The great Chita Rivera changed Broadway forever

When the news broke Tuesday of Broadway legend Chita Rivera’s death at 91, the song “Somewhere” started playing in my head.

The beautiful tearjerker from “West Side Story,” often used during “In Memoriam” segments, is about the young Sharks and Jets eventually finding peace. “There’s a place for us,” it goes.

But then it hit me like a Jet during the rumble: “Somewhere” is the wrong number to encapsulate the dynamo of life, dance, voice, looks and sheer force of personality that was the indomitable Rivera.

Far better suited is her proud lyric as Anita, the role she originated in “West Side” that made her a superstar in 1957, during the vivacious “America”: “I like the island Manhattan! Smoke on your pipe and put that in!”

We liked her, too. Playing some of Broadway’s most iconic parts over a decades-long career, she helped make New York City and the American musical theater the cultural forces they are today.

Or there’s the tune she sang as sharp-tongued prisoner Velma Kelly, another unforgettable role, in “Chicago” in 1975: “It’s good. Isn’t it great? Isn’t it grand? Isn’t it swell?”