Rita Moreno, a triple-threat talent, is looking forward to coming to Utah to sing. She does have one slight concern.
"I haven't done an outdoor venue in ages," she said, calling from her home in Berkeley, Calif. "But as long as I don't swallow any flies on a big note, I think we'll be OK!"
Moreno, who made her mark first as a dancer, appearing in her first Broadway role at 13, doesn't hoof it much anymore. But she can still belt with the best of them. Singing the songs of many genres will be the focus of her show on Saturday in Layton.
"I want to tell the ladies that I am going to wear a wonderful gown -- now it won't be blingy, but it will be wonderful. And then the show itself has practically everything -- a lot of Broadway, American songbook stuff, and two Spanish numbers, one done with me playing castanets, and a wonderful salsa number that ends the show. On that salsa number, I play maracas and all kinds of things."
Hold on -- Moreno sings, dances, acts -- and as if that were not enough, she is also a percussionist?
"Castanets is something I have played since I was a little girl -- a wonderful instrument," she said. "The song that I sing when I play them is a beautiful piece, 'Concierto de Aranjuez.' You might know if from Miles Davis' 'Sketches of Spain.' It's a classical piece that someone added words to, and I said, 'Oh yes!'
"Very romantic -- the words say, 'Oh my beloved, the very thought of meeting with you in the beautiful garden of Aranjuez' -- that's a beautiful ancient city -- 'brings to mind images of crystals, fountains, whispers and roses.' "
She also does a show-stopper from a role she played in London a few years ago, that of faded starlet Norma Desmond from the musical version of "Sunset Boulevard."
"I really love best these live performance, like I am going to do in Utah. It changes with every performance. With every audience it is different, and there is always such spontaneity. It really is my favorite thing."
Telling stories
Moreno said that another aspect of this show, which both she and the audience seem to enjoy, is that she sets up each tune with a little tale.
"I did a little homework and research on each song, so I can set up each one with little anecdotes," she said. "The stories are about the composer, or sometimes the person who performed it first. People tell me that is the favorite part of the show, because it really enriches each number for them, enriches the moment."
She said she gets an incredible amount of positive feedback from those anecdotes.
"Some of these stories are funny, some are poignant, some really interesting. But nothing is boring."
Stamina in spades
Moreno came to New York City from her birthplace of Puerto Rico when she was 5.
"That's where all Puerto Ricans came to at that time -- New York City was America to us," she quipped. "Soon after, I was taken to dance school, but dancing was something I have done from the get-go -- for my grandpa, for my friends."
Moreno credits the strength that dancing gave her muscles and bones for keeping her strong and active for nearly eight decades now, as well as an eternal furnace of energy she draws from.
"I don't dance now, really, but I still move," she said. "I am also one of those people that is blessed with enormous stamina. People say to me, 'Oh, my God! How do you do it all? What is the secret?' And I say, 'No secret. It is just the way I am built."
Her drive led the young dancer to become so much more -- she is one of only 10 people to win an Oscar, a Tony, a Grammy and an Emmy.
"Sure, it started with the dancing, but then I realized very quickly in my youth that I wanted to do it all. So that is exactly what I did."
Great roles
In her long career, Moreno has played everything from a sexpot gangster to a nun doing good works -- think Anita in "West Side Story" and Sister Pete, the nun/psychiatrist character in the HBO prison drama "Oz."
How does she find what she needs for the diverse characters she has played?
"You try to find out who this person is you are playing, and then try to find an interesting way to approach those characters," she said. "The nun I played on the series 'Oz,' well, I certainly don't have a frame of reference for nunnery. But whether you are playing a good person, or a heavy or villainous person -- we all have those traits in us. You have to find it for each role."
As for her favorite roles, they have been fairly recent pieces, ones she has played live onstage.
"I think there are two that I especially loved," she said. "They were for the Berkeley Repertory Theater, one of the great nonprofit theaters in America. I played Maria Callas -- that was a great role. I also loved playing Amanda Wingfield in 'Glass Menagerie.' Both productions were a huge success. And playing Norma Desmond in London was fabulous, too."
As for her many honors and awards, it is not one for any particular performance that she holds closet. In 2009, she was presented the National Medal of Arts.
"That was from the National Endowment for the Arts, and it was handed to me personally by President Obama. I'll tell you, that was pretty thrilling! I cherish that moment and that award. It is for a lifetime of work."
PREVIEW
l WHO: Rita Moreno
l WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
l WHERE: Kenley Centennial Amphitheater, 403 N. Wasatch Drive, Layton
l TICKETS: $21/general admission, $18/general admission for a child; $35-$36/reserved, available from the Davis Arts Council, 801-546-8575
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