Watch President Obama Honor Chita Rivera on 8/12 White House Webcast

Broadway fans can watch and cheer on Chita Rivera as she receives a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama on August 12 thanks to a live webcast of the ceremony from the White House. Log onto www.whitehouse.gov/live at 3pm to watch the ceremony as it happens.

"When my mother was a child, she rolled Easter eggs on the lawn of the White House,” recalls Rivera. “And now, to receive The Medal of Freedom from our President, is truly a dream. I am deeply honored to receive this award and to be in such distinguished company. I only wish my parents were here to share it with...but they are!"

In addition to Rivera, the 2009 honorees are Nancy Goodman Brinker, founder of breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure; philanthropist Dr. Pedro Jose Greer; internationally renowned physicist Stephen Hawking; the late pro-football player turned congressman Jack Kemp; Senator and health care advocate Edward M. Kennedy; tennis pro Billie Jean King; civil rights advocate Reverend Joseph Lowery; American Indian preservationist Joe Medicine Crow; the late gay rights activist Harvey Milk; Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor; director and actor Sidney Poitier; former President of Ireland Mary Robinson; geneticist Janet Davison Rowley; anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu; and anti-poverty advocate Muhammad Yunus.