Onna White: Broadway/Film Dancing Legend
Born on March 24th, 1922 in Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada, Onna White started taking dancing lessons when she was 12 years old. After studying at the San Francisco Ballet, she made her Broadway debut in the musical Finian’s Rainbow in 1947. At this point, fully convinced that dancing was her “calling,” she knew that she also wanted to be a choreographer, and she both performed in and served as assistant choreographer in the original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls (1950). From that point on, she was the choreographer for many beloved Broadway musicals and movie-musicals.
She choreographed the original Broadway production of Carmen Jones in 1956, based on the 1954 Dorothy Dandridge film of the same name. She also choreographed the original Broadway productions of The Music Man (1957), Whoop-up (1958), Take Me Along (1959), Irma La Docue (1960), Half a Sixpence (1965), Mame (1966), Illya Darling (1967), 1776 (1969), Gigi (1974) and I Love My Wife (1979). She received Tony Award Nominations for Best Choreography for “Music Man,” “Whoop-up,” “Take Me Along,” “Irma La Docue,” “Half a Sixpence,” “Mame,” “Illya Darling,” and “I Love My Wife,” but unfortunately never won.
In the 1960s, however, when Warner Bros. Pictures purchased the rights for the film adaptation of The Music Man (1962) and assigned Morton “Teague” DaCosta (Tony-nominated director of the original Broadway production) to direct and produce the film, DaCosta immediately asked White to choreograph the film. Despite being intimidated at the idea of choreographing a movie-musical having never done so before, she agreed. She had unique experiences with many of the principal actors on the film. Robert Preston (who reprised his Tony-winning performance as Professor Harold Hill from the original Broadway company) had an easy time learning the steps that she came up with for the “Library” number, but both had a tough time explaining it to the other male dancers for the scene. Shirley Jones (replacing the original Broadway’s Barbara Cook as Marian the Librarian) explained that she was a klutz and had no experience dancing whatsoever, but White replied “Honey, by the time this movie is over, you’ll be a dancer.” In the “Shipoopi,” sequence, White created a movement especially called a “Bell Kick,” and tried to teach it to Buddy Hackett (replacing the original Broadway’s Iggy Wolfe as Marcellus Washburn). Hackett nearly cracked his butt as a result! Ron Howard (who won a Talent Search created by Warner Bros. for the role of Winthrop Paroo) also had a tough time learning the moves for the “Gary, Indiana,” reprise. He just couldn’t grasp it well enough, so they had to film him from the middle-up as he sang the song.
The “Music Man,” film was as big of a success as its Broadway predecessor, so Columbia Pictures then asked Onna White to choreograph their film adaptation of another smash hit Broadway musical, Bye Bye Birdie (1963). The culmination of her career came in 1968 with Columbia Pictures’ adaptation of Oliver! (1968), another film based on a Broadway predecessor. The film received 12 Academy Award Nominations and won five, plus a special Honorary Oscar for Outstanding Choreography! (The film also won Best Picture of 1968…). White also choreographed Columbia’s 1776 (1972), MGM’s The Great Waltz (1972), and Warner Bros’. Mame (1974). Before retiring in the 1980’s, she also was the choreographer for Walt Disney’s Pete’s Dragon (1977).
Onna White passed away on April 8th, 2005. To this day, she remains the only recipient of the Academy Award for Outstanding Choreography! Her dancing skills undoubtedly, played a huge role in helping make “The Music Man,” “Oliver,” and other movie-musicals worth watching and her legacy of dance will live on for years to come.
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