Gene Kelly: Hotter Every Year

Patrons of the Carpenter Center’s Sunday Afternoon Concert Series are always ready for spectacular singing and dancing, and on Nov. 22 that is just what they will get. This time, though, the star in concert is legendary entertainer Gene Kelly, a man whose legacy continues to inspire performers the world over. In Gene Kelly: The Legacy, Patricia Ward Kelly will provide a deeply moving look into her late husband’s life through both rare and familiar film clips, as well as audio recordings and personal memorabilia.

Mr. Kelly’s greatness can hardly be overestimated. His remarkable accomplishments as a movie star, singer, film director and choreographer stand by themselves, but ask 100 people how they know him, and 99 will say Mr. Kelly was one of the greatest dancers who ever lived.

One of the measures of his artistic impact is how new artists have drawn from Mr. Kelly’s genius. In film and at concerts, on Broadway, music videos and beyond, performers and choreographers have continued to salute his work with new works of their own.

Mr. Kelly’s influence upon Michael Jackson emerges in dance references the King of Pop used in the music videos for “Bad” and “Beat It.” Mr. Jackson even borrowed Mr. Kelly’s signature style: white socks, rolled pants, and black loafers, which is how MJ dressed for the cover of his debut album, Off the Wall. Alongside Paul McCartney, Mr. Jackson paid homage in the music video “Say Say Say,” where the two dress in outfits nearly identical to the one Mr. Kelly wore in his number, “Fit as a Fiddle,” from Singin’ in the Rain.

Mr. Kelly not only starred in the film Singin’ in the Rain, which was ranked no. 1 in the American Film Institute’s list of greatest movie musicals, but also co-directed and choreographed it. That film has continued to inspire great art, including the 2011 Academy Award Best Picture winner, The Artist, which borrows major motifs from Singin’; both films feature a prideful silent movie star who fails to adapt to the new reality of talking pictures.

Usher has made no secret of his admiration for Mr. Kelly. The multi-platinum entertainer performed in a shot-for-shot restaging of the gleeful and iconic puddle-splashing scene from Singin’ for a 2007 CBS special. Usher’s dance routines are peppered with giant leaps from tall stage settings that are reminiscent of Mr. Kelly’s original dance moves.

When Paula Abdul made her big splash in 1988, it was with a direct nod to Mr. Kelly. The “Opposites Attract” music video features a cartoon character named MC Skat Kat. The idea came from the film Anchors Away, wherein Mr. Kelly dances with Jerry the mouse (of Tom and Jerry fame).

Film director and choreographer Kenny Ortega choreographed Mr. Kelly in Xanadu. Mr. Ortega said his choreography owes a lot to Mr. Kelly, from the routines onHigh School Musical that launched the careers of Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Zac Efron, to Patrick Swayze’s masculine moves in Dirty Dancing.

Edward Villella, founding artistic director of the Miami Ballet, also appreciates the masculinity Mr. Kelly brought to American dance.

“He was that living image for male dancers,“ Mr. Villella said. “The male was not viewed as some kind of dancing entity. We were so used to Westerns and frontier-type masculinities, so the idea of a guy dancing was very, very foreign to American popular culture.”

Choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler admires Mr. Kelly’s dancing for its masculinity as well, and celebrates the fearless playfulness he finds in films like Singin’. He credits Mr. Kelly’s athletic, “low-to-the-floor” style in inspiring his own Tony award-winning musical, In the Heights.

“He just has this joy of life in all his movies,” Blankenbuehler said. “He just had this purity of spirit—when that rain is pouring down on him, he didn’t care.”

Mr. Kelly clearly has many admirers and imitators. While none will ever quite compare to him, his artistic vision endures as new artists find new inspiration from his work.

Gene Kelly: The Legacy Nov. 22, 2015 2 p.m. (562) 985-7000