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His interest in dance was crushed in high school, though, when he reached his full height, he knew he couldn’t have a classical dance career, so he concentrated on theater, especially musical theater. He spent some time at Lon Morris Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas, and, in 1962, received a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin. After taking graduate courses at the University of Houston, Tune moved to New York City to start his career. His first audition became his first job, as a member of the chorus in Irma La Douce. In February of 1965 he made his debut as a chorus dancer in Baker Street. Next up was a role in A Joyful Noise, with dances by Michael Bennett, in 1967, and a solo in How Now Dow Jones in 1968. Although Tune’s career was off to a great start in New York, he moved to Hollywood in 1969 for a role in the movie Hello, Dolly with Barbra Streisand. 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, and it was during its filming in London that he realized he had found his perfect dance partner in co-star Twiggy, but the two of them did not appear together again until 1983 in My One and Only. He returned to New York to star in Seesaw, another Michael Bennett production, giving a performance that won him his first Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Musical. His co-directing collaboration with director Peter Masterson and choreographer Thomie Walsh on The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas earned him another Tony in 1978 for Best Director of a Musical. Tune’s success continued when he directed A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine. This project won him two more Tonys, one for Best Director of a Musical and one for Best Choreographer of a Musical, as well as a 1979-80 Drama Desk accolade for Best Choreography and Best Staging of a Musical. Tune headed to Off-Broadway in 1981 to direct the highly controversial production of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine, then back to Broadway the next year when he directed the musical Nine. In 1983 a double Tony Award win followed Tune as Best Actor in a Musical and Best Choreography for the Broadway hit My One and Only, co-starring his old pal Twiggy. Grand Hotel, The Musical followed with Tony wins for Best Choreography and Best Direction; the following year Tune did what no artist had ever done before when he won the same two prestigious honors back to back, this time for The Will Rogers Follies. After a 1992 tour of Bye Bye Birdie with Ann Reinking, Tune once again returned to the other side of the footlights in his one-man song and dance show, Tommy Tune Tonight!, later touring with it throughout the country and around the world. In 1994 he was back on Broadway once again, directing Dee Hoty in The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public. Though it was not as successful as hoped, it gave him the time to take over the revival of Grease from 1994 to 1998 as production supervisor. Tune has sung and danced for three U.S. presidents, the Queen of England and the Royal Family of Monaco. In 1991, Gwen Verdon inducted him into Broadway’s Theatre Hall of Fame. Hollywood followed suit in 1994 when Tune received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, appropriately placed in front of the Capezio Dancewear shop. In 1997 Tune wrote his memoirs about his extraordinary life in the theater called Footnotes, as well as producing a CD of his favorite romantic ballads. In 2000 a dream came true for him: he made his debut as the star of EFX, the $90 million spectacular at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. When he’s not drawing crowds, Tune is painting canvases in his New York City art studio. (He will be in the lobby after each performance of DR. DOLITTLE to sign lithographs of his original animal drawings.) In addition, he recently created an elaborate musical entitled Paparazzi for the Holland America Line’s newest cruise ship, The Oosterdam. And now it’s DR. DOLITTLE. At a time when other 67-year-olds might be thinking of retirement and recliners, Tommy Tune is still the consummate performer and “show doctor.” When he was asked to step into the title role, Tune agreed to take on the task only if he could rework the show’s book and direct the production. Tune’s first impression of the show, and how it needed fixing, was based on the reaction of his three-year-old godson, Luca. Tune wanted to do a show for children, a show that wouldn’t talk down to them, but rather introduce them to the theater. The show, he insists, is in no way meant to be cynical or particularly complex. It’s pure escape, with animals that will delight young children and an Oscar-winning score that parents and grandparents will recognize. As Tommy Tune says in his notes: “I’m
most excited about introducing a new generation or a couple of generations
to the experience of live theater. We’re all so inundated with
everything electronic, and automated, and digitalized, and impersonalized.
I am of the theater, I always have been, love performing and directing
for a live audience. I think parents and their young kids today are
fascinated and entertained more than ever when they see something live!
I would love DR. DOLITTLE to be the first show a kid sees with his family.
I know that teenagers and date-night couples might find our show a bit
off-putting, corny, but I see the faces of the young kids and their
parents when they come backstage after the show and I know we touched
them. That’s all I can hope for.”
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