Onna White, who died Friday in West Hollywood, Calif., was a Broadway choreographer responsible for “The Music Man,” “Mame,” and “1776.” She went on to work on films, including “Oliver!” which won her a special Academy Award in 1969. She was 83.

Like her work for the much-revived “Mame,” White’s imaginative “Oliver!” choreography is often reproduced in new productions around the nation, especially the “I’d Do Anything” scene featuring London street urchins as coach horses.

White was nominated for eight Tony awards for choreography, including for “The Music Man,” “Irma la Douce,” “Mame,” and “I Love My Wife.” She never won.

A sickly child, White grew up in Canada and began dancing on the advice of her family’s doctor. From 1939 to 1946, she was a dancer in the ballet troupe of the San Francisco Opera. White made her Broadway debut dancing in “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1947, under the choreographic direction of Michael Kidd. He would become her mentor.

After dancing in several more Broadway productions, including “Guys and Dolls” and “Silk Stockings,” White was hired in 1955 to recreate “Finian’s Rainbow” at City Center. She soon found work choreographing “Carmen Jones” and a British version of “Fanny.”

It was with the 1957 musical “The Music Man” that White experienced her real career breakthrough. Her exuberant work, sending Robert Preston through his paces as the con man Harold Hill, along with a large cast of trombonists and citizens of River City, thrilled critics and audiences alike. One critic called her an “indisputably major choreographer in full blossom from the very outset,” while noting that she had “an excessive fondness for cart wheels.” In 1991, White recalled being unable to teach the somewhat ungraceful Preston to do cartwheels.

White was in demand on Broadway throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s. In addition to “Oliver!” she helped bring her choreography to the film versions of “Mame” and “1776.” In 1991, White told the Los Angeles Times, ” ‘Mame’ and ‘Music Man’ were not difficult. They were big, but I’m good at big. … In ‘Who’ll Buy?’ from ‘Oliver’ I worked with 276 dancers and I had eight people working in corners giving cues.” In her one turn as a director, of the 1970 musical “Gantry,” she appeared at rehearsals in a blue blazer with epaulets and gold buttons and acted “like a drill sergeant,” according to the Washington Post. The show closed after one performance.

White’s Academy Award for “Oliver!” was one of only four special awards given for choreography. The others went to Gene Kelly, Jerome Robbins, and Michael Kidd.

White was married twice, including to Larry Douglas, himself a well-known performer in such musicals as “The King and I” and “The Music Man.”

Onna White

Born March 24, 1922, on Prince Edward Island, Canada; died April 8 at her home in West Hollywood, after suffering with Alzheimer’s disease; survived by her children, Jeanie and Stuart, and two grandchildren.