Lighting Up The Stage With Stars Of A Certain Age -- For Chita Rivera And A Host Of Other Veteran Actresses, Age Is No Longer An Issue

Jan 14, 1996

Misha Berson

Seattle Times Theater Critic

So you are chatting with Chita Rivera, who at 62 is headlining the national tour of the hit Broadway musical, "Kiss of the Spider Woman," which comes to Seattle Friday.

You've already caught Rivera's Tony Award-winning performance as a glamorous B-movie queen who spices up the fantasy life of Molina, a lonely gay prisoner confined to a South American jail with Valentin, a hostile political activist.

So that means you've seen the vibrant lady strut her stuff in a slew of production numbers with young, buff chorus boys at her side, and slink around in spangly Florence Klotz costumes that reveal her shapely, mile-long gams.

And even though you are more than a few years younger than Rivera - who shot to fame playing the gang moll Anita in the original 1957 production of "West Side Story" - you sheepishly admit to her, "Watching you dance makes me feel kind of old."

Chita's retort? A throaty laugh, followed by a drill sergeant's barking command: "Well then, shape up!"

Age not a limitation

Rivera clearly has no time to whine about the ravages of age. Nor the patience to hear anyone else (especially somebody young enough to be her daughter) whimper about getting creaky.

The recipient of two Tony Awards (the other was for "The Rink") and five more Tony nominations, the feisty actress-dancer has been too busy onstage night after night, ensnaring the audience in her "Spider Woman" web of sensuality and menace.

And many of her peers are back in the footlights, too, lending high-wattage charm and allure to shows boosted by their talents.

The commercial theater scene is, in fact, dominated by seasoned female entertainers of a certain vintage. Julie Andrews, 60, now reigns on Broadway in a musical version of the film "Victor/Victoria." (The show's reviews were mediocre, but Andrew won raves.)

Carol Burnett, who turns 60 this year, has come back to the Great White Way after a long absence to clown around in the Philip Bosco farce "Moon Over Buffalo."

Meanwhile, Zoe Caldwell, 61, cuts a memorable swath as Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's new Broadway play, "Master Class," while Anne Meara and Rita Moreno are bucking retirement to star in Meara's hit Off Broadway comedy, "After Play."

And two lively septuagenarians have resurfaced on the New York stage this season: Carol Channing, the 74-year-old leading lady of a "Hello, Dolly!" revival, and legendary teacher-performer Uta Hagen, who depicts a famous psychoanalyst in "Mrs. Klein."

Could this convergence of mature feminine star power be merely accidental? Or does it represent a new willingness to view ripened actresses as capable of attracting, even electrifying, the theater-going public?

Rivera is not so sure what the trend signifies, but she vigorously approves it.

"These are all great women, and it's about time everybody realizes that once you're past 30 you're not dead," she says.

Returning to tradition

Long ago on the American stage, before youth became synonymous with beauty, it was not extraordinary to find grande-dame superstars whose theatrical charisma and bankable power flourished well past middle age. The great French thespian Sarah Bernhardt performed her favorite roles into her 70s, even after one of her legs had been amputated. Katherine Cornell, Mrs. Pat Campbell and Helen Hayes all trouped on for as long as their stamina allowed them.

It is still rare to see any woman older than, say, Meryl Streep get a juicy romantic role in a movie or TV drama. But these days a durable performer such as Rivera gets additional mileage from appearing to be not even close to her real age. Or, to paraphrase a comment the ever-young Gloria Steinem once made, Rivera's 60 looks like a very glamorous 40 used to look.

Compare photos of Rivera today with publicity shots taken of her as Anita in "West Side Story," or as Rosie, Dick Van Dyke's love interest in the 1960 musical "Bye Bye Birdie," or as a dance hall gal in the 1969 film of "Sweet Charity" with Shirley MacLaine, and you wonder what magic elixir she has discovered.

Rivera still wears her hair in the same silky, raven-black bob. Her face remains smooth and taut, dominated by major cheekbones and flashing dark eyes. And those legs . . . not even a taxi cab accident in the 1980s could keep her off the dance floor for long. (Rivera's last appearance in Seattle, in fact, was her 5th Avenue stint in the high-kicking musical "Can Can" in 1988, soon after the bones she broke in that traffic collision had mended.)

Before kicking yourself for not being as svelte, silky or limber as Rivera, remember she's had a few advantages. One is genetics.

"My mother was very beautiful," says Rivera, who was raised in a Puerto Rican clan in Washington, D.C., with four siblings. "She was not a dancer, but had gorgeous legs - much, much nicer than mine. And she was extremely supple."

Crucial, too, was Rivera's love for ballet, which she began studying at age 11. At 16, she came to New York to train at the American School of Ballet, taking classes from Maria Tallchief and other leading lights of the American Ballet Theater.

Rivera never became a prima ballerina, because "a friend asked me to come along on an audition to `Call Me Madam,' I got a job in the chorus, and that changed the course of things."

But the rigorous discipline of ballet, she believes, is responsible "for absolutely all of my success in musicals.

"It's really the basis for my technique. If you're well-trained in ballet you gain power and strength in your muscles, and stand a much better chance of doing all kinds of dance. Ballet is like the framework of a house."

A nonstop career

Working almost nonstop for the past four decades, under the guidance of "the best choreographers" - Bob Fosse ("Sweet Charity" and "Chicago"), Peter Gennaro ("Mr. Wonderful"), Jerome Robbins ("West Side Story)" and Oona White ("Bye Bye Birdie") - also has kept her in top-top shape.

"I just didn't stop, except to have Lisa," recalls Rivera, referring to her now-adult daughter from a former marriage to actor Tony Mordante.

Of course, there is the other little matter of, ahem, cosmetic surgical enhancement - a revitalizing technique for those who can afford it. Though Rivera won't say if she's indulged, she calls cosmetic surgery "a great thing! I have no problem with it."

Rivera also has no problem convincing audiences she belongs in the femme fatale role in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" - a splashy part played in the non-musical, very different film version of Manuel Puig's novel by the decades-younger Sonia Braga.

Directed by musical-theater mastermind Harold Prince, the 1993 show has a book by Terrence McNally and a score by Fred Kander and John Ebb - the trio also responsible for "The Rink."

"Any time those guys ask me to do anything, the answer is yes," she explains. "I also loved the sensuality of the role, the glamour of it. And to wear Florence Klotz's costumes was an exciting thing. They're so classy and distinctive - I love her dresses, and her mansuits."

On the road with "Kiss" for more than a year now, Rivera insists her energy and enthusiasm aren't flagging yet. And she likes the idea of being a role model - for up and coming Latino performers, as well as for women worried about getting older.

"I think if the youth are smart they'll open their eyes and see that this is what longevity is all about," she says, referring to herself as well as her pals Andrews, Burnett, Moreno, et al.

"People do love wine that's aged, now don't they? Hey, human beings are the same thing. Maturity is power." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Where to see `Kiss of the Spider Woman'

The national touring production of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," the John Kander-Fred Ebb-Terrence McNally musical about the evolving friendship between a gay hairdresser and a political radical who share a cell in a brutal Latin American prison, runs at the 5th Avenue Theatre Jan. 19-28.

Featuring Chita Rivera as the seductive 1940s movie queen who inhabits Molina's dreams, the show is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same title. It earned seven 1993 Tony Awards in its Broadway premiere directed by Harold Prince, including one for best musical.

Shows are 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $19-$60, available by phone (292-ARTS) or at the 5th Avenue Theatre box office.

"Not dead" after 30