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| Tommy Tune |
| Born |
Thomas James Tune
February 28, 1939 (1939-02-28) (age 70)
Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Actor, choreographer, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer |
| 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.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Tune was born in Wichita Falls, Texas to oil rig worker, horse trainer, and restaurateur, Jim Tune, and Eva Mae Clark (the family name was shortened from "Tunesmith").[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]
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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]
[edit] Stage productions
[edit] 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
[edit] References
- ^ Long, Robert Emmet. Broadway, The Golden Years (2003). Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0826414621, p. 252
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Dr. Dolittle Closes His Practice on the Road". Playbill. 3 August 2006. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/101231.html. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
- ^ talkinbroadway review, undated ca. 1999
- ^ listing for Holland America
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Jan Nargi (14 April 2008). "Tommy Tune: Steps in Time". BroadwayWorld. http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=26935. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- ^ "Tommy Tune Awards". Theatre Under The Stars. 2008. http://www.tuts.com/Education/TommyTuneAwards/tabid/94/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Tommy Tune. Interview with Owen Keehnen. A Broadway Tune: A Halloween Visit with Tommy Tune (transcript). glbtq Encyclopedia. 1997. Retrieved on 2008-01-22.
- ^ Tune, Tommy (1997). Footnotes: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684841827.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
[edit] External links
