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Tommy Tune

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Tommy Tune
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Tune, Tommy, 1939-, American dancer, choreographer, and director, b. Wichita Falls, Tex. An unusually lanky 6 ft 6 in., Tune began his Broadway dancing career in the chorus of several mid-1960s musicals, then performed as a tap dancer in musical films, including Hello Dolly! (1969) and The Boy Friend (1971). His innovative choreography in such Broadway musicals as Seesaw (1973), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978), My One and Only (1983), Grand Hotel (1990), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), and the revival of Grease (1994) won him critical acclaim as well as nine Tony Awards in the categories of dancer, director, choreographer, and actor. He has also worked in television, toured the United States and Canada, and performed in a series of one-man revues.

Bibliography

See his memoir, Footnotes (1997).

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Dictionary: Tune   (tūn, tyūn) pronunciation, Thomas James
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Dictionary - People
(Known as "Tommy.") Born 1939.

American dancer, choreographer, and director whose contributions to Broadway productions, including The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978) and My One and Only (1983), have earned him critical acclaim.


Artist: Tommy Tune
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  • Born: February 28, 1939, Wichita Falls, TX
  • Active: '90s
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Biography

An American director, choreographer and dancer, Tommy Tune is internationally recognized and has performed in and directed numerous Broadway shows. He is known for his comedic style and making light of serious issues such as androgynous role modeling. His credits include the film The Boyfriend, starring popular model Twiggy. His successful career includes many awards, films and television specials.

Born Thomas James Tune in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1939, Tommy Tune had an interest in dance and ballet as a youngster. He produced theatrical dramas and comedies in the family's Wichita Falls garage. His interest in dance was crushed in high school when he reached six feet, six inches tall; he knew he could not have a classical dance career at this height, so he concentrated on the theater. He took courses at Lon Morris Junior College and, in 1962, received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. After taking graduate courses at the University of Houston, Tune moved to New York to start his career.

His luck brightened on his first day in New York when he received a job with the Broadway musical Irma La Douce. In February of 1965, Tommy Tune made his New York debut as a chorus dancer in Baker Street. This followed with roles in A Joyful Noise, with dances by Michael Bennett, and a solo in How Now Dow Jones? Although his career was off to a great start in New York, Tune moved to Hollywood in 1969 for a role in Hello Dolly! While in California, he was a regular on Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers. In 1971, he was cast in the film version of The Boyfriend with Twiggy. While filming in London, he realized that Twiggy was his perfect dance partner but the two did not appear together again until 1983 in My One and Only.

Upon returning from London, he returned to New York to star in Seesaw, a performance that won him his first Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Musical. His collaboration with director Peter Masterson and choreographer Thomie Walsh on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas earned him another Tony Award in 1978 for Best Director of a Musical. Tommy Tune's success continued in New York when he directed A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine in 1980. This won him two more Tonys, one for Best Director of a Musical and one for Best Choreographer of a Musical, and a 1979-80 Drama Desk accolade for Best Choreography and Best Staging of a Musical.

The '80s also saw a barrage of success for Tommy Tune as he received five Tonys, two Drama Desk Awards and an Obie Award for his direction and choreography of Cloud Nine. He received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his 1983 reunion with Twiggy in My One and Only. In 1983, he directed Steppin' Out, which won him the 1984 Dance Magazine Award. ~ Kim Summers, All Music Guide
Wikipedia: Tommy Tune
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Tommy Tune
Born Thomas James Tune
February 28, 1939 (1939-02-28) (age 70)
Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
Years active 1965-present
Official website

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.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Tune was born in Wichita Falls, Texas to oil rig worker, horse trainer, and restaurateur, Jim Pridemore, and Eva Mae Clark.[1] He attended Lamar High School in Houston and the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, and went on to earn his Bachelors 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.[2]

Career

In 1965, Tune made his Broadway 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.[3]

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.[4][5]

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 along with Lucie Arnaz and Lyle Waggoner to promote the Walt Disney World Theme Park.

