A Life in Music: Gene Kelly and the Seattle Symphony

By Anthony Salveggi

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, director, choreographer and teacher over many years. When Kelly appeared on movie screens, the world at large got to experience the multilayered talent that had propelled him to Broadway stardom in shows like Pal Joey.

And what they saw is the same inventive, athletic and artistic style of dance that audiences will enjoy at Benaroya Hall during the Seattle Symphony’s special pops presentation, Gene Kelly: A Life in Music, on March 17–19.

The show premiered to a rapturous reception in Edinburgh and Glasgow with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2018 followed by a performance in Canada later that year, and then in Dublin — presented by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra — in 2019; it received standing ovations after every presentation. Though delayed since then due to the pandemic, the show has returned for its U.S. premiere in Seattle, ready to showcase a familiar figure of popular culture in a new light.

Patricia Ward Kelly, wife and biographer of Mr. Kelly, is more than the show’s host. She also created this loving tribute with the intention of offering insight into Gene Kelly’s artistic range and his efforts to combine dance, music, lyrics and storytelling. As she weaves in anecdotes about the origins of each number — along with a few fun surprises — audiences will gain new understanding of how he brought them to the screen. It’s a monumental effort considering the breadth of material she had to work with and choose from.

It also proved challenging because of what she had to overcome: In 1969, the musical arrangements to many of MGM Studios’ films were destroyed. This included the scores for Kelly’s groundbreaking films, like the Academy Awards winner for Best Picture, An American in Paris, and the revered Singin’ in the Rain, two back-to-back efforts that stand among the best musicals Hollywood has ever produced.

To surmount this obstacle, Mrs. Kelly worked with British conductor and musicologist John Wilson, who handled the daunting task of reconstituting the arrangements by patiently listening to their performances, sometimes for hours at a time, just to capture a few bars of music. The Seattle Symphony will play this music live as the legendary dancer performs on the big screen in scenes from iconic films like Anchors Aweigh, On the Town and Singin’ in the Rain.

In advance of the film-driven concerts, Mrs. Kelly shared her thoughts about Gene Kelly: A Life in Music, what audiences can expect to see and hear, and her hopes for how it is received.

How did you conceive of this show?

Patricia Ward Kelly: I created a one-woman show in 2012 that started the conversation about the revolutionary things Gene did. Then I thought, because the music was so central to Gene, why not make a big, live symphony tribute to him? The way I present it is to make everyone —  even if they’re in a 3,000-seat theater — feel like we’re just sitting in the living room having a conversation. They feel a personal, intimate glimpse into the heart and mind of someone they love. They hear the music differently; they think of the music differently.

I created this show because when people think of Gene, they think of dance. I think of music, because that’s how he communicated with me.

Is it true that Gene Kelly was deeply involved with the music in his films, including how it was performed?

People don’t realize, because he was up on the screen, how intimately he was involved with the composers — Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Lerner and Loewe, Henry Mancini, Andre Previn — and with arrangers like Conrad Salinger, Saul Chaplin and Roger Edens. He was there when the MGM Symphony Orchestra recorded the music. He worked closely with individual musicians, including the great trumpet player Uan Rasey. He rehearsed with the kids in “I Got Rhythm.” He was right there with all of it.

How were you able to gain insight into the creation of his musical numbers and recall it well enough to write this show?

I recorded Gene almost every day for over 10 years. Gene had a terrific recollection of events because he was directing, choreographing, and starring in the movies. He not only knows his part, he knows the schedule, the costumes, the budget — every element of it.

Many of Kelly’s routines were seen as artistic triumphs in their day, including “Alter Ego” from Cover Girl, “The Worry Song” from Anchors Aweigh, and of course, the ballet sequence from An American in Paris. With this show, you seem to be pulling back the curtain on how the production of those numbers came to be and what it took to conceive and create them.

You get a real sense for the things Gene loved. What’s interesting about Gene is that he “edited in the camera.” He connected his dance steps and the camera movement to the musical beats. So each take was like a puzzle piece that could only fit in one place. He did this so no one could change the way he conceived the number. He wanted it to propel the story.

What does it mean to you to be the driving force behind this show?

It’s my way of letting people in on the genius of Gene Kelly — this man who was a true romantic, a true Renaissance man — and sharing what I was able to experience in my decade with him so they know him better than what they know from seeing him up on the screen. They feel him, they get him and they understand the contribution he made not only to film but to American popular song.

What can audiences expect at Benaroya Hall and what do you want them to experience during the show?

I think, emotionally, it takes them on a journey through Gene’s mind and his heart, because you get a sense of how he created these pieces. The thing that’s so interesting is the numbers are all so contemporary. Gene said the hardest thing is to make something that is both contemporary and timeless, and that was his goal. I think these numbers justify that what he did works.

Gene once said, “I’d like to be remembered for changing the look of dance on film.” He’s such a huge presence on the screen, that people forget he created what you’re seeing. And he made it happen.

The show has a few surprises in store for audiences. What surprised you in the creation and presentation of this event? 

How powerful it is — the compilation of these pieces and how the audience responds so positively. And how much joy there is. I usually greet people after the show, and they’ll come up and say, “You know, I loved him before, but I love him even more now.”

2022/2023 Pops Series Sponsor: The John & Ginny Meisenbach Foundation