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A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Wednesday 26 april 2023
Chita Rivera introduces us to her alter ego in new memoir

By LESLIE AMBRIZ wanted readers to know
Associated Press her and Sammy better.
It’s hard to imagine Anita, “He was an extraordinary
Rose Alvarez and Velma human being who had
Kelly without Chita Rivera, the same problems as ev-
who first breathed life into erybody else, but he dealt
these beloved Broadway with them in a different
characters. way. And I cherish the time
At a time when there was that I had with Sammy be-
limited Latino representa- cause he was an amazing
tion on stage, this young person,” she said.
woman of Puerto Rican, For Rivera, vulnerability
Scottish and Irish descent in love isn’t something to
was taking Broadway by hide. “The loves of my life
storm and ensuring every- enabled me to explore my-
one knew her name. self even more,” she said.
The dancer-turned-Broad- “And I always said, you
way legend reminisces in know, we should have two
her new book, “Chita: A lives, one to try out and one
Memoir.” Written with arts you’re judged by. But we
journalist Patrick Pacheco, don’t.
it’s an inside look at Rivera’s We have one life, and we
journey from a spunky girl Chita Rivera arrives at the 72nd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 10, 2018, in have to live it as best we
jumping on furniture in her New York. On Tuesday Rivera released “Chita: A Memoir,” written with Patrick Pacheco. can,” said Rivera.
family’s Washington, D.C., Associated Press Hers became that of a the-
home to a professional atre icon, best known for
dancer and then a three- woman steals scene after She’s been doing all the parts because directors or her roles in “West Side Sto-
time Tony Award-winning scene: her self-proclaimed shows, but Dolores is the agents thought my name ry” (Anita), “Bye Bye Birdie”
performer. alter ego, Dolores. Dolores one that’s pushed her into sounded too south of the (Rose) and “Chicago” (Vel-
Each chapter feels like a is unapologetic and fiery. it. And she’s been keeping border, well, that was their ma). Accolades include a
personal diary entry as Ri- She is the unfiltered ver- me on track, so I listen to problem,” she writes in the Presidential Medal of Free-
vera, now 90, also talks sion of Chita and serves as Dolores. I listen to her. She’s memoir. dom in 2009; Tony Awards,
about motherhood, and motivation in times of self- growing in my head now as Rivera dedicates a chapter including one for Lifetime
loves lost and found. doubt. In one chapter, Ri- we speak.” to the late Sammy Davis Jr., Achievement in Theatre;
“It was the next stage for vera writes that she doesn’t Rivera was born Dolores whom she met while work- Kennedy Center Honors
me to write it down. And it read reviews “or Dolores Conchita Figueroa del ing on the Broadway musi- and more, filling up pages
was God’s way of remind- just might invest in a dozen Rivero. Friends knew her cal “Mr. Wonderful” early in and pages at the end of
ing me this is the life I had voodoo dolls.” as Chita, but it wasn’t until her career. She talks about her memoir. She also ap-
or have. I got so busy that “I consist of and I think someone recommended their romantic relationship, peared in film and on tele-
I didn’t remember that I we all do I consist of two that she shorten her name and the legendary rat pack vision.
had a wonderful, wonder- people: Dolores and Con- to fit on a show poster that member’s inner struggles. Her book includes memo-
ful life,” she told the Associ- chita,” said Rivera with a she became Chita Rivera. Rivera says she decided to ries of other Broadway leg-
ated Press. chuckle. “Conchita, she’s It was a name that she felt go into more detail about ends like Fred Ebb, John
While Rivera is the memoir’s the one that has been tak- respected her heritage. their relationship because Kander, Liza Minnelli, Leon-
main character, another ing all the glory, you know. “If I was going to lose some “it was time to,” and she ard Bernstein and more.q

Melissa McCarthy fronts People magazine’s ‘Beautiful Issue’

By The Associated Press through a punk phase, husband and producing
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Melis- complete with a mohawk partner Ben Falcone, that
sa McCarthy is out front on and blue hair, when she she started feeling comfort-
this year’s People maga- was in high school. able with herself. The cou-
zine “Beautiful Issue.” “I was fascinated because ple, who have two teen-
The “Bridesmaids” star says when I walked down the age daughters together,
being on the cover “felt like street and I looked like that, have been married since
it was saying something re- it was the first time that I’d 2005.
ally lovely to my younger ever had people kind of The actor said she wants
self, to my 20-year-old self. make fun of me or say re- others to find similar peace
Maybe to other people, ally mean things to me, of mind.
too.” even adults,” she told the “When someone’s being
People on Tuesday re- magazine. their authentic self and
vealed McCarthy’s selec- “I just kept thinking, you it hurts no one else in the
tion and the cover for the don’t know me, I didn’t world... The simplest rule is
issue that hits magazine do anything to you. It was just be kind,” she says.
racks on Friday. a real big eye-opener that McCarthy stars as the sea
McCarthy, 52, recounted people are just judging left witch Ursula in Disney’s up-
for the magazine her up- and right.” coming live action “The Lit-
bringing on a farm in rural McCarthy says it wasn’t tle Mermaid,” which will be Melissa McCarthy appears at the world premiere of “The
Kitchen” on Aug. 5, 2019, in Los Angeles.
Illinois and how she went until her 30s, when she met released in May.q Associated Press