Tonight (Monday, May 20), the winners of the 2024 Chita Rivera Awards, celebrating dance and choreographic excellence on Broadway and in film, were announced in five competitive categories and three special honors at a star-studded event at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts beginning at 7:30 pm.
Hosted by Jared Grimes, the event was attended by such luminaries as Debbie Allen, Shoshana Bean, Corbin Bleu, Anthony Crivello, Huey Lewis, Joe Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Kenny Ortega, David Hyde Pierce, Brooke Shields, and Ben Vereen, along with Chita Rivera Award nominees Justin Peck (Illinoise), Lorin Latarro (The Who’s Tommy/The Heart of Rock and Roll)), Ricky Ubeda (Illinoise), Camille A. Brown (Hell’s Kitchen), Rick and Jeff Kuperman (The Outsiders), Antoine Boissereau (Water for Elephants), Ben Cook (Illinoise), Jesse Robb & Shana Carroll (Water for Elephants), Gaby Diaz (Illinoise), Avery Wilson (The Wiz), Julia Cheng (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club), Byron Tittle (Illinoise), Tilly Evan-Krueger (The Outsiders), Chloe Davis (Hell’s Kitchen), Rachel Lockhart (Illinoise), and Phillip Johnson Richardson (The Wiz), and the ensembles of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, Hell’s Kitchen, Illinoise, The Heart of Rock and Roll, The Outsiders, and Water for Elephants.
The ceremony featured special performances by Wayne Brady, Kristin Chenoweth, Norm Lewis, Lea Salonga, and The Radio City Rockettes, the casts of The Heart of Rock and Roll and The Who’s Tommy celebrating their nominations, and tributes to Rivera – who passed away in NYC on January 30, 2024, at the age of 91, following a brief illness – from Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and West Side Story, in which she starred on Broadway.
Joel Grey presented Bernadette Peters with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Phil LaDuca received the Vanguard Award for his outstanding contribution to the international dance community by creating a dance shoe that addressed the needs and demands of the professional dancer, and Mayte Natalio (Suffs; How to Dance in Ohio) was honored with the Douglas and Ethel Watt Critics’ Choice Award, recognizing outstanding work that falls outside the framework of the original categories.
As was the case last year, the Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway Show category is gender-free, has twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories, and there are two winners.
And the 2024 Chita Rivera Awards winners are:
BROADWAY
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY IN A BROADWAY SHOW: TIE – Camille A Brown, Hell’s Kitchen; Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, Water for Elephants
OUTSTANDING DANCER IN A BROADWAY SHOW: Antoine Boissereau, Water For Elephants; Tilly Evans-Kreuger, The Outsiders
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A BROADWAY SHOW: Illinoise
FILM AND DOCUMENTARY
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY IN A THEATRICAL RELEASE: Barbie, Jennifer White
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A DANCE DOCUMENTARY: Lift, David Petersen
SPECIAL AWARDS
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Bernadette Peters
VANGUARD AWARD: Phil LaDuca
DOUGLAS AND ETHEL WATT CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARD: Mayte Natalio.
Congratulations to the winners and honorees. All proceeds from the event benefit the non-profit NYC Dance Alliance Foundation Scholarship Program, in support of the creation of a new Chita Rivera Training Scholarship.
