Chita Rivera on Making Musical History

The legendary Broadway star speaks to Patrick Pacheco about creating the character of Anita, meeting Obama and making history

Chita Rivera is not one to look back. At 84, her career is still going at the breathless pace she set for herself when she arrived in New York over 65 years ago to pursue a career in ballet. Moving to NYC from Washington, D.C., fate stepped in for Rivera in 1951, when she accompanied a friend to an audition and ended up landing a spot in the chorus of Call Me Madam, the Broadway musical choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins saw something in Chita Rivera; he knew her to be a supremely talented, disciplined and dedicated performer who could do the impossible. And he was asking nothing less of every actor whom he cast in West Side Story: to fuse acting, singing and dancing in a revolutionary new form of storytelling.

Decades later, Rivera is garlanded with numerous awards, including a Kennedy Center Honor, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and two Tony Awards out of a record ten nominations. And even though West Side Story is not among her nominations, the experience of creating the role of fierce, sexy Anita lives within her— “right down to the marrow,” as she puts it.

The 60th anniversary of the groundbreaking musical has stirred up a torrent of emotions in the beloved performer. Rivera recalls that when the company began work on the show, the cast was not aware of how they were making theater history. They were simply eager to please the ruling triumvirate: director-choreographer Robbins, librettist Arthur Laurents, and composer Leonard Bernstein. Unheralded but crucial to the success was Peter Gennaro, the assistant choreographer, and a young 27-year-old lyricist by the name of Stephen Sondheim. “It was an exciting time,” says Rivera who was then only 23. “Somebody pushed you to the limit and you had to respond. You felt as if you were discovering yourself, really.”

Chita Rivera, Photo by Laura Marie Duncan

I sat down with Rivera to chat everything from her on-set romance, to meeting Obama to a new Spielberg film of West Side Story. She was smart, charming, funny and ferocious—just like Anita.

Chita Rivera in foreground, by Fred Fehl (From the collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)

In its time, “West Side Story” was as revolutionary when it bowed on Broadway as “Rent” or “Hamilton.” How aware were you at the time that you were working on something that special?

Well, we knew that it was different. But we were so ensconced in it, so determined to do what Jerry Robbins wanted: his complicated, interesting and challenging choreography. With the unusually long rehearsal period, we had time to really make that seep into our minds. Only when we had our first performance did we realize we had something serious in our hands.

Jerome Robbins, Peter Gennaro, Chita Rivera and cast in rehearsal for the stage production West Side Story, by Friedman-Abeles, 1957 (From the collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)

Before “West Side Story,” dancers had never been called upon to be accomplished in all three disciplines: singing, dancing, and acting. How daunting was that?

Rehearsals were absolutely stimulating. You hear how mean and nasty that Jerry was. He might have been but he was never that way with me. He was hard. He was asking us to do things that you could never, ever think you could do. And yet you ended up doing them because he insisted. And you had to make it look easy! The audience isn’t supposed to think of the rigor and discipline.

Chita Rivera in rehearsal for the stage production West Side Story, by Friedman-Abeles, 1957 (From the collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)

Director Jerome Robbins and librettist Arthur Laurents gave the actors great freedom in creating their characters. What did you contribute to the creation of Anita?

I think I definitely brought understanding and love and protection. I think I made sure Anita was a rock; someone who would step in front of the enemy and protect my own. I also felt as though I brought a teasing sensuality to it. In “America” the girls are teasing the guys. Instinctually, I knew how to do that!

Robbins famously kept the gangs—the Sharks and the Jets—apart in order to breed the hostility he felt he needed for the show. Yet you, playing the girlfriend of a Shark, managed to meet and eventually marry, Tony Mordente, who was playing a Jet. So did you transgress the rule? Can you tell us the story of how that came about?

You’re right, we were not allowed to socialize at all during rehearsals, not even during breaks or lunch time. But after 6pm, that was our time. There was a LOT of flirting! [laughs] That was a part of my character and I flipped over [Tony’s] talent. He was adorable, a great looking guy and a wonderful personality. We had a lot in common and we just simply fell in love.

Lisa Mordente, Tony Mordente and Chita Rivera, 1981 (From LIFE Photo Collection)

So it was like “Dance at the Gym” when Tony and Maria meet and everybody else just falls away?

Absolutely! He was so romantic. I’d be walking down the street and Tony would be screaming out the window of the car, “I love her! I love her!” All that wonderful craziness.

