Her choreographies for THE MUSIC MAN and for OLIVER! are MAGICAL! Her dancers are so nimble and graceful that they seem to have wings in their feet. In MY FAIR LADY, on the other hand, the choreography is so clumsy and awkward that it seems that its dancers have balls and chains shackled to their legs; George Cukor should have hired White to do that movie's choreography.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
She was ablel to embrace the spirit of those scenes; "Kids starving and wanting more food? You got it. Henry Hill romancing a stuck up librarian in her library? You got it!"
My Fair Lady didn't have all that much dancing though. Some, but it wasn't a song and dance film as such.
Choreographer Onna White's work in this film really was remarkable, especially "Marian the Librarian". (And that's Harold Hill.)
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the more I've seen this film, the more I've come to appreciate the choreography, it was always about the music, lyric, and the dialogue in the past for me.
The gym dance scene is incredible, and I appreciated how the people in the stands not actually dancing cheer for the more exciting parts of the dancing.
The choreography of Rock Island was amazing,
The movie MAME has many drawbacks, but Onna White's choreography, adapted from her Broadway work, isn't one of them. The title number works very well.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
Also her work on BYE BYE BIRDIE especially the "A Lot of Livin' To Do" number was terrific.
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