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.[6]

Tune staged an elaborate musical entitled Paparazzi for the Holland America Line cruise ship the Oosterdam in 2003.[7] 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).[8]

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.[9][10][11]

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.[12]

Personal life

At 6 feet 6½ inches (1.99 m), Tune is unusually tall for a dancer. When not performing, he runs an art gallery in Tribeca that features his own work.[13][14] 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.[15]

Stage productions

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 Arts [16]
  • 2003 Texas Cultural Trust's Texas Medal of Arts. [17]
  • 2008 Fred & Adele Astaire Lifetime Achievement Award [18]
  • 2008 Actors' Fund of America Julie Harris Lifetime Achievement Award [19]
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 Award for Outstanding Choreography - Tommy Tune: White Tie and Tails

References

  1. ^ "Tommy Tune Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/24/Tommy-Tune.html. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  2. ^ Kim Summers (2008). "Tommy Tune Biography". All Music Guide. http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ajftxqegldfe~T1. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  3. ^ Jones, Kenneth (2 November 2008). "Tune, Elice and Brickman's Turn of the Century Ends in Chicago, Aims for a Future". Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122939.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  4. ^ Elyse Sommer (1 December 2007). "Busker Alley: From One Night Benefit to Gala CD Launch. . .and On to Broadway". Curtain Up. http://www.curtainup.com/buskeralleyfeature.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  5. ^ "Dr. Dolittle Closes His Practice on the Road". Playbill. 3 August 2006. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/101231.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  6. ^ talkinbroadway review, undated ca. 1999
  7. ^ listing for Holland America
  8. ^ Elyse Sommer (19 December 2002). "A CurtainUp Review Tommy Tune: White Tie and Tails". curtainup. http://www.curtainup.com/tommytune.html. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  9. ^ Jane Hurwitz (January 21, 2009). "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/20/AR2009012003684.html For ' Steps in Time, Tommy Tune Taps Into a Long, Tall Career]". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/20/AR2009012003684.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  10. ^ Adam Hetrick (January 6, 2009). "Tommy Tune to Perform Steps in Time in Stamford in February". Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/124905.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  11. ^ Jan Nargi (14 April 2008). "Tommy Tune: Steps in Time". BroadwayWorld. http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=26935. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  12. ^ "Tommy Tune Awards". Theatre Under The Stars. 2008. http://www.tuts.com/Education/TommyTuneAwards/tabid/94/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  13. ^ Andrew Gans (18 December 2007). "Tommy Tune Launches On-Line Art Gallery". Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/113631.html. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  14. ^ Tommy Tune. Interview with Owen Keehnen. A Broadway Tune: A Halloween Visit with Tommy Tune (transcript). glbtq Encyclopedia. 1997. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
  15. ^ Tune, Tommy (1997). Footnotes: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684841827. 
  16. ^ "Lifetime Honors: National Medal of Arts:". National Endowment for the Arts. 2008. http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  17. ^ Associated Press (7 February 2003). "Talented Texans to be Honored". The Houston Chronicle: pp. 2. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2003_3624907. Retrieved 2008-01-22. 
  18. ^ Adam Hetrick; Ernio Hernandez (15 February 2008). "Tune Will Be Honored With 2008 Astaire Lifetime Achievement Award". Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/115147.html. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  19. ^ Andrew Gans (14 March 2008). "Annual Tony Party to Honor Tommy Tune; Henderson Hosts". Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/115939.html. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 

External links

v • d • e
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play

John Dexter (1975) · Ellis Rabb (1976) · Mike Nichols / Alan Schneider (1977) · Melvin Bernhardt (1978) · Jack Hofsiss (1979) · Vivian Matalon (1980) · Peter Hall (1981) · Tommy Tune (1982) · Trevor Nunn (1983) · Michael Blakemore (1984) · John Malkovich (1985) · Jerry Zaks (1986) · Howard Davies (1987) · John Dexter (1988) · Jerry Zaks (1989) · Frank Galati (1990) · Jerry Zaks (1991) · Patrick Mason (1992) · George C. Wolfe (1993) · Stephen Daldry (1994) · Gerald Gutierrez (1995) · Gerald Gutierrez (1996) · Trevor Nunn (1999) · Michael Blakemore (2000) · Jack O'Brien (2001) · Mary Zimmerman (2002) · Robert Falls (2003) · Jack O'Brien (2004) · Doug Hughes (2005) · Nicholas Hytner (2006) · Jack O'Brien (2007) · Anna D. Shapiro (2008) · Matthew Warchus (2009)
v • d • e
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical

Arthur Laurents (1975) · Michael Bennett (1976) · Martin Charnin (1977) · Peter Masterson / Tommy Tune / Stephen Schwartz (1978) · Harold Prince (1979) · Harold Prince (1980) · Wilford Leach (1981) · Tommy Tune (1982) · George Abbott (1983) · James Lapine (1984) · Wilford Leach (1986) · Mike Ockrent (1987) · Harold Prince (1988) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Scott Ellis (1991) · Jerry Zaks (1992) · Des McAnuff (1993) · Nicholas Hytner (1994) · Harold Prince (1995) · Christopher Renshaw (1996) · Walter Bobbie (1997) · Julie Taymor (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Michael Blakemore (2000) · Susan Stroman (2001) · Michael Mayer (2002) · Jack O'Brien (2003) · Joe Mantello (2004) · James Lapine (2005) · John Doyle (2006) · Michael Mayer (2007) · Bartlett Sher (2008) · Stephen Daldry (2009)
v • d • e
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography

