Rivera after a performance of Kiss of the Spider Woman in New York, 1993 G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times/Redux
Summary.
Though she started as a “chorus girl,” Rivera stepped into the spotlight as the original Anita in West Side Story, Velma in Chicago, and Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman on Broadway. Working with musical-theater legends from Leonard Bernstein to Bob Fosse, she racked up 10 Tony Award nominations, won twice, and earned a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. She has acted in films and on television, too, but, now 90, she says in her new memoir that she’ll always love live performance best.