Chita Rivera died Tuesday at age 91. A brilliant dancer who originated roles in \u00ab\u00a0West Side Story,\u00a0\u00bb \u00ab\u00a0Chicago\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Kiss of The Spider Woman,\u00a0\u00bb she really was all that jazz.<\/b>
\nWhen the news broke Tuesday of Broadway legend Chita Rivera\u2019s death at 91, the song \u201cSomewhere\u201d started playing in my head.
The beautiful tearjerker from \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d often used during \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d segments, is about the young Sharks and Jets eventually finding peace. \u201cThere\u2019s a place for us,\u201d it goes.
But then it hit me like a Jet during the rumble: \u201cSomewhere\u201d is the wrong number to encapsulate the dynamo of life, dance, voice, looks and sheer force of personality that was the indomitable Rivera.
Far better suited is her proud lyric as Anita, the role she originated in \u201cWest Side\u201d that made her a superstar in 1957, during the vivacious \u201cAmerica\u201d: \u201cI like the island Manhattan! Smoke on your pipe and put that in!\u201d
We liked her, too. Playing some of Broadway\u2019s most iconic parts over a decades-long career, she helped make New York City and the American musical theater the cultural forces they are today.
Or there\u2019s the tune she sang as sharp-tongued prisoner Velma Kelly, another unforgettable role, in \u201cChicago\u201d in 1975: \u201cIt\u2019s good. Isn\u2019t it great? Isn\u2019t it grand? Isn\u2019t it swell?\u201d
Rivera was good, great, grand and swell. She was a scintillating dancer for whom choreography was not simply learned and repeated, but fully embodied with such knock-down-drag-out confidence you\u2019d swear she was improvising.
How about her sexy ditty \u201cGimme Love\u201d as Aurora in 1992\u2019s \u201cKiss of the Spider Woman\u201d? \u201cIf there\u2019s an earthquake, I will not attend,\u201d she crooned. \u201cIf there\u2019s a plague, don\u2019t invite me, my friend. But if you want to keep me looking in your direction, let\u2019s make love!\u201d
Always sensual and vibrant, Rivera was as age-defiant a performer as there could possibly\u00a0be.
When the actress helped celebrate Broadway in Times Square in the summer of 2021 while the theaters were shut down, she abundantly made that clear.
\u201cI began my career in the theater over 70 years ago,\u201d Rivera, then 88, told the crowd. \u201cAnd I know what you\u2019re all thinking: \u2018I don\u2019t look a day over 60!\u2019 \u201d
She didn\u2019t.
Yes, \u201cSomewhere\u201d is not the right song to sum up Rivera.
But this whoopee-hotcha classic is perfect: \u201cCome on babe, we\u2019re gonna brush the sky. I betcha Lucky Lindy never flew so high.\u201d
Lucky us, we got to experience Chita Rivera. She really was all that jazz.<\/p>\n