One-of-a-kind costumes, awards, photographs, and ephemera from the Tony-winning career of Broadway icon Chita Rivera, who passed away in January at the age of 91, were auctioned online at Bonhams November 17–26.
The online auction, titled All That Jazz: The Estate of Chita Rivera,
featured over 250 lots, including the Broadway favorite's Tony
Awards for her luminous performances in Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Rink. In fact, the 1993 Best Actress Tony for Rivera’s dazzling performance in Spider Woman broke the record for a Tony Award sold at Bonhams, bringing in $70,000.
An original illustration for Chicago by Al Hirschfeld sold for $41,000, Rivera’s Best Actress Tony for The Rink sold for $26,000, and a West Side Story poster signed by cast members of the original Broadway production brought in $4,900.
Other items auctioned included Rivera’s "Nowadays" hat from the original production of Chicago, one of the earliest drafts and Rivera’s first copy of the Chicago script, and the triple threat's 10-page "cue script" for West Side Story, containing all of Anita's dialogue in black ink with the introductory lines or actions in red ink. The
collection also included a large number of Rivera’s photographs and
correspondence with fellow Broadway, TV, and film stars, including a
holiday card from Sammy Davis Jr. as well as letters and telegrams from
Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince, Dick Van Dyke, Rosie O’Donnell, and Debbie
Allen.
In all, the sale of more than 250 lots from Rivera’s remarkable career totaled $420,000.
To view the entire catalog for the auction, click here.
With a more than 60–year career on Broadway, the groundbreaking Rivera was perhaps best known for creating the roles of Anita in West Side Story, Rose in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma in Chicago, and Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman, winning Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Tony Awards for Spider Woman and The Rink. She was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2018, recognizing a trailblazing career that also included performances in Nine, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and, most recently, The Visit.
Look back at the career of the beloved Broadway star in the gallery below.
