Chita Rivera Talks CHICAGO, WEST SIDE STORY and More on STARS IN THE HOUSE

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the Actors Fund, the national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, has teamed with SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley, to produce a daily online show, entitled Stars in The House, featuring stars of stage and screen singing and performing live (from home!) on social media to promote support for The Fund's services.

The show continued last night (8pm) with Chita Rivera!

Chita shared how she went from training with the New York City Ballet to transferring to Musial Theater:

"The first audition was Jerome Robbins, Call Me Madam. And I figured, 'It's gonna be a ballet.' I just wanted to dance, that's it. I went to the audition, there are four principal dancers, I got one of the four principal dancers, and I called my mother and said, 'Mom, $250 dollars a week! What am a going to do?'... Mother said, 'I'll come up and we'll check it all out.' And she found out two of the actors in the show were husband and wife, and it was Elaine Stritch. So, how can you lose? I just followed what life put in front of me... I had no plans. I just simply wanted to do it. And life at that time, there were lots of auditions, there were brilliant choreographers. Michael Kidd, Jerome Robbins, Peter Gennaro. I mean, there were only brilliant choreographers then, which meant that they were exploring their own talents.... I came around at a great time."

Watch the full episode HERE.

New shows will be produced DAILY at the traditional theater times of 2pm and 8pm ET, featuring performances by stars of stage and screen, in conversation and song with Rudetsky and Wesley.

Current and past episodes can be found on the website starsinthehouse.com, as well as a donate button linking viewers to The Actors Fund.

An accomplished and versatile actress/singer/dancer, Chita Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and received five additional Tony nominations. Most recently, she appeared on Broadway in Kander & Ebb's musical The Visit (2015). In 2018, she was awarded a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre.

Ms. Rivera created the role of Velma Kelly in the original Broadway production of Chicago opposite Gwen Verdon and appeared as Roxie in the Atlantic City production of Chicago. Winner of 1993 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Kiss of the Spider Woman on Broadway, she began training as a ballerina at age 11 and shortly thereafter was given a scholarship to the American School of Ballet by the lengendary George Balanchine. The ballet world lost and Broadway gained a future star when the 17-year-old aspiring ballerina was cast as a principal dancer in Call Me Madam. It was her electric performance as Anita in West Side Story that brought her stardom in 1957. Her rich and varied Broadway career is highlighted by starring performances in Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, The Rink (for which she won both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards), Jerry's Girls, and the Broadway and touring productions of Kander and Ebb's Kiss of the Spider Women directed by Harold Prince. She recreated the role of the fiery Anita in the Original London Production of West Side Story and returned to the West End in 1960 as Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie. She has returned to London on several occasions to perform in concert at the famed London Palladium and to sing and dance in tribute to Broadway composer Jerry Herman. Her earlier Broadway producitons include the original casts of Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Seventh Heaven, and Mr. Wonderful. On National Tour, Chita starred in Born Yesterday; The Rose Tatoo; Call Me Madam; Threepenny Opera; Sweet Charity; Kiss Me Kate; and Zorba, and a National Tour of Can-Can with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes took her to Japan. Chita also played Nicky in the film version of Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine. Her most treasured production is her daughter, Lisa Mordente.