Russell L. Lewis; President of Sacramento Music Circus

Russell L. Lewis, 84, who was co-founder and president of the Sacramento Music Circus. Lewis began his career with a theatrical apprenticeship in Europe in the early 1930s. Later moving to Hollywood, he was nominated for an Academy Award in 1935 for his dance direction of the grand ball sequences in the first full-color feature film, “Becky Sharp.” In 1940, Lewis joined Howard Young in a partnership that lasted half a century and produced nearly three dozen plays and musicals for Broadway and the national touring circuit. In 1951, Lewis and Young established Music Circus, also known as the Sacramento Light Opera Assn., a tent theater that has had 42 consecutive seasons in the state capital. Lewis retired a few months ago. On Wednesday in Malibu after a short illness.