Happy The Rink opening night Broadway anniversary!
What is The Rink? Lace up your roller skates, it's time to learn about this short-lived 1984 John Kander and Fred Ebb musical starring Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli.
On February 9, 1984, Chita and Liza reunited on a Broadway stage in a Kander & Ebb musical (the first being playing Velma and Roxie respectively in the original Chicago) at the Martin Beck Theatre. There's a well-known anecdote about the songwriting team reaching out to Chita. Upon discovering more about the plot sharing above the title duties with Liza Minnelli, Chita asked "Well who's playing the mother!?"
Chita was playing Anna, mother to Liza's Angel, Anna's daughter. The musical shares the story of a mother and daughter in the 1970's at the family's roller rink. Daughter Angel returns home to the rink after seven years. The rink is in the midst of being demolished. Audiences witness a series of flashbacks detailing the family's life at the roller rink, their trials and tribulations, all the while Chita and Liza (sounding so unbelievably fantastic) belt their way through a Kander and Ebb score - songwriters who knew the ladies' voices inside and out writing tunes specifically with them in mind. There was a six men ensemble including some very notable names - the brilliant film/TV star future Tony Award winner Jason Alexander, Broadway director Scott Ellis, and one of the original male standbys - Academy Award nominated director and Broadway choreographer, Rob Marshall.
There are so few performance clips of the production as the musical ran only 6 months on Broadway. There have also been so few productions of the musical. (Calling New York City Center Encores! - could you IMAGINE the casting opportunities!). In 2018, London's Southwark Playhouse did a production starring Anastasia's Caroline O'Connor and Gemma Sutton. We pulled together some hidden gems though so you can learn more about this musical.
We were blessed with not one - but two commercials for The Rink. Here is the first promo commercial!
Oh, and why yes - Julia Louis-Dreyfus DID appear in a parody of the above promo commercial on Saturday Night Live, thank you for asking!
Here is the second commercial, with sets, costumes, lights and everything
Time to go on with the show, here are some performance clips!
"The Apple Doesn't Fall Very Far From The Tree"
"Wallflower" and "The Rink"
Not all of the critics were as kind to the musical, praising the leading ladies well... have a look...
Chita Rivera had been in 11 Broadway shows prior to The Rink earning four Tony Award nominations for roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago and more. She sits down with Entertainment Tonight about this her 12th Broadway show and 5th Tony Award nomination.
The Tony Awards went in Ms. Rivera's favor, winning her first Tony Award for this her 12th Broadway show.
Following opening night, Chita and Liza sat down with pal and journalist Liz Smith to discuss their co-starring roles
In the musical's final month, Stockard Channing (hey Rizzo!) replaced Liza Minnelli as Angel. Yes there are clips, thank goodness! This clip also includes Chita talking about "her new daughter."
Fast forward to 1997 and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. The daytime talk show host invited Chita on and also confessed her love for the Kander & Ebb musical. This medley!
Most recently, the late book writer of the musical Terrence McNally and choreographer Graciela Daniele discuss the musical ahead of Chita Rivera's recent PBS Concert
Now it's your turn to track down this Chita/Liza cast album so you can enjoy this Broadway hidden gem on its anniversary!
