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Ann Reinking, 'Annie' actress and award-winning choreographer, dies at 71

New York - She helped spread a cool, muscular hybrid of jazz and burlesque movement to Broadway and beyond.

Published: Tue 15 Dec 2020, 5:25 PM

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Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth in 1997. (Photo/AP)

Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth in 1997. (Photo/AP)

Ann Reinking, the Tony Award-winning choreographer, actress and Bob Fosse collaborator who helped spread a cool, muscular hybrid of jazz and burlesque movement to Broadway and beyond, has died. She was 71.

Reinking died Saturday while visiting family in Seattle, said her manager, Lee Gross. No cause of death was disclosed.

Tributes poured in from the Broadway community, including from Tony Yazbeck, who called her “an absolute inspiration” and Leslie Odom, Jr., who thanked Reinking for being a mentor: “She honoured the calling for real. RIP to a legend.” Bernadette Peters took to Twitter to say her heart was broken and Billy Eichner said she was “one of the most mesmerizing people I’ve ever seen on stage. A singular genius. RIP.”

Trained as a ballet dancer, Reinking was known for her bold style of dance epitomized by her work in the revival of the Kander and Ebb musical Chicago, complete with net stockings, chair dancing and plenty of pelvic thrusts.

Reinking co-starred as Roxie Hart along with Bebe Neuwirth’s Velma, and created the choreography “in the style of Bob Fosse,” the show’s original director and choreographer who died in 1987.

Her movie credits include Annie (1982), Movie, Movie (1978) and the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom (2005), which portrayed Reinking as a ballroom-dance competition judge for New York City kids.



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