Indomitable. Sexy. Edgy.
That’s the legendary Chita Rivera we first saw in her Broadway debut in 1953 and have watched in awe in West Side Story, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Chicago and so many other plays and films. For more than half a century, she’s embodied grace and fire, inner razzle-dazzle and a haughtily self-assertive strut.
Now, in Chita: A Memoir, Rivera reveals how she sees her irreverent self, opening up about spending decades in the company of Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince, Bob Fosse and Leonard Bernstein; celebrating her ten Tony nominations and three wins; and enduring a car accident that left one of her celebrated legs shattered.
She joins us for a conversation with Nathan Lane about molding Anita’s warning cry of “A Boy Like That” with Leonard Bernstein, her rise as a non-white leading lady in a still-segregated America to being a recipient of the the Kennedy Center Honor and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and how, at the age of 89, she continues to dwell in a place of continual motion and pure joy.
In a career spanning over 40 years, Nathan Lane has appeared on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic to win three Tony Awards, three Emmys and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.