A true living legend of the musical stage, Chita Rivera is touring Australia — direct from Adelaide’s Cabaret Festival.

Accompanied by her long-time musical director Michael Croiter on percussion and guitar, Michael Patrick Walker on the piano, and Dave Ellis on the Double Bass, Chita will perform selections from her most celebrated musicals. But who is she? She only created the leading roles in the original productions of Can Can, West Side Story, Sweet Charity, Chicago, Jerry’s Girls, Bye, Bye Birdie and Kiss of the Spider Woman (her second Tony award). With over eight Tony nominations, she is the second most nominated actress in Tony history.

She is probably the first Latin-American female performer to really make a mark on the American stage. If you haven’t heard of her before it’s because she focused her career on theatre rather than film or TV. She’s made many guest appearances, even for Will and Grace but she’s the sort of performer who really comes alive with an audience. You might have seen her playing opposite Shirley Maclean in the film Sweet Charity.

At 78 you might think these days she’s a bit past it but her naturally deeper voice still packs plenty of PUNCH and she certainly has lost none of her energy.

She grew up in Washington and having studied ballet, her first break into theatre came when she accompanied a friend to an audition of the touring company Call Me Madame for moral support. She got the lead dance role, her friend didn’t and it led to over 50-years of a stage performing career. She created the tough role of Anita for West Side Story, a revolutionary show where dancers had to dance, act and sing. Her performance was so important to the show that they delayed the opening of the London production for her to give birth to her daughter Lisa. Ms Rivera’s dancing was always peerless, except perhaps with that of Gwen Verdon, with whom she co-stared in the original production of Chicago. But she’s also a fantastic actor and singer.

Constantly performing in productions across America, Canada and the UK, she settled in Los Angeles but has kept on the move. If she didn’t create the role in the original show, she certainly made it her own in the many touring productions she’s performed.

In 2009, Chita released a new solo studio CD entitled And Now I Swing, which pays homage to her stage legacy while also displaying her passion for jazz. From classic theatre songs to jazz standards, all tracks featured on this new album have received new arrangements recorded by New York’s finest musicians, reimagining some of Chita’s favourite tunes.

She recently starred in the Broadway and touring productions of The Dancer’s Life, a dazzling new musical celebrating her spectacular career, written by Terence McNally and directed by Graciela Daniele.

Chita recreated her starring role in The Visit, the new Kander/Ebb/McNally musical at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia for which she received the 2009 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. She received the coveted Kennedy Center Honour in Washington D.C., in December, 2002, and was the first Hispanic ever chosen to receive this award. Chita also received The Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2009 and also starred in the revival of the Broadway musical Nine with Antonio Banderas. Her webiste: www.chitarivera.com