Aida Broadbent

Aida Broadbent was the primary choreographer for Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS). She made her dancing debut on the stage of the Capitol Theatre at 14. She soon moved to Hollywood, where from 1940 she choreographed a number of films including No, No, Nanette (1940), Sis Hopkins (1941) with Bob Crosby and Susan Heyward, and Four Jacks and a Girl with Ray Bolger, June Havoc and Desi Arnez. She was cast as a minor dancer in Lon Chaney’s 1925 version of the Phantom of the Opera. A valued associate of Leon Leonidoff she was invited to choreograph at Radio City Music Hall and the CNE Grandstand Show. She staged a revival of The Red Mill on Broadway in New York. The show ran successfully for 531 performances. She staged musicals for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera from which she would “borrow” the costume plot for TUTS. A long time friend and colleague of Impresario Hugh Pickett, she kept Theatre Under the Stars together.