I preordered Chita: A Memoir by Chita Rivera with Patrick Pacheco as soon as I found out about it. For those unaware, I've had a great love of Chita since seeing her perform at the Tony's for Kiss of the Spider Woman. This was followed by getting to see her live twice, first on the last preview of The Visit, and later her One Woman show at Carnegie Hall, which also marks when I converted my husband to the Church of Chita. As I've read different Broadway histories and biographies of the stars, she turns up in quite a few places, and it's absolutely wonderful to get the stories in her own words.
As should probably be expected, she opens with West Side Story, where she originated the role of Anita, Bernardo's girlfriend. We hear of auditioning at Leonard Bernstein's apartment with Steven Sondheim on piano, and how they taught the role to her as they were writing it, and the sheer joy of getting costumed for the "Mambo" number where Tony meets Maria. We hear of the touches she added to it (things like only wearing one earring, and learning to not show off the dress with flourishes until the time is right, and how even now, she sees men of all shapes and sizes walking through Hell's Kitchen and Midtown wearing her dress, and how she always wants to give them the advice her costumer gave her when she got the dress.
Then we go back to her family and growing up in DC, and how she got enrolled in ballet school after breaking her mother's coffee table. (There are a few sad moments in here; by far the one that his me hardest was when her mother sold her father's clarinet and tenor sax to pay bills after he died.)
From there, we hear of her getting a scholarship to the American Ballet Academy in New York City, and living with her Aunt and Uncle in the city. While she trained in classical ballet, she also fell in love with modern dance, and wound up accompanying a friend to an audition for a touring show, which Chita ended up getting in. (Call Me Madam which had Ethyl Merman on Broadway, and Elaine Stritch on tour.)
From there, it's a whirlwind of tours until West Side Story, and then on to other shows, Los Angeles, and Italy. She had a daughter named Lisa with her husband (a Jet in West Side Story)...
So many stories. We hear of a performance for the Queen where she met Judy Garland for the first time (along with John, Paul, George, and Ringo. There's actually a really sad tale in here about John calling for Judy to show her wrists; seems Judy had likely tried to kill herself prior to the show.)
We hear about her affair with Sammy Davis Jr. during the run of Mr. Wonderful.
We hear tales of Fosse and Verdon, of Liza, of Paul Lynde and Dick Van Dyke, and we hear both the good and the bad and the love she feels for all of them, and her love for the creatives behind the shows.
We hear of her doing cabaret shows during the hiatus of Chicago when Fosse had a heart attack, and how she, like a lot of up and coming and come back artists were performing at gay clubs and bath houses. We relive the bad part of every Broadway history, the early 80's when Broadway literally died.
The last two chapters deal with Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Visit and the sadness involved in the death of Roger Rees during the run of the latter.
There are so many other things I could add here, but honestly, I'll suggest everyone get a copy and read it. There's a reason Lin-Manuel Miranda calls her out as a legend in In The Heights. This was worth every penny I paid too get it at release.
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