How did you feel, as a Latina, when you heard the score for the first time, especially “America” and “Dance at Gym (Mambo)”. Bernstein was introducing to Broadway a Latin/Jazz/Classical fusion of music for the first time.

It blew my mind! That rhythm hit us in the face! I was thrilled to death. That’s why I wanted so badly to “fly.” I wanted to be a part of that music. I wanted to be a part of that rhythm. You just wanted to live in that world completely and you really wanted to do it right.

Stephen Sondheim on piano and Leonard Bernstein standing amongst female singers rehearsing for West Side Story, Friedman-Abeles, 1957 (From the collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)

“America” had lyrics that some people felt were problematic and seemed to propagate stereotypes. How did it feel singing, “I’ll give them new washing machine/What have they got there to keep clean?”

I got six or seven letters from people who didn’t understand and I answered every one of them. They didn’t understand that Anita was joking around with my friends. She certainly didn’t feel that way. At the same time, “West Side Story” opened the door for a lot of us [Latinos]. And you have to remember there were gangs in New York so this show was something happening in our backyards. When we went to London, there were teddy boys but it wasn’t as close to home.

Rehearsal Photographs, 1957, by Fed Fehl (From the collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)

What did you think about Lin-Manuel Miranda coming in to write Spanish lyrics for the Arthur Laurents 2009 revival of “West Side Story”?

I thought the idea was fantastic. Phenomenal. And I adore Lin-Manuel. But I thought it was too much Spanish. Some songs were entirely in Spanish and Nuyoricans speak ‘Spanglish,’ half Spanish and half English. Unfortunately, I thought this was [director] Arthur Laurents trying to dissolve some of Jerry’s ideas in this revival.

What is the response that you still get to having created Anita in such a seminal piece of American musical theater? From the time you met President Obama to just fans on the street?

At the White House, President Obama just joked with me about the trouble we have with our names! [Rivera’s full name is Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero]. But I am constantly amazed and touched at the response that I get from the kids, the young actors, and very happy to see it. I didn’t do the movie and yet they know all about it, everything I’ve done. And that means they know their history and that’s so important. Because you have to know what came before, whose shoulders you are standing on as you pursue a career.

Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Carol Lawrence and other cast members around piano during rehearsal for the stage production West Side Story, by Friedman-Abeles, 1957 (From the collection of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts)

What were your feelings when the surviving members of the original cast of “West Side Story” reunited in 2007 for a Broadway charity event?

Oh my God! I levitated! I went off the ground when I saw everybody. We were all so much older and yet we all remembered what it felt like: ecstasy. A gift from God. If you’re fortunate enough to be in something like “West Side Story,” it’s God touching you on the shoulder: “I’m going to give you this. Now just do what you have to do—and be worthy of it.”

And how did you feel when you saw your ex-husband, Tony?

Oh, it was wonderful. We still have that “thing.’ We giggle, we laugh. I still love him. And we have our daughter, Lisa. I look at Lisa’s face and I see him.

How does “West Side Story” stack up besides all the other shows that make up the stunning oeuvre of your career?

Every single one of my shows stands alone, each in a different place in my soul. Each with their own set of discoveries. “Chicago” was huge. “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “The Visit” were huge. But “West Side Story” was about taking my first steps. I had done other shows but this was a much bigger well to dive into. I found out about myself. I found my husband. I had a child. It owns a part of my life.

What did you find out about yourself through Anita?

I liked her. I like myself. I thought I looked great! [laughs] I found out that I had those qualities I understood and admired in her. Lenny and Arthur and Jerry really introduced me to myself.

Chita Rivera as Anita in "West Side Story", by Fred Fehl, 1957 (From the collection of Museum of the City of New York)

Do you think it’s time for the film of “West Side Story” to be re-made?

Oh, I don’t know. It kind of makes me…I’m a little excited and a little scared about it. Maybe I’ll open my mind and it will be a good thing in the hands of [Steven] Spielberg. We have serious problems in this country—serious racial and economic problems—and maybe it’s time for everybody to realize and deal with that. We are an American family. And West Side Story deals with our differences and our similarities. And that scene at the end, with “Somewhere”...Maybe we need to hear that again.



Explore more on West Side Story:
- Interviews with the original Broadway cast
- A Jet and a Shark swap stories
- Broadway at the time of West Side Story
- Back to the West Side Story project