Broadway legend and Tony Award winner Chita Rivera passed away at the age of 91. Lisa Mordente, her daughter, made the announcement that her mother had passed away “after a brief illness” in New York.
Rita made her stage debut as Anita in the 1957 original production of “West Side Story.” She received twelve nominations for the Tony Awards, and in 1984 and 1993, she won for “The Rink” and “Kiss of the Spiderwoman.”
In 2018, she was also awarded a special lifetime achievement Tony. Brian Herrera, a Princeton University performance historian, stated, “She was one of the few performers who left their mark on Broadway in almost every decade.”
In American theater, she was a priceless gem.
