Tommy Tune
Encyclopedia
Thomas James "Tommy" Tune (born February 28, 1939) is an American actor
, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer
, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts
.
to oil rig worker, horse trainer, and restaurateur, Jim Tune, and Eva Mae Clark (the family name was shortened from "Tunesmith"). He attended Lamar High School in Houston and the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College
in Jacksonville, Texas
, and went on to earn his Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin
in 1962, and take graduate courses at the University of Houston
. Tune later moved to New York to start his career.
debut as a performer in the musical
Baker Street
. His first Broadway directing and choreography credits were for the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
in 1978. He has gone on to direct or choreograph, or both, some eight Broadway musicals. He directed a new musical titled Turn of the Century, which premiered at the Goodman Theatre
in Chicago on September 19, 2008 and closed on November 2, 2008.
Off-Broadway
, Tune has directed The Club and Cloud Nine
. Tune toured the United States in the Sherman Brothers
musical Busker Alley
in 1994-1995 and in the stage adaptation of the film Dr. Doolittle in 2006.
Tune is the only person to win Tony Awards in the same categories (Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical) in consecutive years (1990 and 1991), and the first to win in four different categories. He has won nine Tony Awards.
Tune appeared in a 1975 TV special titled Welcome to the "World" along with Lucie Arnaz
and Lyle Waggoner
to promote the Walt Disney World resort.
Tune's film credits include Hello, Dolly! (1969) and The Boy Friend
with Twiggy
(1971). Tune released his first record album, Slow Dancing, in 1997 on the RCA label, featuring a collection of his favorite romantic ballads.
In 1999, he made his Las Vegas
debut as the star of EFX
at the MGM Grand Hotel.
Tune staged an elaborate musical entitled Paparazzi for the Holland America Line
cruise ship the Oosterdam in 2003. He works often with The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, for example touring in a Big Band revue
entitled Song and Dance Man and White Tie and Tails (2002).
Tune has been performing in his musical revue, Steps in Time: A Broadway Biography in Song and Dance, in Boston in April 2008 and continuing in various venues from Bethesda, Maryland in January 2009 to California in February 2009.
The Tommy Tune Awards, presented annually by Theatre Under The Stars
(TUTS) honor excellence in high school musical theatre in Houston. The current home of the Tommy Tune Awards is the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas.
that features his own work. In Tune's 1997 memoir
Footnotes, he writes about what drives him as a performer, choreographer and director, offers stories about being openly gay
in the world of theatre, his partners David Wolfe
and Michael Stuart, about his days with Twiggy
in My One and Only
and meeting and working with his many idols.
He is 6 feet 7 inches (approximately 201 cm) tall.
Nominations
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
.
Early years
Tune was born in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
to oil rig worker, horse trainer, and restaurateur, Jim Tune, and Eva Mae Clark (the family name was shortened from "Tunesmith"). He attended Lamar High School in Houston and the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College
Lon Morris College
Lon Morris College is a private junior college located in Jacksonville, Texas, United States, and is the only school affiliated with the United Methodist Church that is owned by an individual conference and not the denomination as a whole...
in Jacksonville, Texas
Jacksonville, Texas
Jacksonville is located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,868 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cherokee County and part of the larger Tyler-Jacksonville Combined Statistical...
, and went on to earn his Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 1962, and take graduate courses at the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. Tune later moved to New York to start his career.
Career
In 1965, Tune made his BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut as a performer in the musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Baker Street
Baker Street (musical)
Baker Street is a musical with a book by Jerome Coopersmith and music and lyrics by Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel.Loosely based on the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle, it is set in and around London in 1897, the year in which England celebrated the Diamond...
. His first Broadway directing and choreography credits were for the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
in 1978. He has gone on to direct or choreograph, or both, some eight Broadway musicals. He directed a new musical titled Turn of the Century, which premiered at the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
in Chicago on September 19, 2008 and closed on November 2, 2008.
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
, Tune has directed The Club and Cloud Nine
Cloud Nine (play)
Cloud Nine is a two-act play written by British playwright Caryl Churchill after workshops with the Joint Stock Theatre Company in late 1978 and first performed at Dartington College of Arts, Devon, on 14 February 1979....
