Theater News

Bye Bye Chita: The Dancer’s Life To Close February 19, National Tour To Begin in 2007

Chita Rivera in Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life
(Photo © Paul Kolnik)
Chita Rivera in Chita Rivera: A Dancer’s Life
(Photo © Paul Kolnik)

The Broadway production of Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life will play its final performance on Sunday, February 19 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The show, which opened on December 11, 2005, will have played 20 previews and 72 regular performances.


The musical celebrates the life and career of one of America’s most beloved stage performers. It features direction and choreography by Graciela Daniele, a book by Terrence McNally, and new songs by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. A multi-city U.S. tour of Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life will begin at the Miami Performing Arts Center on January 2, 2007. Additional cities and international tour dates will be announced at a later date.

In his review of the show for TheaterMania, David Finkle wrote, “Chita Rivera deserves standing ovations for the 55 years she’s been dancing her heart out and her feet off on Broadway and elsewhere […but] so much is deficient about this revue/review of the 72-year-old Rivera’s life that it’s difficult to know where to start and stop itemizing.”

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