Broadway stars have regularly sung and spoken about their careers as part of the “Broadway @” series this season in Provincetown, which runs through September. Next up is the legendary Chita Rivera, who discusses her long and illustrious career with Sirius XM’s Seth Rudetsky. Watch our interview with her below.
For more shows (so many!) on Cape Cod stages, visit our website at https://www.capecodtimes.com/entertainment. You’ll find reviews of recently opened shows including An American in Paris at the Cape Playhouse; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Twelfth Night” from the Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival in Chatham; “Assassins” by the College Light Opera Company; “Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus” at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre; “Jerker” at the Provincetown Theater; “Mame” at the Chatham Drama Guild; “Mary Poppins” at the Academy Playhouse; “Victor/Victoria” at the Cotuit Center for the Arts; “The Ballad of Bobby Botswain” at the Harbor Stage Company; and “Mamma Mia!” at the Cape Rep Theater in Brewster.
Read the reviews:Comedy, Musical Magic & Outdoor Shakespeare: What Our Critics Thought Of 9 Cape Cod Theater Shows
And here are a few other shows:
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Children play rock
Young actors who can also play instruments get their chance to shine when the Cape Cod Theater Company/Harwich Junior Theater presents the regional premiere of the musical School of Rock. Based on the 2003 film, the series tells the story of a musician who, after being kicked out of his rock band, becomes an unconventional substitute teacher and turns his students into his own rock band. Shows are Wednesday through Saturday, August 5 through August 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets and information: https://capecodtheatrecompany.org/.
Look back in history
The College Light Opera Company in Falmouth this weekend completes its production of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Assassins,’ the musical tale of violent political unrest in America’s past, accompanied by a warning of adult and disturbing content and an assurance that all guns are on stage are fake and recordings are sound effects. View our review online at https://www.capecodtimes.com/entertainment. Then, August 9-13, CLOC will stage the musical “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” Frank Wildhorn’s adaptation of the 1905 novel by Baroness Orczy, which follows an English fop who transforms into a quick-thinking escape artist to save the victims from Madame Guillotine to rescue in revolutionary France. Information on all shows: http://www.collegelightoperacompany.com/.
Chita Rivera back in Provincetown
Dancer/singer/actress Chita Rivera has 70 years — yes, 70 — of Broadway and performing stories to tell, but says she has no idea which ones she’ll share when she returns to Cape Cod for a show on Sunday at Provincetown City Hall .
That’s largely because her stage partner, piano accompanist and music director Seth Rudetsky, likes surprises.
Rivera, 89, will be back with Rudetsky for another round of the XM Sirius Radio star’s signature song-and-talk combination on producer Mark Cortale’s ‘Broadway @’ series. And Rivera says she honestly doesn’t know in advance exactly what’s in store because Rudetsky has an encyclopedic knowledge of Broadway, “there’s nothing he can’t do,” and he does his homework.
“I often wonder where he got his information from, but he’ll delve into your past and come up with something,” she says, laughing, “so he must have something up his sleeve to make him want to talk to me. … It’s a surprise for me and it’s a good way for him to hold his evening. He’s in control and he knows what he’s doing. (The surprise aspect) keeps you alert and informed.”
She says she enjoys performing with Rudetsky because the shows are “always fun because Seth is fun. He is so knowledgeable about information, he knows his business and he loves to work with laughter. … It’s a light-hearted way of entertaining.”
There’s more to come:“Most Ambitious Lineup Yet”: Audra McDonald and Chita Rivera Headline the 40+ Star Summer at the Art House, Town Hall in Provincetown
Rivera suspects the program will cover songs she is best known for singing and shows audiences know well. But with this aptly described Broadway legend, the list is still very long.
Rivera has won two Tony Awards for Best Actress, for “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “The Rink”, a Tony for Lifetime Achievement, and has been nominated for seven others. Among her 18 Broadway shows, she has originated the iconic musical roles of Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, and Velma in Chicago, and premiered a show about her career (written by Terrence McNally ). : “Chita Rivera: The Life of the Dancer” in 2005.
She appeared in the original casts of Guys and Dolls, Can Can, Seventh Heaven, Mr. Wonderful”, “Jerry’s Girls” and more. In 2002, she received the Kennedy Center Honors (the first Latina to receive the honor) and in 2009, Rivera was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Television audiences saw her at the Tony Awards and A Capitol Fourth celebration this summer.
A story worth getting out of there
Of her most famous roles, West Side Story has enjoyed a recent renaissance. That happened with both a Broadway revival in 2020 and last year’s acclaimed Steven Spielberg film adaptation of the musical, which turns Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into a battle between two rival 1950s street gangs, one white and the other mostly from Puerto Rico. The film earned Ariana DeBose an Academy Award for Anita – the same role that launched Rivera to Broadway stardom in 1957 and for which composer Leonard Bernstein taught the talented dancer to sing.
When asked if the film would bring the story to a new generation, Rivera remarked, “If you’re lucky enough to be a part of a wonderful story, a great score,[with]a great choreography, why shouldn’t it live forever?” And why shouldn’t a younger generation benefit from it? … The story is worth publishing.”
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She says she’s glad the musical is being shared in a different way, but laments that race riots are still a story to be told in 2022. And while Rivera praises Spielberg’s talent as a filmmaker, Rivera admits she’s personally interested in seeing “West Side Story” live in a theater.
“It’s going to be real. I think the film will make it a little bit more…a dream. There seems to be a division between audience and film as opposed to audience and theatre.”
Rivera also preferred to be back at this year’s Tony ceremony (which DeBose hosted) live. Following the COVID-19 lockdown, Rivera says, “Oh my god — to greet each other and breathe the same air, sharing this music and hearing it live, you can’t beat it.”
When asked about her busy schedule at this point in her life, Rivera replies that a busy schedule is what a typical Broadway actor does for eight shows a week. Two or three shows a week isn’t that much. “It does what you do. And I do it and I love it. It’s my breath, it’s my breath It’s just wonderful to share something close to your heart. What else is there if there is no exchange of emotions between people?”
One way Rivera honors other artists who share their feelings with audiences is with the Chita Rivera Awards for professional dancers. She started dancing as a child and says she considers herself a dancer first – always. “Singing came later and acting came later. And it came out of necessity. I did a show and I had to sing it for Leonard Bernstein. And before you know it I was learning from Stephen Sondheim, so you never know what you might come across. You have to keep yourself open.”
Next, Rivera looks forward to touring again in September, beginning in Pittsburgh with her own cabaret show, singing songs and sharing stories from her long and groundbreaking career. The nightclub act was originally put together by longtime collaborators McNally and composer John Kander and writer/lyricist Fred Ebb – who she calls her “two lifesavers”.
“I just explore my life through their music. I tell some stories about my experiences with them and that’s how I got to know myself,” she says. “I didn’t know myself that well. You always need someone watching, looking in from the outside and someone you trust and I (him) have trusted. They knew more who I was than I knew myself. … It is a gift (to have such friends) and (people) should be open to it.”
To see Chita Rivera
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday 7 August
Where: Provincetown City Hall, 260 Commercial St.
Tickets: $75 to $200 for VIP seats with Meet and Greet
Reservations and information: https://provincetownarthouse.com/