CHITA: A LEGENDARY CELEBRATION to Open at August Wilson Theatre for One-Night Only on October 7

BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS announced today that CHITA: A LEGENDARY CELEBRATION has found its Broadway home. The star-studded benefit concert celebrating and starring the legendary Chita Rivera will play the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52 Street, New York City) at 8 pm on Monday, October 7, 2013. The one-night only performance in honor of Rivera's 80th birthday will be produced by and benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Tickets, which start at $75, are now on sale at broadwaycares.org/chita. VIP tickets and sponsorship packages also are available and include access to an exclusive post-performance reception with Rivera.

CHITA: A LEGENDARY CELEBRATION will be directed by Graciela Daniele and written by Terrence McNally with music direction by Michael Croiter.

Rivera, a two-time Tony Award winner, theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents, will be joined onstage by several show business friends who will help her celebrate her 80th birthday. Special guests will be announced later this summer.

"A girl only turns 80 once in her life, thank God, and I want everyone there as proof," Rivera said. "Let's have a party and raise some money for a cause that's extremely dear to me."

Tom Viola, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, said: "Chita has stood with Broadway Cares from our earliest days, never turning away from the challenges and always multiplying the joys we share. We are thrilled to help this Broadway legend celebrate this special birthday and mark 61 magnificant years of performances."

Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and received seven additional Tony nominations. She recently starred in the first Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and starred in the Broadway and touring productions of The Dancer's Life, a new musical celebrating her spectacular career, written by Terence McNally and directed by Graciela Daniele. She created her starring role in the new Kander/Ebb/McNally musical The Visit at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, and starred in the revival of Nine. Her electric performance as Anita in the Broadway premiere of West Side Story (1957) brought her stardom, which she repeated in London. Her career is highlighted by starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, The Rink (Tony Award), Chicago, Jerry's Girls, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tony Award) and the original Broadway companies of Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Seventh Heaven and Mr. Wonderful. On tour: Born Yesterday, The Rose Tattoo, Call Me Madam, Threepenny Opera, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me Kate, Zorba, Can-Can with The Rockettes. Chita was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009 and was the first Hispanic ever chosen to receive the Kennedy Center Honor in 2002. Her current CD is entitled And Now I Swing (Yellow Sound Label) and will tour withChita: A Legendary Celebration.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised more than $225 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States.

Broadway Cares awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide and is the major supporter of the social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative and the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic.

For more information, please visit Broadway Cares online at broadwaycares.org, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/BCEFA, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/BCEFA, watch us on YouTube at youtube.com/BCEFAtv, pin us on Pinterest at pinterest.com/BCEFA and tag us on Instagram at instagram.com/BCEFA.

For additional information, visit: www.chitarivera.com

Photo Credit: Laura Marie Duncan