Chita Rivera - Legends of Broadway (Dig)

Artist: Chita Rivera Title: Legends of Broadway (Dig) Label: Sony Classics UPC: 828768840221 Price: $9.99

Chita Rivera - Legends of Broadway (Dig) Track Listing

1 - America - Chita Rivera, Bernstein, Leonard
2 - Tonight - Chita Rivera, Bernstein, Leonard
3 - A Boy Like That/I Have a Love - Chita Rivera, Bernstein, Leonard
4 - An English Teacher - Chita Rivera, Adams, Lee
5 - What Did I Ever See in Him? - Chita Rivera, Adams, Lee
6 - Mean - Chita Rivera, Marks, Walter
7 - All That Jazz
8 - Cell Block Tango
9 - I Can't Do It Alone
10 - My Own Best Friend
11 - When Velma Takes the Stand
12 - Class
13 - Where You Are
14 - Gimme Love
15 - Kiss of the Spider Woman
16 - Nowadays

Chita Rivera - Legends of Broadway (Dig) Reviews

Average Rating: 5.0

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Rating: 5
The term "triple threat" could have been invented for Chita Rivera. She's the perfect example of the hard-working Broadway gypsy, who worked her way through the ranks of Broadway's hierarchy. Starting out in strictly dancing parts ("Seventh Heaven", "Mr. Wonderful"), Rivera literally found her voice in WEST SIDE STORY, playing the fiery Anita in the legendary 1957 original cast of that show.

In BYE BYE BIRDIE, Rivera was faithful secretary Rosie Alvarez to Dick Van Dyke's lanky legged music publicist; whilst in the cult flop favourite BAJOUR, she played the spitfire gypsy dancer Anyanka. Rivera kept herself busy throughout the 1960s, touring as the title role in "Sweet Charity" (and playing one of Charity's sidekicks in the Shirley MacLaine movie version); but one of her biggest accomplishments was definitely the original 1975 Broadway production of CHICAGO. Literally years ahead of it's time, the show was marked by the partnership of Rivera and Gwen Verdon; a match made in musical comedy heaven (the show was an even bigger smash when Liza Minnelli secretly came in to temporarily fill in for the ill Verdon; Minnelli and Rivera later effectively paired in Kander and Ebb's underrated gem "The Rink").

Kander and Ebb's KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN--which debuted in London before moving to Broadway in 1993--made good use of Rivera as the haunting Aurora, the "spider woman" of the title who captures the imagination of jailed window dresser Molina (Brent Carver).

Still singing and dancing as vividly as she did when she first burst onto the stage, this disc is a fitting tribute to the incredible force of nature known as Chita Rivera.

For ease of collecting, this disc features tracks drawn from the following albums:
West Side Story (1957 Original Broadway Cast)
Bajour (1964 Original Broadway Cast)
Bye Bye Birdie!
Chicago - A Musical Vaudeville (1975 Original Broadway Cast)
Kiss Of The Spider Woman: The Musical - Original Cast Recording (Original London Cast)