[photo credit: Pasadena Senior Center]
Pam Kay’s Tap Chicks, joined by singer Franny McCartney, take the center’s tree-shaded patio from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 18. The program is tap dancing, comedy and Broadway show tunes, and it opens four concerts the center has built around the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The Tap Chicks were founded as a nonprofit in 1997. Kay died in early 2024, Local News Pasadena reported. The dancers kept her name.
Some of the people in the audience may have come from Altadena. “Altadena seniors are welcome to come to the Pasadena Senior Center,” the center says, giving as its reason that the Altadena Senior Center burned down.
McCartney was a member of the Harlettes, Bette Midler’s backing group, and has sung behind Bob Dylan, Tanya Tucker, Luther Vandross and Barbra Streisand, according to the singer. She has appeared with the Tap Chicks before. The troupe itself grew out of advanced tap classes at the center, and its dancers have performed at the Los Angeles County Fair and the Sierra Madre Playhouse.
“Joining the Tap Chicks has changed my life!” Janine Torre, a Pasadena resident who was leading the troupe’s rehearsals, told Local News Pasadena in October 2024, describing what the group meant to her after Kay’s death.
The season continues Tuesdays through September 1 and closes on Labor Day. The Silverados play country and classic rock on August 25, U.S. 99 plays American roots music, rockabilly and blues on September 1, and The Great American Swing Band finishes the run on Monday, September 7. The first three concerts are on the patio. The last one moves inside the Scott Pavilion.
Reservations are recommended and walk-ins are welcome, the center says. Chairs are provided and picnics are permitted. The Cynthia Rosedale Fund for Seniors, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, and Los Angeles County Arts and Culture sponsor the concerts at the independent nonprofit, which serves adults 50 and older and counts roughly 2,100 members drawn largely from Pasadena and Altadena ZIP codes, the center reports.
The classes these dancers came out of are still taught at the center. Kay has been gone since early 2024. On Tuesday her name is still the first thing on the program.
NEED TO KNOW
Pam Kay’s Tap Chicks with Franny McCartney open the Pasadena Senior Center’s 2026 Summer Concert Series on Tuesday, August 18, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the center’s tree-shaded patio at 85 East Holly Street, Pasadena. Reservations are recommended and walk-ins are welcome. Parking is free in the center’s own lot just east of the building off Holly Street, on a first-come, first-served basis, with a large share of spaces requiring a disabled-person placard; validated parking is offered at 171 North Raymond Avenue, street parking in Old Pasadena costs $1.25 per hour after 11:00 a.m., and Metro’s Memorial Park Station sits at 125 East Holly Street. For more, call (626) 795-4331 or visit pasadenaseniorcenter.org.
Register: https://app.dvforms.net/api/dv/e3yeqe
