Rita Moreno

...... Rita Moreno

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    "I’m a star! I can do anything!," Rita Moreno chortled as she insisted that her accompanists stop mid-song and let her start over because she came in late on the complicated lyrics of Dave Frishberg’s Blizzard of Lies. Fortunately the diva had just the right amount of self-mocking awareness to pull it off.
    Touted as "the incomparable Rita Moreno," Rosa Dolores Alverio was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York at the age of five. Her press release trumpets the fact that she is the only female performer to have won all four of show biz’s top honors: the Oscar for her role as Anita in West Side Story, a part originated on Broadway by Chita Rivera, with whom she is sometimes confused. (The off-Broadway review Forbidden Broadway a few years ago included a hilarious America, parodying arch-rivals "Chita" and "Rita".) Moreno also won Emmys for her appearances on The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files, a Tony for her role as Googie Gomez in The Ritz, and a Grammy for The Electric Company Album.
    Sophisticated in a tailored black jacket over a floor-length white sequined skirt, Rita opened with a jazzy If Swing Goes, I Go Too. Scatting her way through the lively number while sashaying around the tiny stage and swinging her hips, she immediately belied her 67 years. Her expressive dark eyes rolling to and fro under a curly hairdo made her look a little like Lena Horne. Most of the audience was surprised to learn that the clever lyrics, along with the music, had been penned by none other than Fred Astaire.
    Moreno’s set was an eclectic mix of material, some of which did not seem particularly well-suited to her talents. As nice as it was to hear On the Sunny Side of the Street, Harold Arlen’s Happiness is a Thing Called Joe, If I Loved You and Irving Berlin’s Lost in His Arms, her interpretations did not bring much new to the standards. Her voice, not particularly strong at the top of her register, was more effective in selling songs like Guess Who I Saw Today (as poignant today as it must have been in New Faces of 1952) and New York City Blues. Her attempt at a rap song was amusing, but ultimately unnecessary. That, and other New York-specific material, makes the Plush Room gig seem like a tryout for her advertised engagement at the Algonquin Hotel later this fall.
    "I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time. This beats concerts," Moreno enthused in the middle of her first full-length cabaret show. She went on to introduce the veteran accompanists who obligingly catered to their star’s every whim: her drummer, Ted Summer, Al Obidiniski on bass, and Irving Joseph on piano.
    Moreno recounted a few stories, but revealed not nearly enough about what her years as a performer have been like. She should capitalize on her history in the business, share her experiences, and either sing songs that she has performed, or explain why her choices hold personal resonance for her.
    She had fun mimicking her mother’s thick accent, massacring English (think Googie Gomez). Upon being introduced to Moreno’s Jewish doctor husband, Mama apparently asked, "Jew are a yew?" Maybe you had to be there. But it was a treat to hear El Mar and Brazil rendered in Moreno’s native tongue.
    Minor misgivings aside, the standing ovation Moreno received after her closing number, Before the Parade Passes By, indicates that the parade is definitely not passing by this show biz veteran.

San Francisco, August 31, 1999 - Jim Van Buskirk