rita Moreno (a longtime friend and competitor of Chita’s, and also a Latina actress). Well, in doing so we all laughed, and Chita broke the ice for us, making us feel at ease.

The Visit, originally a play by Friedrich Durrenmatt, has been performed as a play, musical and even as an opera around the globe. The story centers around Claire and Anton, two young lovers who are reunited under very strange circumstances many years later. As I mentioned before, Claire was kicked out of town as a youth, and had been treated as an outcast, referred to as a “gypsy.” She returns decades later to seek revenge not only on the man who turned on her but on the town itself. 

Rivera in The Visit.

We meet Claire as an almost phantom figure, the richest woman in the world, coming to save the wretched town from economic ruin, but there’s a catch… Anton must sacrifice himself to save the town. In the end, Claire gets her wish and escorts her lifeless ex-lover with her to Capri, leading her entourage offstage while the remaining citizens gather the cash left to them on it.

The production finally made it to Broadway after many out of town tryouts over the course of 15 years. Chita was remarkable in the role but backstage she was just another chorus girl who kept working. She made a career of playing strong female characters in a time when most leading women roles were limited to the doe-eyed, naïve love interest of the strapping male lead.  She originated the role of Anita in the Broadway production of West Side Story, playing the older and wiser friend of Maria. 

It’s important to know that in the 1950s, there was very little Latino/Latina representation in theater and film, and this breakout role was just the start of changing public opinion on that subject.  She also starred opposite Dick Van Dyke several years later, playing Rose in Bye Bye Birdie. Here she proved again that a woman of Puerto Rican descent could play a strong female character to great success. She won Tony Awards for her respective portrayals of Anna in The Rink and Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman.  Her final role on Broadway was as Claire in The Visit, the production in which I co-starred.

Chita was honored in 2002 as the first Latina American to receive the Kennedy Center Honor award, and in 2009 was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. She continued to perform until very near to her passing in January of this year. Her contribution to the arts as a woman, and as a woman of Puerto Rican descent, will never be forgotten. 

I am grateful to have shared so much time with Chita on stage and off over the course of 16 years. There is a statue of an angel that she gave me in 2008 when our production of The Visit closed, still sitting on my piano. I imagine she is watching over me as I teach a new generation of performers, helping them find their voice in the world, as she was able to do like none other before her.