Dick Van Dyke Will Guest Star in Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life

Bainbridge Performing Arts Changes Sprin...

By Brian Scott Lipton • Jan 12, 2006 • New York

Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, and Gower Champion
during rehearsals for Bye, Bye Birdie

Dick Van Dyke will make a special guest appearance in Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life from January 24 through 26. He and Rivera played lovers Albert and Rosie on Broadway in Bye, Bye Birdie (1960), directed by Gower Champion.

The show's song list will have a new addition beginning this weekend: a re-creation of "America," Rivera's show-stopping number in the original Broadway production of West Side Story (1957).

Van Dyke also appeared on Broadway in the revue The Girls Against the Boys and in the 1980 revival of The Music Man. He is well known for his leading roles in the films Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as for his television work, including The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder.