Monday, March 03, 2008

Glorious Debbie Reynolds, Stepping Out Again

A star in her own right, and currently the host of the hit stage show “Simply Ballroom”, actor and dancer Debbie Reynolds, reminisced about her career with a reporter from the Hartford Courant this month.

Debbie Reynolds knows what it's like to be a regular gal thrown into a situation where she is expected to dance like a dream — as well as a dynamo.

At 18 she was cast in the 1952 MGM movie musical "Singin' in the Rain," where she famously hoofed it up between such seasoned dancers as Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor.

As a plucky teenager starting out in the film business 60 years ago, she can identify with the anyone-can-do-it-if-they-work-hard spirit of such popular TV shows as "So You Think You Can Dance?" and "Dancing With the Stars."

Reynolds is in Hartford to rehearse the launch of the U.S. tour of the popular British show, "Strictly Ballroom," which she hosts. The show premieres tonight at 7 at Hartford's Mortensen Hall at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. It features more than a dozen professional ballroom dancers as well as a pair of "American Idol" singers: Anthony Federov and Vonzell Solomon.

Reynolds, who turns 76 next month, was perfectly coiffed, elegantly dressed (a stylish Technicolor jacket) and prepared to tell tales of old Hollywood last week at the Bushnell. With a career that goes back to the late '40s, the petite, poised, blue-eyed star is the queen mother of MGM's golden age of film, keeping movie memories alive with sharp-eyed, behind-the-scenes detail.

Click here to read the full text of this article.

The Hartford performance took place on March 2, 2008, but the show has U.S. tour dates booked through 2008. Click here to locate a “Simply Ballroom” performance near you.

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