The old Hollywood spectacle — with its fantasias, tap numbers and heavenly music — lets us forget our troubles. Shall we dance? By Manohla Dargis He worked on the musical with Gene Kelly, with whom ...

Stanley Donen’s interest in musicals began at age 9 on seeing Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio. At age 16, he moved to New York and found work as a dancer on Pal Joey, where he met future ...