When Tom Mattingly was a child, he idolized dancers such as Gene Kelly. The former Ballet West principal dancer would watch with awe as Kelly would glide across the screen.
“I wanted to be Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Mikhail Baryshnikov,” Mattingly said. “I was totally inspired by any male dancer who was making a living of it.”
So it’s particularly exciting that he is appearing in the iconic Kelly musical “An American in Paris,” which is playing at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on Oct. 10-15.
The show follows the love triangle of a World War II veteran who stays in Paris after the war to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, his best friend and a mysterious woman he encounters.