Below are some of the people from the theater community who died in 2019, listed alphabetically. Click on any photograph to read the caption.
Update: In the two days since I posted this tribute, two more Broadway luminaries have died.

Diahann Carroll, 84, best known as the first black woman to star on a TV series in a non-servant role, “Julia” in 1968, but she was a barrier breaker on Broadway too. Making her Broadway debut in 1954, at the age of 19, she became the first black woman to win the Tony Award for Best Actress for a musical, for “No Strings” in 1962.She returned to Broadway in 1982 to portray Doctor Martha Livingstone in “Agnes of God” and even this was reportedly a first — the first black actress to replace a white actress in a play on Broadway

Carol Channing, 97, 12-time Broadway veteran, three-time Tony winner, who became a Broadway legend thanks to two roles — the gold-digging Lorelei Lee in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and the matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi in “Hello, Dolly!” a role she originated in 1964 and performed again , in Broadway revivals in 1978 and 1995

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Toni Morrison, 88, Nobel Prize winning novelist (Beloved, Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, etc) Toni Morrison wasn’t just a literary giant–her work has also inspired memorable stage adaptations, including Lydia Diamond’s The Bluest Eye and Nambi Kelley’s Jazz

Phyllis Newman, 86, an entertainer from the age of 4; veteran of 11 Broadway shows (Tony winner for Subways Are For Sleeping); daughter of a fortune teller and a hypnotist; widow of legendary lyricist Adolph Green; mother of Broadway songwriter Amanda Green and theater critic Adam Green. She was a prodigious fund-raiser on behalf of women in entertainment dealing with illness

Antonia Rey, 92, eight-time Broadway veteran, “with scores of small parts on the stage (including in “A Streetcar Named Desire”), in movies (“Klute”) and on television (“Who’s the Boss?”). But with few leading roles available for Hispanic actresses in the New York theater world of her era, she would not regain the stature she had achieved in Havana. Still, she did not regret leaving.”

Libi Staiger, 91, five-time veteran of Broadway who starred as “Sophie,” Steve Allen’s 1963 musical about the comedian Sophie Tucker, which lasted eight performances. Staiger never performed on Broadway again, but gained fame later in life as one of the eccentric Corlick sisters for a series of commercials for a fast-food chain.

Allee Willis, 72, pop hit songwriter who also wrote ehe songs for the stage adaptation of “The Color Purple.” She told me how she wrote her first Broadway score: She spent a year listening to cast recordings (esp. Sondheim) & then “looking at words, letting the feeling wash over me, and singing whatever comes out.”