Tony-winning Broadway legend Ann Reinking — best known for playing Roxie Hart in two productions of Chicago — has died of undisclosed causes. She was 71 years old.
“The world and our family have lost a vibrant, amazing talent and beautiful soul. Ann was the heart of our family and the life of the party,” her family said in a statement, as reported by Variety.
The statement goes on to say Reinking was visiting her brother in Washington over the weekend when she “went to sleep and never woke up.”
In addition to Chicago, Reinking has appeared in such productions as Cabaret, Sweet Charity, and Goodtime Charley. In 1979, she played a fictionalized version of herself in the film All That Jazz.
In a message posted Monday on Facebook, choreographer Christopher Dean wrote, “The lights on Broadway are forever more dim this morning and there is one less star in the sky.”
Click below to read tributes to Ann Reinking via Twitter.
Thank you #AnnReinking, Broadway’s Finest, for your BRILLIANCE!!! Those incredible Legs. We will forever speak your name. ???????? pic.twitter.com/Fc9mlQUYEr
— Debbie Allen (@msdebbieallen) December 15, 2020
The best tribute to the great #AnnReinking is her own words. She was a true genius. We throw that word around a lot, but there’s no hyperbole here. She was a genius.
— Peter Tedeschi (@PeterTedeschi) December 15, 2020
Thank you, for the beauty you brought to this world. pic.twitter.com/k6gexl6cW5
And I just watched this last week for the 100th time. And this news just took my breath away this very second.
— Elaine Hendrix (@elaine4animals) December 15, 2020
RIP #AnnReinking. You were a GODDESS. Thank you for your incredible, gorgeous gift to this world. There will never be another like you. ???? pic.twitter.com/v4SzTKb6wb
Ann Reinking — singer, actress, dancer, Tony-winning choreographer, & Broadway legend — has died at the age of 71.
— Dave Quinn (@NineDaves) December 14, 2020
She was my first Roxie, and left an undoubtable mark on American musical theater (CHICAGO, CABARET, PIPPIN, SWEET CHARITY, A CHORUS LINE, FOSSE, et al).
RIP, ????. pic.twitter.com/QvSa2LRZGx
So lucky to have known and worked with the legendary Ann Reinking. I’ll never forget stretching on the floor with her in the aisle during tech for Fosse. Like so many other times, her words touched me, changed me and forever inspired me to be a better artist… pic.twitter.com/dI6XWbgBGZ
— Andy Blankenbuehler (@ABlankenbuehler) December 15, 2020