Arts Listings

PHOTOS OF MONGOLIA 

AT THE LIGHTROOM 

Photographer Caroline Johnson is showing giclée prints of her trip to Mongolia last year at the Lightroom. The show will be in the gallery through July 13, with an opening reception this Sunday, June 10, from 1-5 p.m. 2263 Fifth St. For more information, call 649-8111 or see www.lightroom.com. 

‘AN AMERICAN IN PARIS’ 

AT CERRITO THEATER 

Gene Kelly is best remembered as the lovestruck man who splashed about in Singin’ in the Rain, widely considered the greatest of movie musicals. But his previous film, An American in Paris, playing this weekend at the Cerrito Theater, earned him the greatest acclaim during his career, including a unique Academy Award for overall achievment for 1951. The movie contains some of the highlights of Kelly’s work as a dancer and choreographer: his light-hearted rendition of “I Got Rhythm,” accompanied by a covey of Parisian schoolchildren; his machine-gun tap dance to “Tra La La,” much of it atop Oscar Levant’s piano; and of course, the show-stopping 16-minute ballet fantasy sequence. Though this segment might seem dated and indulgent to modern audiences unfamiliar with the great musicals of the 1940s and ’50s, it was a groundbreaking innovation. Kelly first experimented with it in On The Town (1949) and would revisit in the following year in Singin’ in the Rain (1952), but the American in Paris ballet is the fullest expression of Kelly’s interest in exploiting the unique qualities of cinema in the presentation of dance, while still managing to resolve plot points, develop character, and move the narrative forward. The film shows at 6 p.m. Saturday and at 5 p.m. Sunday. 10070 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito.  

www.picturepubpizza.com.