Remembering Chita Rivera 记忆中的奇塔·里维拉

2024-02-16 11:26:00来源：网络

Remembering Chita Rivera

记忆中的奇塔·里维拉

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　　By Caty Weaver

　　02 February 2024

　　Groundbreaking American performer Chita Rivera died on January 30 in New York. She was 91 years old.

　　The famed dancer, singer and actor won many awards and honors in her long career on Broadway and beyond. Her work also broke through ethnic and racial barriers in American entertainment, helping to shape a path for Latin performers.

　　Her daughter, Lisa Mordente, announced her mother's death. She said Rivera died after a brief sickness.

　　Rivera first gained wide notice in 1957 as Anita in the original production of the musical play West Side Story. She was still dancing on New York's Broadway stages a half-century later in 2015's The Visit.

　　"I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't moving or telling a story to you or singing a song," she told the Associated Press at the time. "That's the spirit of my life, and I'm really so lucky to be able to do what I love, even at this time in my life."

　　Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was born January 23, 1933, in Washington, D.C. Her Puerto Rican father, Pedro del Rivero, was a musician who played in the United States Navy Band. He died when Chita was seven. Her mother Katherine was of Scottish and Italian ancestry.

　　Chita studied dance as a young girl and was accepted to a highly respected school for ballet. She was 17 when she won her first part in a musical.

　　"She was a true Broadway legend," playwright Paul Rudnick said on social media service X. "She always delivered and audiences adored her. The moment she stepped onstage, the world became more exciting and glorious."

　　Rivera rose from chorus line performer to star. Along the way, she worked with many of Broadway's other greatest playmakers, including Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Fosse, and Harold Prince.

　　She won two Tonys, the highest award for live theater in the United States. Her first came in 1984 with the production The Rink. She won again in 1993 for the play Kiss of the Spider Woman. An Associated Press theater critic wrote at the time that Rivera was "more than a musical theater star. She's a force of nature...."

　　The second Tony was an especially sweet victory for the star. Just five years earlier, Rivera had been in a serious car accident that crushed her right leg. It could have ended her career. After months of physical therapy to regain her dancing skills, she returned to the stage singing and dancing as energetically as ever.

　　She told the AP: "It never entered my mind that I wouldn't dance again. Never. I can't explain to you why. It's hard work getting back but that's what I'm doing."

　　When accepting a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, Rivera said "I wouldn't trade my life in the theater for anything, because theater is life."

　　In August 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama honored Rivera with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. At the presentation of the medal, Rivera put her hand over her heart and shook her head in wonderment.

　　Rivera was married to dancer Tony Mordente from 1957 until 1966. Their daughter Lisa also became a performer and has appeared on Broadway.

　　I'm Caty Weaver.

　　The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　作者：凯缇·韦弗

　　日期：2024年2月2日

　　突破性的美国表演者奇塔·里维拉于1月30日在纽约去世，享年91岁。

　　这位著名的舞者、歌手和演员在百老汇及其他地方的漫长职业生涯中赢得了许多奖项和荣誉。她的工作也突破了美国娱乐业的种族和种族障碍，为拉丁表演者铺平了道路。

　　她的女儿，丽莎·莫登特，宣布了她母亲的去世。她说里维拉在一次短暂的疾病后去世。

　　里维拉首次在1957年的音乐剧《西区故事》的原创制作中以安妮塔的角色受到广泛关注。直到半个世纪后的2015年，她仍在纽约的百老汇舞台上跳舞，参演了《访问》。

　　“如果我不在移动，或者向你们讲故事，或者唱歌，我会不知所措，”她当时告诉美联社。“这就是我的生活精神，我真的很幸运能够做我热爱的事情，即使在我生活的这个时期。”

　　多洛雷斯·康奇塔·菲格罗亚·德尔·里维罗于1933年1月23日在华盛顿特区出生。她的波多黎各父亲，佩德罗·德尔·里维罗，是一位在美国海军乐队演奏的音乐家。当奇塔七岁时，他去世了。她的母亲凯瑟琳是苏格兰和意大利血统。