. Tune toured the United States in the Sherman Brothers
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers are an American songwriting duo that specialize in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman ....
musical Busker Alley
Busker Alley
Busker Alley is a musical with a score by the Sherman Brothers and a book by AJ Carothers, based on the 1938 British film, St. Martin's Lane, which was inspired by the 1905 novel, Small Town Tyrant, by Heinrich Mann....
in 1994-1995 and in the stage adaptation of the film Dr. Doolittle in 2006.
Tune is the only person to win Tony Awards in the same categories (Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical) in consecutive years (1990 and 1991), and the first to win in four different categories. He has won nine Tony Awards.
Tune appeared in a 1975 TV special titled Welcome to the "World" along with Lucie Arnaz
Lucie Arnaz
Lucie Désirée Arnaz is an American actress, singer, dancer and producer. She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and is the sister of actor Desi Arnaz, Jr..- Early life :...
and Lyle Waggoner
Lyle Waggoner
Lyle Wesley Waggoner is an American actor and former model, best known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1974 and for playing the role of Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975 to 1979...
to promote the Walt Disney World resort.
Tune's film credits include Hello, Dolly! (1969) and The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
with Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
(1971). Tune released his first record album, Slow Dancing, in 1997 on the RCA label, featuring a collection of his favorite romantic ballads.
In 1999, he made his Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
debut as the star of EFX
EFX (show)
EFX was a Las Vegas production show residing at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino which opened on March 23, 1995 and closed January 1, 2003. When it premiered, it was the most expensive and largest scaled theatre installation in the world. A significant entertainment landmark of the strip for nearly 8...
at the MGM Grand Hotel.
Tune staged an elaborate musical entitled Paparazzi for the Holland America Line
Holland America Line
The Holland America Line is a cruise shipping company. It was founded in 1873 as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company , a shipping and passenger line. Headquartered in Rotterdam and providing service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line...
cruise ship the Oosterdam in 2003. He works often with The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, for example touring in a Big Band revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
entitled Song and Dance Man and White Tie and Tails (2002).
Tune has been performing in his musical revue, Steps in Time: A Broadway Biography in Song and Dance, in Boston in April 2008 and continuing in various venues from Bethesda, Maryland in January 2009 to California in February 2009.
The Tommy Tune Awards, presented annually by Theatre Under The Stars
Theatre Under The Stars (Houston)
Theatre Under the Stars is a year-round, professional, non-profit musical theatre production company. It is located in Houston, Texas, performing mostly at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Theatre Under The Stars’ season generally includes both self-produced shows as well as national...
(TUTS) honor excellence in high school musical theatre in Houston. The current home of the Tommy Tune Awards is the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas.
Personal life
When not performing, he runs an art gallery in TribecaTriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
that features his own work. In Tune's 1997 memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
Footnotes, he writes about what drives him as a performer, choreographer and director, offers stories about being openly gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
in the world of theatre, his partners David Wolfe
David Wolfe (actor)
David Wolfe, aka Dave Wolfe of New York City was an American film actor from 1949 to 1954. After his acting career, he was the lover of American Broadway showman Tommy Tune.-Filmography:...
and Michael Stuart, about his days with Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
in My One and Only
My One and Only
My One and Only is a musical with a book by Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer and music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.Written to incorporate classic Gershwin tunes from Funny Face and other popular shows into one evening of entertainment, the plot, set in 1927 America, revolves around Capt...
and meeting and working with his many idols.
He is 6 feet 7 inches (approximately 201 cm) tall.
Stage productions
- A Joyful NoiseA Joyful NoiseA Joyful Noise is a musical with a book by Edward Padula and music and lyrics by Oscar Brand and Paul Nassau. The 1966 Broadway production was a flop but introduced choreographer Michael Bennett in his Broadway debut....
(1966) (performer) - How Now, Dow JonesHow Now, Dow JonesHow Now, Dow Jones is a musical comedy by Academy Award winner Elmer Bernstein, Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh and Max Shulman. The original Broadway production opened in December 1967. A critically acclaimed revised version premiered in August 2009....
