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Spotlight: Broadway Icon Chita Rivera Brings Stories, Songs To Garden Theatre

Chita Rivera comes to Winter Garden's Garden Theatre March 9th. Photo: Laura Marie Duncan
Chita Rivera comes to Winter Garden's Garden Theatre March 9th. Photo: Laura Marie Duncan

Chita Rivera is a Broadway icon. You may know her best as the original “Anita” from “West Side Story,” or from her roles in “Chicago,” “Sweet Charity,” and many others.

The two-time Tony winner is coming to Central Florida on March 9th. About a month after she performed to sold-out houses in London with a full orchestra and choir behind her, she’ll appear at the Garden Theatre’s annual “Encore” gala for a more intimate evening of personal stories and legendary songs, accompanied by a single piano.

During an evening like that, expect to be charmed by Ms. Rivera - "Please, by all means, call me Chita," she told Nicole Darden Creston at the start of their chat - and expect to laugh. A lot.

Above all, expect her to be as passionate about her art in an intimate setting...as is she is in the biggest houses on Broadway.

Click the Play Audio button to hear the conversation.

Find more information on Encore 2019: An Evening With Chita Rivera at the Garden Theatre's website.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined WMFE in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.