#1
Posted: 10/16/05 at 12:52pm
What becomes a legend most? Clearly, not a script by Terrence McNally. What should be a fascinating tour of an extraordinary performer’s 50 plus year career becomes a superficial frustration. There is little insight or interest in most of the script (dancing is hard, Bob Fosse was a minimalist, large families are energetic, a career in theatre has frustrations, etc.). The first act is mostly a quick overview of Chita’s life from childhood to Broadway gypsy to Broadway starring performer. The telling gets a little muddled around The Shoestring Review and Mr. Wonderful. A little more precision and specificity of detail would have helped the proceedings. Terrence McNally has stated that neither he nor Chita wanted to present “dish” on stage (for that go see Elaine Stritch). Fine, but at least give the audience something tangible and interesting to absorb. Little tantalizing details are mentioned. And in the next sentence dropped, and we have moved on to some other thought. Rarely does anything seem fleshed out or complete. It’s as if McNally, spent an afternoon tea with Chita, and this is what we’ve got. For goodness sake, tell us something -- anything -- that might shed some light on what made this person’s life worth two hours on the stage. We get a few glimpses of what might have been in the brief section on auditioning for Leonard Bernstein and the Choreographers section (where Chita discusses and demonstrates some of the styles of the great choreographers she has worked with.). We need more of this. It’s not catty, and it provides context and flavor to what must have been an extraordinary life. It’s hard to tell what was so special about her life and career from what we are seeing and hearing on stage. The section on the romantic men in her life is especially unenlightening - she was married, had a daughter whom she loves, the marriage broke-up and, oh yes, she has had many (unnamed) romances with men since. This section is told to some lovely tango work with Richard Amaro, but we as the audience learn NOTHING about Chita, well except that she likes a man’s butt. Then she sings the generic “More Than You Know”. A lovely song, but it doesn’t tell us a thing. If you are going to be this coy, then why even include this segment?
“But, how’s Chita?,” you ask. Chita is in fine form, and makes it worth seeing the show. Where else will you get to see Chita Rivera standing, singing and dancing for two hours? There is a reason she is a legend and every minute on that stage proves it. She still can move quite well, and she still has that spark that makes a performer memorable. She can still turn a phrase for a laugh. But the material for the most part lets her down. The show feels somehow depleted of energy and slightly lethargic at times. Most of the first act falls into this trap. The second act fairs better where we get the Choreographers section and an extended medley of the new Ahrens/Flaherty number, “A Woman the World Has Never Seen Before”, and several of show stoppers from Chita’s later career (Chicago, The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman). However, it should be pointed out that “Class” from Chicago is a strange selection here, because she’s talking about going on stage to sing “All That Jazz” for the first time, and then she starts to sing “Class”. This is just another example of how the show changes tracks and confuses the audience. It turns out, they are saving “All That Jazz” for the last number of the show, but why bate and switch like this? Why not come up with an anecdote about the song she is going to sing? There must be something fun to say about it.
The chorus of gypsies is fine. It would be nice to see them really get to cut loose on a number, but that doesn’t really happen. They are used as fill-in and background to Chita. Which is really how it should be for a show of this type. But one wonders how a full production staging of something from Kiss of the Spider Woman or maybe an early gypsy show such as Can-Can might have jolted this production to life. Instead we are given a little bit of this (snatch of “Rosie”) and a little bit of that (some of the title dance from “Can-Can”). One charming exception is the number “Camille, Colette, Fifi” from the mostly forgotten Seventh Heaven. This is given a humorous and lovely staging with Allyson Tucker and Deidre Goodwin.
One can hope that the stage and set design will be punched up for Broadway. The best part is having the orchestra on a raised scaffold-like structure at the rear of the stage. Otherwise, it was a smoky mirror dropped here for the dance class room scene, a drop here and a scrim there. This serves to not upstage the star, but it doesn’t create much visual interest on the stage. The costumes were fine. Chita appears in a flattering black dress most of the show. The chorus have a few customer changes, but again nothing to upstage Chita. Lighting is serviceable.
One can’t help, but think that there is a wealth of material to be mined from this fascinating creature called Chita Rivera. Unfortunately, most of it is not currently on view in Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life.
(Rating: 2 1/2 stars overall - 4 stars for Chita Rivera and 1 star for the book of the show.)
“But, how’s Chita?,” you ask. Chita is in fine form, and makes it worth seeing the show. Where else will you get to see Chita Rivera standing, singing and dancing for two hours? There is a reason she is a legend and every minute on that stage proves it. She still can move quite well, and she still has that spark that makes a performer memorable. She can still turn a phrase for a laugh. But the material for the most part lets her down. The show feels somehow depleted of energy and slightly lethargic at times. Most of the first act falls into this trap. The second act fairs better where we get the Choreographers section and an extended medley of the new Ahrens/Flaherty number, “A Woman the World Has Never Seen Before”, and several of show stoppers from Chita’s later career (Chicago, The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman). However, it should be pointed out that “Class” from Chicago is a strange selection here, because she’s talking about going on stage to sing “All That Jazz” for the first time, and then she starts to sing “Class”. This is just another example of how the show changes tracks and confuses the audience. It turns out, they are saving “All That Jazz” for the last number of the show, but why bate and switch like this? Why not come up with an anecdote about the song she is going to sing? There must be something fun to say about it.
The chorus of gypsies is fine. It would be nice to see them really get to cut loose on a number, but that doesn’t really happen. They are used as fill-in and background to Chita. Which is really how it should be for a show of this type. But one wonders how a full production staging of something from Kiss of the Spider Woman or maybe an early gypsy show such as Can-Can might have jolted this production to life. Instead we are given a little bit of this (snatch of “Rosie”) and a little bit of that (some of the title dance from “Can-Can”). One charming exception is the number “Camille, Colette, Fifi” from the mostly forgotten Seventh Heaven. This is given a humorous and lovely staging with Allyson Tucker and Deidre Goodwin.
One can hope that the stage and set design will be punched up for Broadway. The best part is having the orchestra on a raised scaffold-like structure at the rear of the stage. Otherwise, it was a smoky mirror dropped here for the dance class room scene, a drop here and a scrim there. This serves to not upstage the star, but it doesn’t create much visual interest on the stage. The costumes were fine. Chita appears in a flattering black dress most of the show. The chorus have a few customer changes, but again nothing to upstage Chita. Lighting is serviceable.
One can’t help, but think that there is a wealth of material to be mined from this fascinating creature called Chita Rivera. Unfortunately, most of it is not currently on view in Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life.
(Rating: 2 1/2 stars overall - 4 stars for Chita Rivera and 1 star for the book of the show.)
Updated On: 10/16/05 at 12:52 PM
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