Reinking died Saturday while visiting a family in Seattle, his manager, Lee Gross, said. No cause of death was revealed.
The Broadway community included tributes, including Tony Yazbeck, who called her “an absolute inspiration” and Leslie Odom, Jr., who thanked Reinking for being a mentor: “She honored the call to reality. RIP a a legend “. Bernadette Peters said on Twitter that her heart was broken and Billy Eichner said she was “one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever seen on stage. A singular genius. RIP.”
Reinking, trained as a ballet dancer, was known for her bold dance style that represented her work in the rebirth of Kander and Ebb’s musical “Chicago,” with fishnet stockings, chair dancing, and many pelvic attacks.
Reinking co-starred as Roxie Hart alongside Bema Neuwirth’s Velma, and created the choreography “in the style of Bob Fosse,” the show’s original director and choreographer who died in 1987. She and Fosse worked together for 15 years and was also his lover for several of them.
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His work in “Chicago” won him the 1997 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Reinking replicated his choreography in productions around the world: England, Australia, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands and elsewhere. . She was played by Margaret Qualley in the recent FX series “Fosse / Verdon”.
The musical’s resurgence was first performed in a concert version on City Center’s “Encores” series in 1996 and then moved to Broadway, where in 2011 it became the second longest-running show in the history of Broadway.
“Do you know how you hear that sometimes a woman gives birth and ten minutes later she has this beautiful baby? You couldn’t believe it materialized in such a beautiful way,” she told The Associated Press in 2011 about the early days of rebirth.
In 1998, he co-directed “Fosse,” a greeting to the man who had the greatest influence, both professional and personal, on his life. He once called her “one of the best dancers in the modern language of jazz.”
Her film titles 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.
Reinking’s career began in Seattle, where he grew up. At first, she wanted to be a ballet dancer, “like all girls,” she said. As a student, he won a scholarship to San Francisco with the Joffrey Ballet, but in many of the students ’after-hours improvisations, he just sang and didn’t dance.
Robert Joffrey said that with his outgoing personality and other skills, he should dedicate himself to musical theater. “I waited at the tables to save enough money to get here,” he said of New York City, where he arrived with a round-trip ticket back to Seattle and $ 500. I didn’t need the trip back.
“I wouldn’t get into that if you had a guarantee. The people involved have a certain sense of the big bet,” he said. “You need the break, and when you get it, you better be prepared to do it.”
Reinking’s break extended over several shows. She was part of the Broadway set of “Coco,” starring Katharine Hepburn as Coco Chanel, in 1969, and was at the heart of “Pippin” in 1972, chosen by its director and choreographer, Fosse. The ensemble was so small (there were only eight) that the dancers were actually seen.
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Choreographer Pat Birch was one of those who noticed and in 1974 put her on “Over Here,” a World War II musical starring two of the three Andrews sisters and with another unknown, John Travolta .
She starred in “Goodtime Charley,” a musical about Joan of Arc starring Joel Gray. The musical was not a success, but it did make theater spectators look at Reinking as the lead performer and not just as a member of the choir.
He said his other big break was on “Dancin ‘” in 1978, “because I realized you had to be in an original part and this show has to be a success.” The music and dance magazine directed and choreographed by Fosse lasted more than three years and earned him a nomination for Tony in 1978.
But it was his work on the rebirth of “Chicago” where Reinking drew attention. The original, a dark indictment of celebrities and hucksterism, opened in the summer of 1975 and lasted about 900 performances. Although not part of the opening night cast, Reinking eventually switched to the role of Roxie Hart, taking on the role of Gwen Verdon, Fosse’s third wife, and the dancing alter ego. In the 1996 renaissance, which is still on Broadway, Reinking held Hart’s side against Gray and Neuwirth.
Reinking also gained experience – and kept fit – replacing the stars of hit shows: Donna McKechnie on “A Chorus Line”; Gwen Verdon to Fosse’s original “Chicago”; and Debbie Allen in the 1986 “Sweet Charity” revival.
And he embarked on an eclectic film career: from the portrayal of Roy Scheider’s lover in Fosse’s 1979 semi-autobiographical film “All That Jazz,” to the screen version of “Annie” in “Micki and Maude “by Blake Edwards.
He also created dances for the revival of “Pal Joey” at the Goodman Theater in Chicago and a musical about first lady Eleanor Roosevelt called “Eleanor.” He was on the “Bye Bye Birdie” national tour alongside Tommy Tune.
After “Eleanor,” choreography offers “kept falling on my lap,” Reinking said. He created dances for a pre-Encores “Chicago” in Long Beach, California, with Neuwirth and Juliet Prowse.
At one of the most worthy moments of his career, Reinking was asked to sing and perform the Oscar-nominated song “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins on the 1985 broadcast. Rethinking his lips synthesized while dancing a performance bombastic and cheesy marked by fog.
In recent years, she choreographed “The Look of Love” on Broadway and the off-Broadway film directed by Roger Rees “Here Lies Jenny” (2004), starring Neuwirth. In 2011, she helped choreograph “An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin” on Broadway.
Reinking also produced a documentary called “In My Hands,” about working with children with Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder of the connective tissues that often leaves its victims with disproportionately long limbs. He also produced the film “Two Worlds, One Planet,” about “high-functioning” autism.
Reinking’s first three marriages ended in divorce. Since 1994 she was married to Peter Talbert. He is also survived by a son, Christopher, who has been diagnosed with Marfan syndrome and autism.
“If there’s a sky, I think Bob can look down and be satisfied. It really had an exponential effect on the next generation of choreographers and dancers,” Reinking once said.
“I demanded the best from you and you wanted to give it. So you got better. All great directors, however, do it – they make you want to be good. I hope you do. It’s like being a father, a psychiatrist, a disciplinarian and a friend, you really need to know when to catch them and when to show them. “
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