It was almost exactly 25 years ago that Simone, Chris, and I went to the Merriam Theater to see Chita Rivera in a one woman show on January 15, 1998. Well, she was the only woman in it, and she must have been 66 years old at the time if the age given in her obituary is correct, but she was surrounded by a bunch of chorus boys who were presumably in the 25 to 30 year old range, and damn if those fit young studs didn’t have a hard time keeping up with that sexagenarian who displayed all the energy of a teenager.

She danced, she sang, she danced some more, and she danced rings around those chorus kids, and then she sang some more. And oh yes, she did some patter in between her numbers, talking about how her leg had been shattered and how she had been told she’d never dance again. But wow, did she wow us that night. I was out of breath just watching her.

The New York Times obituary refers to her as an electrifying star, and yes, that she was.