Ann Reinking (November 10, 1949 – December 12, 2020) was an American dancer, actress, choreographer, and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as Coco (1969), Over Here! (1974), Goodtime Charley (1975), Chicago (1977), Dancin' (1978), and Sweet Charity (1986).
Ann Reinking was born on November 10, 1949, in Seattle, the daughter of Frances (née Harrison), a homemaker, and Walter Floyd Reinking, a hydraulic engineer.[1][2][3] She grew up in Bellevue.[4] As a child, Reinking began ballet lessons, studying with former Ballets Russes dancers Marian and Illaria Ladre in Seattle.[4]
Reinking moved to New York City at age 18,[7] and danced as a member of the corps de ballet at the Radio City Music Hall,[8] performed in the ensemble of the second national tour of Fiddler on the Roof, and at the age of 19 made her Broadway debut in the musical Cabaret. She was a chorus dancer in Coco (1969), Wild and Wonderful (1971), and Pippin (1972).[2] During Pippin, she came to the attention of the show's director and choreographer Bob Fosse. Reinking became Fosse's protégée and romantic partner, even as Fosse was still legally married to (though separated from) Gwen Verdon at the time.[9]
In 1974, Reinking came to critical notice in the role of Maggie in Over Here!, winning a Theatre World Award. She starred as Joan of Arc in Goodtime Charley in 1975, receiving Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations for Best Actress in a Musical.[2] In 1976, she replaced Donna McKechnie as Cassie in A Chorus Line; in 1977, she replaced Verdon in the starring role of Roxie Hart in Chicago, a show directed and choreographed by Fosse.[2] In 1978, she appeared in Fosse's revue Dancin', and received another Tony nomination.[10] In that year, Reinking and Fosse ended their romance and separated.[11][12] However, they continued to have a professional, creative collaboration. Fosse's influence on Reinking's work as a choreographer could be seen in her retention of his "dark, jazzlike, fluid body movements."[13] In 1979, Reinking appeared in Fosse's semi-autobiographical film All That Jazz as Katie Jagger, a role loosely based on her own life and relationship with Fosse.[11][14] Reinking appeared in two more feature films, as Grace Farrell in Annie (1982) and as Micki Salinger in Micki & Maude (1984).[15] In a 2019 mini-series aired on FX, Fosse/Verdon, Margaret Qualley portrayed Reinking and her relationship with Fosse.[16]
Reinking had retired from performing by this time. In 1996, she was asked to create the choreography "in the style of Bob Fosse" for an all-star four-night-only concert staging of Chicago for City Center's annual Encores! Concert Series. When the producers could not obtain a suitable actress for the role of Roxie Hart, Reinking agreed to reprise the role after almost 20 years.[14] This concert staging of Chicago was a hit, and a few months later the production (in its concert staging presentation) was produced on Broadway, with the Encores! cast: Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, James Naughton, and Marcia Lewis.[11][23] In November 2016, the revival celebrated its 20th year, and as of March 2020, when theaters temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the longest-running American musical on Broadway. The revival of Chicago won numerous Tony Awards, and Reinking won the Tony Award for Best Choreography. She recreated her choreography for the 1997 London transfer of Chicago, which starred Ute Lemper and Ruthie Henshall.[24]
In 1998, she co-created, co-directed and co-choreographed the revue Fosse, receiving a Tony Award co-nomination for Best Direction of a Musical.[25][26] For her work on the West End production of Fosse, Reinking (along with the late Bob Fosse himself) won the 2001 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.[27]
In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate from Florida State University for her contribution to the arts.[28] Reinking served as a judge of annual New York City public school dance competitions for inner-city youth,[5] and appeared in Mad Hot Ballroom, the 2005 documentary film about the competition. Reinking collaborated with composer Bruce Wolosoff and Thodos Dance Chicago to create the ballet The Devil in the White City, based on the novel of the same name by Erik Larsen; the Chicago Sun-Times named it "Best Dance of 2011."[29][30] Reinking again collaborated with Wolosoff in 2013 to create A Light in the Dark, a ballet inspired by the lives of Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan, which was nominated for a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award in Outstanding Achievement for Arts/Entertainment Programming.[31] In 2012, she contributed choreography for the Broadway production of An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin.[2] She served as a member of the advising committee for the American Theatre Wing.[32]
Personal life
Reinking married four times. She was first married on March 19, 1972, to Broadway actor Larry Small, whom she divorced the same year.[33] Reinking was married to investment banker Herbert Allen Jr. from 1982 to 1989. In 1989, she married businessman James Stuart, with whom she had a son, Christopher, before their divorce in 1991. Reinking married sportswriter Peter Talbert in 1994.[34]
Reinking's son has Marfan syndrome, and Reinking worked with the Marfan Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness of the disease. She produced the 2009 documentary In My Hands: A Story of Marfan Syndrome.[36]
Death
Reinking died in her sleep at a hotel in Seattle, Washington, on December 12, 2020, at the age of 71, while on a visit to her family in the area.[37][1] She is interred at the Paradise Memorial Gardens in Scottsdale, Arizona.[citation needed]
Upon her death, the lobby of the Ambassador Theatre, home of the current revival of Chicago, installed an "In Memoriam" poster of her in costume as Roxie Hart from the 1996 opening cast.[citation needed]
Following her death, students of Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project produced a documentary in her honor called The Joy is in the Work.[38]
^ abBahr, Amee (July 10, 2017). "When you are born to dance…". Interagency Committee of State Employed Women. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
^ abShattuck, Kathryn (December 1, 2002). "Dance; Her Career-After-a-Career: Showing the Way". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2017. Within months she had landed on Broadway, moving swiftly from the ensemble of Cabaret to Coco and then Pippin... Note: The Broadway League's Internet Broadway Database (see) does not list her in any role in the 1996–1969 production of Cabaret, including replacement roles.
^Hass, Nancy (November 10, 1996). "Two Decades Later, Just Right for the Role". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017. Two years ago, she married Peter Talbert, a sportswriter whose father is former tennis champion Bill Talbert.