Before we can even mentally ask the question, Chita Rivera answers it in song, launching her cabaret act at the Colony Hotel’s Royal Room with the Kern-Hammerstein standard, I Won’t Dance.
Oh, it’s not that the 79-year-old musical theater legend who hoofed her way through such Broadway original casts as West Side Story, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman cannot dance anymore. But on the tiny Royal Room stage, where she is tethered to her stationary microphone and hemmed in by her piano, bass and drum accompaniment, there is no space for her to move much.
So we settle for a 70-minute set of anecdotes and songs from the incomparable Rivera who — dancing aside — does exactly what we would wish of her: a musical stroll through her stage career. Yes, she is featured in the movie version of Sweet Charity and makes a brief appearance in Chicago, but essentially and foremost Rivera is a Broadway baby and has been for nearly 60 years, since her debut in Can-Can in 1953.
To paraphrase a line said of Irving Berlin, “Chita Rivera has no place in musical theater history. She is musical theater history.” And perhaps, as she declares with hope in her voice, perhaps she really will turn to Broadway in the long-aborning John Kander-Fred Ebb musical, The Visit. Until then, we should happily take what we can get — the pleasure of her company and a lot of memories in song.
Looking smashing in a pixie hairdo and a bling-adorned black gown, Rivera takes us on a tour of West Side Story (“A Boy Like That,” “America”), The Rink’s “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer,” Sweet Charity’s “Where Am I Going,” Jacques Brel’s “Carousel,” Kiss of the Spider Woman (“Where You Are” and the title number) and ends with a couple of crowd-pleasers from Chicago — “Nowadays” and “All That Jazz.”
Sure, her complete skipping over Bye Bye Birdie was strange, to say nothing of Bajour or Merlin for her hardcore theater fans, but then we really wanted the two-hour version of her act. It was sufficient that Rivera sounded very good, looked even better and was completely at ease with the intimate confines of the Royal Room.
OK, a few dance steps or leg extensions would have been nice, even if it meant kicking the drummer in his snare kit. But you can’t have everything.
CHITA RIVERA, Colony Hotel Royal Room, 155 Hammon Ave., Palm Beach. Through Saturday, March 31. Prices: $125-$135, dinner and show; $65-$75, show only. Call: (561) 659-8100.