(1967) (performer) - SeesawSeesaw (musical)Seesaw is a musical with a book by Michael Bennett, music by Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.Based on the William Gibson play Two for the Seesaw, the plot focuses on a brief affair between Jerry Ryan, a young lawyer from Nebraska, and Gittel Mosca, a kooky, streetwise dancer from the Bronx...
(1973) (performer, associate choreographer) - A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the UkraineA Day in Hollywood / A Night in the UkraineA Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine is a musical comedy consisting of two essentially independent one-act plays, with a book and lyrics by Dick Vosburgh and music by Frank Lazarus...
(1980) (director, choreographer) - NineNine (musical)Nine is a musical with a book by Arthur Kopit, music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. The story is based on Federico Fellini's semi-autobiographical film 8½...
(1982) (director) - My One and OnlyMy One and OnlyMy One and Only is a musical with a book by Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer and music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.Written to incorporate classic Gershwin tunes from Funny Face and other popular shows into one evening of entertainment, the plot, set in 1927 America, revolves around Capt...
(1983) (performer, choreographer) - Stepping OutStepping Out (play)Stepping Out is a play written by Richard Harris in 1984. It was produced in the West End, London, where it received the Evening Standard Comedy of the Year Award, and on Broadway, New York.-Plot:...
(1987) (director) - Grand HotelGrand Hotel (musical)Grand Hotel is a musical with a book by Luther Davis and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, with additional lyrics and music by Maury Yeston....
(1989) (director, choreographer) - The Will Rogers Follies (1991) (director, choreographer)
- Tommy Tune Tonite! (1992) (performer)
- Bye Bye Birdie (1992) touring production (performer)
- The Best Little Whorehouse Goes PublicThe Best Little Whorehouse Goes PublicThe Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public is a musical with a book by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall.Ostensibly a sequel to the creative team's 1978 hit The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, it is more a series of burlesque-style sketches and musical interludes...
(1994) (director, choreographer) - GreaseGrease (musical)Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
(1994 revival) (production supervisor) - Turn of the Century (2008) Chicago (director)
Awards and nominations
Awards- 1974 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical - Seesaw
- 1978 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical - The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
- 1980 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
- 1980 Tony Award for Best Choreography - A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
- 1982 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical - Nine
- 1982 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - Cloud Nine
- 1982 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Nine
- 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - My One And Only
- 1983 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical - My One And Only
- 1983 Tony Award for Best Choreography - My One And Only
- 1990 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - Grand Hotel
- 1990 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical - Grand Hotel
- 1990 Tony Award for Best Choreography - Grand Hotel
- 1990 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Grand Hotel
- 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - The Will Rogers Follies
- 1991 Tony Award for Best Choreography - The Will Rogers Follies
- 1991 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - The Will Rogers Follies
- 2003 National Medal of ArtsNational Medal of ArtsThe National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
- 2003 Texas Cultural Trust's Texas Medal of Arts.
- 2008 FredFred AstaireFred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
& Adele AstaireAdele AstaireLady Charles Cavendish , better known as Adele Astaire, was an American dancer and entertainer. She was Fred Astaire's elder sister. Her birthdate was often given as 1897 or 1898, but the 1900 U.S...
Lifetime Achievement Award - 2008 Actors' Fund of America Julie HarrisJulie HarrisJulia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
Lifetime Achievement Award - 2009 Inducted into the National Museum of Dance C.V. Whitney Hall of Fame
Nominations
- 1977 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical - The Club
- 1978 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
- 1979 Tony Award for Best Choreography - The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
- 1979 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
- 1980 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine
- 1983 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - My One And Only
- 2003 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Choreography - Tommy Tune: White Tie and Tails
External links
- Tommy Tune official website
- Playbill article, Jan. 15, 1999 "Tommy Tune To Use Tap Skills As Special EFX in Las Vegas; Begins Jan. 15" NOTE: Requires Playbill membership to access.
- Playbill article, Simonson, Robert, April 29, 2008, "Playbill's Brief Encounter with Tommy Tune", Retrieved 4-30-2008