This is Chita on Random...
no way can I do justice to her performing achievements.
So consider this an out-of-order,
image (not info) heavy tribute
to a great musical theatre star.
Chita was born
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero
in Washington, D.C. in 1933.
At the age of 15, she auditioned (and was accepted)
to the School of American Ballet in NYC.
Then the old story...she went along to support a friend
who was auditioning for a spot in Call Me Madam.
Chita got the part. :)
Now the randomness starts...
Above (and below on the right)
with Sammy Davis Jr. in Mr. Wonderful (1956).
(If you can believe the scuttlebutt,
Chita and Sammy had a romantic thing!
At least for the length of the show...)
With Dick Van Dyke in
Bye Bye Birdie (1960).
Chita would lose out on the movie role
to Janet Leigh.
Gotta be a TV variety show,
late 50s or early 60s!
As Anita in the Broadway production
of West Side Story (1957).
Rita Moreno was cast in the movie version.
Sweet Charity!
Chita appeared in both the stage (1967)
and film (1969) versions.
Above with Paula Kelly and Shirley MacLaine.
Rehearsing with Liza Minnelli in
Kander and Ebb's The Rink (1984).
With Gwen Verdon
in Chicago
(Chita would do 5 different productions of that musical,
from 1977 to 1999).
In Jerry's Girls
(a salute to the musicals of Jerry Herman)
in 1985,
with Dorothy Loudon and Leslie Uggams.
In Kiss Of The Spider Woman
(1992).
With Tommy Tune (above).
In 2003, Chita performed in the revival of Nine,
directed by Tommy.
Chita was cast in Kander and Ebb's The Visit,
which began "life" in 2001,
with productions in Chicago, Virginia, an in-concert version,
and finally Broadway in 2015.
Plus another score (or 7) of musicals,
movie and TV appearances by this talented lady!
Chita has been nominated 10 times for a Tony
(a record she shares with Julie Harris).
She's received 3 Tony Awards, one of them a
Lifetime Achievement Award,
as well as a Presidential Medal Of Freedom
from President Obama in 2009.
She is 86 years old.
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