Did Critics Kick Up Their Heels Over Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life?

Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life finds the legendary performer strutting her stuff--just as she always has. The show, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Graciela Daniele, opened at the Schoenfeld Theatre on December 11 after a tryout at the Old Globe Theatre. Did critics think this Life was worth savoring?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

William Stevenson in his Broadway.com Review: "The Dancer's Life is a triumphant look back at a storied, remarkably long-legged theatrical career… Besides being a dynamite dancer, Rivera is an engaging storyteller, an able mimic she impersonates Gwen Verdon quite well and a very likable, nice lady… I'm awfully glad I got to see Rivera reprise her signature roles, since I wasn't able to see most of them the first time around."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "At 72, [Rivera] still has the voice, the attitude and--oh yes--the legs to magnetize all eyes in an audience…. [The] supporting players feel like smudges on a camera lens, obscuring the view of what you really want to see. So, much of the time, do Loy Arcenas's Vegas-revue-style scenery, Mr. McNally's standard-issue sentimental script and the tapioca-bland original songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Intended as a setting for a glittering ruby of a star, the production elements often dim rather than enhance Ms. Rivera's natural incandescence. Never entirely, though. Which means that The Dancer's Life remains a must-have ticket for aficionados of the American musical."

Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life starring--there could hardly be an understudy unless Philip Seymour Hoffman wanted to volunteer--the 72-year-old Rivera in the still-astounding flesh, is a sweetheart of a show. This ardent love letter to one of the theater's adored divas is also an invitation to her multitude of fans to take a visit with her and enjoy a far from simply nostalgic stroll down a lane called Broadway. But, to be honest, it's not that much more. For many--and I am among Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero's most happily fluttering fans--it ought to be enough. The less committed should beware."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "When she moves, her body sends off the same sparks of electricity it always has. The dancers surrounding her are splendid especially the talented young Liana Ortiz, who plays Chita as a child, but you never take your eyes off Rivera because she generates the most heat--that's what a great dancer does. The script, by Terrence McNally, is expectedly full of zingers… Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life is a fitting tribute to a shining star."

David Rooney of Variety: "Rivera is a warm, engaging, generous and genuine personality and her humility under the solo spotlight is refreshing. But even an American musical theater treasure needs a better vehicle than this uneven showcase, which is never less than enjoyable but too rarely exhilarating."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "Enthusiasm, coupled with unflagging energy in her commitment to song and dance, makes Rivera one of the last of a vanishing breed--a true theater star. So playwright Terrence McNally had the most special of ingredients to work with when he was hired to shape Rivera's show-biz saga into a two-hour theatrical parade… The Dancer's Life is not as confessional as Elaine Stritch's one-woman show, but then Rivera adopts a sunnier attitude toward life and what has happened during her lengthy career. 'Looking back doesn't have to be painful,' she tells the audience. Judging from what's on stage at the Schoenfeld, it can be most entertaining as well."

Linda Winer of Newsday: "[Rivera] has great focus, which, oddly enough, is the missing ingredient in Terrence McNally's enjoyable but haphazardly organized book and Graciela Daniele's stylish and loving but occasionally padded production. The memory revue begins and ends with Rivera getting her Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, a setting that, for all her believable gotta-dance humility, locks her into a self-congratulatory framework she can never quite shake off. But this is vibrant, once-in-a-lifetime, primary-source material, the real deal who passes on her bone-deep understanding of musical theater through a body that still can show as persuasively as she tells. She might lose the line in her spine when she kicks. Otherwise, she is a master class of centered placement, emotional amplitude and killer attack. She also happens to look terrific."