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Hollywood legend Gene Kelly’s beloved widow and official biographer, Patricia Kelly, has dedicated herself to making sure his magic continues to endure throughout the world. She works tirelessly to keep his memory alive through her successful one woman show, Gene Kelly: The Legacy as well as her live symphonic cinema tribute Gene Kelly: A Life…
At the Gene Kelly: A Life in Music show on March 15 in Auckland, New Zealand, Michael Crawford made a surprise appearance. Gene Kelly directed Crawford, later the original phantom in “Phantom of the Opera,” as Cornelius Hackl in 1969’s “Hello, Dolly” alongside Barbara Streisand and Walter Matthau.
When you’re the widow of a Hollywood legend and the keeper of his legacy, what do you save from a fire when the flames are licking at your door? As Los Angeles burned, Patricia Ward Kelly was on standby with her car packed as the Sunset Fire crept closer to her house.
Next year, the Auckland Philharmonia will perform an incredible one-night-only performance of ‘Gene Kelly: A Life in Music’. The show is a mesmerising trip down memory lane, with a combination of film clips, stories and live performance highlighting the legendary dancer, director and choreographer Gene Kelly – who celebrated and popularised dance
If you have an interest in film and/or dance history—or you’re just a fan of Gene Kelly’s work—Gene Kelly: A Life in Music is a master class. Presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Orpheum on November 15 and 16, the show used an innovative combination of movie clips, stories, and, of course, live orchestra to take audiences on a…
In Vancouver, singing in the rain is practically a local pastime—so why not let the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra take it to the next level? This November, the VSO presents Gene Kelly: A Life in Music, an evening that brings the magic of Gene Kelly’s iconic films to life through a blend of live music, classic movie moments, and personal stories.
Patricia Ward Kelly met Gene Kelly in 1985 when she was writing for a television special about the Smithsonian Museum, which he happened to be hosting. “I did not know who Gene Kelly was when I first met him. That always surprises people,” Patricia Ward Kelly told Fox News Digital from her home office where memories overflow from…
When we think of Gene Kelly, we think of joy. Specifically, of his trademark performance of “Singin’ in the Rain” in the 1952 movie of the same title, an endlessly rewatchable expression of happiness in song-and-dance form. You could never tire of seeing the impossible lightness with which he leaps onto a lamppost, the way his tap steps seem to…
If you were to write a cinema-ready story about the Golden Age of Hollywood, it might include a scene or two of studio heads running fresh, unformed talent through its star-making system. But when movie mogul David O. Selznick signed Gene Kelly in 1941, he was securing the rights to a confident artist who had already honed his craft as a dancer,…
At the time “Singin’ in the Rain” was released over 70 years ago, there had never been a film like it. And there likely never will be one like it again. The satirical musical comedy–directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen and starring Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, and Jean Hagen–has achieved classic film status in the decades since…
Everyone knows who Gene Kelly is, but after seeing this wonderful tribute to the many sides of him, you can’t help but feel love in your heart for what he accomplished, how he felt about life, love and happiness, work, and for the amazing gifts he gave to all of us. As a little girl, I idolized him with a fury, watching any movie he was in over…
Symphony orchestras are embracing film music big time these days. It sells, and if they can throw images up on the big screen too, the experience can be electrifying. For this Gene Kelly tribute, the RSNO got into bed with Warner Bros and Kelly’s third and final wife, the writer Patricia Ward Kelly, all of which amounted to a generous evening of…
When Vincente Minnelli’s MGM musical “An American in Paris” premiered Nov. 9, 1951, at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, the star-studded audience basked in the Technicolor delight celebrating love, George and Ira Gershwin’s beloved standards, the romance of dance and winning performances by Gene Kelly and a gamine French newcomer named Leslie…
The greatest appeal of “Gene Kelly: The Legacy,” the touring presentation that Ms. Kelly brought to Symphony Space on Wednesday as part of the New York City Tap Festival, is the balance between the man and his movies. She knows a lot about both. During the last 10 years of Kelly’s life — he died in 1996 — she captured his stories and opinions on…
Returning to the Pasadena Playhouse after a successful midwinter run, Patricia Ward Kelly brings her generous program on the groundbreaking and enduring work of her late husband, Gene Kelly, the greatest innovator of choreography for the camera in the movie musical, as well as one of Hollywood’s two preeminent dancing stars. Patricia…