Grover Dale (1969) · Ron Field (1970) · Michael Bennett / Donald Saddler (1971) · Patricia Birch / Jean Erdman (1972) · Bob Fosse (1973) · Patricia Birch (1974) · George Faison (1975) · Bob Avian / Michael Bennett (1976) · Peter Gennaro (1977) · Bob Fosse (1978) · Bob Avian / Michael Bennett (1979) · Tommy Tune (1980) · Gower Champion (1981) · Tommy Tune / Thommie Walsh (1983) · Bob Fosse (1986) · Michael Smuin (1988) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Tommy Tune (1991) · Susan Stroman (1992) · Wayne Cilento (1993) · Jane Elliott / Kenneth MacMillan (1994) · Savion Glover (1996) · Ann Reinking (1997) · Garth Fagan (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Susan Stroman (2000) · Susan Stroman (2001) · Susan Stroman (2002) · Twyla Tharp (2003) · Kathleen Marshall (2004) · Jerry Mitchell (2005) · Kathleen Marshall (2006) · Andy Blankenbuehler (2007) · Rob Ashford (2008) · Peter Darling (2009)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Bennett (1976) · Gene Saks (1977) · Richard Maltby, Jr. (1978) · Harold Prince (1979) · Harold Prince (1980) · Wilford Leach (1981) · Tommy Tune (1982) · Trevor Nunn (1983) · Arthur Laurents (1984) · Des McAnuff (1985) · Wilford Leach (1986) · Trevor Nunn / John Caird (1987) · Harold Prince (1988) · Jerome Robbins (1989) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Tommy Tune (1991) · Jerry Zaks (1992) · Des McAnuff (1993) · Nicholas Hytner (1994) · Harold Prince (1995) · George C. Wolfe (1996) · Walter Bobbie (1997) · Julie Taymor (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Michael Blakemore (2000)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (1976-2000)

George Rose (1976) · Barry Bostwick (1977) · John Cullum (1978) · Len Cariou (1979) · Jim Dale (1980) · Kevin Kline (1981) · Ben Harney (1982) · Tommy Tune (1983) · George Hearn (1984) · George Rose (1986) · Robert Lindsay (1987) · Michael Crawford (1988) · Jason Alexander (1989) · James Naughton (1990) · Jonathan Pryce (1991) · Gregory Hines (1992) · Brent Carver (1993) · Boyd Gaines 1994) · Matthew Broderick (1995) · Nathan Lane (1996) · James Naughton (1997) · Alan Cumming (1998) · Martin Short (1999) · Brian Stokes Mitchell (2000)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

David Wayne (1947) · Myron McCormick (1950) · Russell Nype (1951) · Yul Brynner (1952) · Hiram Sherman (1953) · Harry Belafonte (1954) · Cyril Ritchard (1955) · Russ Brown (1956) · Sydney Chaplin (1957) · David Burns (1958) · Russell Nype (1959) · Tom Bosley (1960) · Dick Van Dyke (1961) · Charles Nelson Reilly (1962) · David Burns (1963) · Jack Cassidy (1964) · Victor Spinetti (1965) · Frankie Michaels (1966) · Joel Grey (1967) · Hiram Sherman (1968) · Ron Holgate (1969) · René Auberjonois (1970) · Keene Curtis (1971) · Larry Blyden (1972) · George S. Irving (1973) · Tommy Tune (1974) · Ted Ross (1975)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Choreography

Michael Bennett / Bob Avian (1976) · Peter Gennaro (1977) · Bob Fosse (1978) · Michael Bennett / Bob Avian (1979) · Tommy Tune / Thommie Walsh (1980) · Gower Champion (1981) · Michael Bennett / Michael Peters (1982) · Tommy Tune / Thommie Walsh (1983) · Danny Daniels (1984) · Bob Fosse (1986) · Gillian Gregory (1987) · Michael Smuin (1988) · Cholly Atkins / Henry LeTang / Frankie Manning / Fayard Nicholas (1989) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Tommy Tune (1991) · Susan Stroman (1992) · Wayne Cilento (1993) · Kenneth MacMillan (1994) · Susan Stroman (1995) · Savion Glover (1996) · Ann Reinking (1997) · Garth Fagan (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Susan Stroman (2000)

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