Celebrated Broadway veteran Chita Rivera returns to the New York stage in a musical called "The Visit," a show that comes courtesy of the songwriting team of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb. NY1’s Roma Torre filed this review.

It is based on a dark 59-year-old play and it is a very odd choice for Broadway. On the other hand, when you have a legend like Chita Rivera starring in something, anything, and the music is written by two other legends, John Kander and Fred Ebb, attention, as they say, must be paid.

The show has quite a pedigree-featuring book by Terrence McNally, choreography by Graciela Daniele; Roger Rees co-stars and Tony winner John Doyle directs it.

However, all that veteran talent yields decidedly mixed results. First the good news:  at 82, Ms. Rivera is a marvel. In addition, if she is not quite the triple threat we have known and loved over the years, she can still command the stage. Even with a minimum of gestures, her pas de deux with the actress playing young Claire is simply exquisite.

Kander and Ebb's music is quite lovely. It is a treat to hear melodic threads echoing songs from past hits, but this is a score that remains hauntingly original.

The story, however, struck me as uncompellingly grim and confused. Scott Pask's dilapidated setting instantly signals a ghoulish tale. Claire, the richest woman in the world arrives with a butler and two blind eunuchs to her hometown, which has fallen on some very hard times. We discover she is out for revenge. But this yellow-hued show can't decide if it's a tragedy, a romance or a Brechtian comedy.

Roger Rees plays former lover Anton with the resigned pathos of a man whose zest for life ended long ago. A fine performance, but as written and directed, emotions turn inexplicably on a dime; and motivations, which are so essential here, are largely missed.

Chita Rivera may not be as rich as Claire, but the two women do have one thing in common. They are both, as Claire describes herself, unkillable. Hallelujah for that.