Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life

She's a singer and actress, but it's those dazzling legs that made her a star.

by David Anthony Fox

theater/dance

Not just "the dancer" — she's a singer and actress, too. But of course, it's those dazzling legs and feet that made Chita Rivera a star.

"Living legend" is a tiresome cliche. So how's this instead: In more than 50 years in show business, Rivera has served as muse to choreographers including Michael Kidd (Can-Can, where she was billed as Conchita del Rivero), Gower Champion (Bye Bye Birdie), Jerome Robbins (West Side Story), Bob Fosse (Chicago — Rivera was the first-ever Velma Kelly) and Graciela Daniele (The Rink). She's picked up two Tony Awards (eight nominations total). That's coin of the realm for a Broadway diva, but Rivera is also a Kennedy Center honoree (2002).

All of which is to say that Rivera has earned her moment of autobiography. And happily, it's no trashy tell-all book, but an on-her-toes celebration. In her self-named show, which is part of the Merriam's Broadway Across America series, Rivera recreates several of her famous numbers, and while it's true that she's got backup dancers to do some of the really acrobatic stuff, it's equally true that none of them can do what she still can. (Most of the rest of us couldn't even imagine ourselves doing it!)

I trust you've appreciated how artfully I've avoided mentioning Rivera's age. Till now: In a few weeks, she will turn 74. (Don't yell at me — it's a matter of record.) How wonderful that she'll be touring the country with all the moxie of a young chorus girl. "Broadway Across America," indeed.

Tue.-Wed., Jan. 9-10, 8 p.m., through Jan. 14, $25-$73.50, Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 215-336-1234, www.merriamtheater.org.