Chita Rivera, Famed Broadway Star, Dies at 91

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Chita Rivera, the legendary Broadway star, passed away at age 91 after a brief illness, her daughter Lisa Mordente announced today.

Rivera, born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, D.C., is perhaps best known for originating famous roles on Broadway, including Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, and Velma Kelly in Chicago. She most recently returned to Broadway in 2015 for The Visit. In her career, she was nominated for 10 Tony nominations, winning two, and in 2018, received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. She later received a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Kennedy Center Honor.

"You have to like and care about what you’re doing," she said in an interview last year. "If you find yourself bored, that’s not the play’s fault. It’s your fault. It’s two and a half hours, and you never know who’s out there watching you. When I’m onstage, everybody in the audience may be applauding, but if one person is sitting on their hands, that’s who will catch my eye, and I’ll feel I’ve got to win them over. In that moment the performance is your life. It’s your breath. It’s important."

She "was everything Broadway was meant to be," Laurence Maslon, co-producer of the Broadway: The American Musical, told NPR. "She was spontaneous and compelling and talented as hell for decades and decades on Broadway. Once you saw her, you never forgot her."

Just last year, she published her autobiography, Chita: A Memoir, with journalist Patrick Pacheco. "I think my sense of humor gets me through," Rivera shared of her philosophy o on life. "When things go wrong, you’ve got to get over it, because there’s not much else you can do. Laughter helps you get over the agony much faster."

She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Mordente, siblings Julio, Armando and Lola del Rivero, and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister Carmen.

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