美国国家公共电台 NPR--Broadway legend Chita Rivera dances through her life in a new memoir

Broadway legend Chita Rivera dances through her life in a new memoir¹

Transcript²

An admirer once said Chita Rivera had "the fastest feet on Broadway."

At age 90, she's a legendary³ dancer and proved it in the big musicals of her day — Bye Bye Birdie, Can Can, Chicago, and the biggest — West Side Story. Her talent as a dancer was almost as big as her birth name, which she shared with NPR in an interview: "Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero. Now, the rest of it is Montestuco Florentino Carnemacaral del Fuente."

Her new, eponymous memoir Chita — written with Patrick Pacheco — dances through the patterns of her brilliant career.

Rivera was in her mid-20s when she got her first big break. She created the role of Anita — the Puerto Rican lover of the head of the Shark gang — in the original 1957 Broadway version of West Side Story. "I am the original," she says. "I was there at the first flicker⁴ of the skirt!"

Other West Side Story originals are also legends today. Conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein wrote the music. He asked Rivera to come to his apartment for an audition⁵. Bernstein lived in a fancy West Side building. A doorman escorted her there.

"I nervously⁶ go into his music room," she remembers. "It was very bright. Lots of windows overlooking Carnegie Hall." She'd prepared. Learned every note of Anita's music. But she didn't sing it first in the audition with Bernstein. She sang Gershwin's slow and mournful "My Man's Gone Now," from Porgy and Bess. Then she performed Bernstein's music. She liked him. "He was so natural, he was so normal," she says. "I forgot who he was."

This young, un-wealthy, unflappable Puerto Rican girl who grew up in Washington, D.C., showing the great maestro what she could do. "To hear him say that was good — oh! I mean it was was like saying it was great!"

Another legend — dancer and choreographer⁷ Jerome Robbins — directed and choreographed⁸ West Side Story. Rivera came to him from training in ballet. Robbins added angles and yes, flirtatious⁹ flicking¹⁰ skirts to the show.

"He mixed a little bit of jazz in there, and a twist of the hip¹¹, a twist of the leg," she recalls. He was a demanding perfectionist, and Rivera worked her hips¹² off. "To work with Jerome Robbins was to have a father. You wanted to please your father," she says. "You wanted to do exactly as he described it. It was all about pleasing the teacher."

When the time came to make the first movie version of West Side Story, Chita Rivera was not cast as Anita. Rita Moreno played her instead. Rivera was disappointed. But looking back, she says, that closed door opened many new ones during Broadway's Golden Age. She starred in Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman. She scooped¹³ up Tony and Drama Desk Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Kennedy Center Honor. So many honors!

Although she doesn't think she's a great singer ("Oh goodness no!") on a stage once, or on You Tube now — with her flashing eyes and bright red lips and sexy shoulders, 90-year-old Dolores Conchita Figueroa, del Rivero Montestuco Florentino Carnemacaral del Fuente sounds as great as she looks.

1 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

4 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

5 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

6 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

7 choreographer   

n.编舞者

参考例句：

• She is a leading professional belly dancer, choreographer, and teacher. 她既是杰出的专业肚皮舞演员，也是舞蹈设计者和老师。 来自辞典例句
• It'stands aside, my choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe. 它站在一旁，我优雅的舞蹈指导，并祝福每个指尖与脚尖。 来自互联网

8 choreographed   

v.设计舞蹈动作( choreograph的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• There was some carefully choreographed flag-waving as the President drove by. 总统的车经过时，人们按精心编排的动作挥舞着旗帜。
• Achim had choreographed the dance in Act II himself. 阿希姆自己设计了第2幕的舞蹈动作。 来自辞典例句

9 flirtatious   

adj.爱调情的，调情的，卖俏的

参考例句：

• a flirtatious young woman 卖弄风情的年轻女子
• Her flirtatious manners are intended to attract. 她的轻浮举止是想引人注意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 flicking   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马，之后挥动了缰绳。
• There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。

11 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

12 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》