On November 12, 2003, The President of The United States presented Tommy Tune with the nations' highest honor for Artistic Achievement, The National Medal of Arts. Mr. Tune received this honor to add to his already unprecedented nine Tony Awards in four different categories plus, among other accolades, eight Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, two Astaire Awards, the American Dance Award, the Drama League Award, and the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1991, Gwen Verdon inducted him into Broadway’s Theatre Hall of Fame, and Hollywood soon followed suit when three years later he was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame appropriately placed directly in front of the Capezio Dancewear shop.
Back in 1965, Tommy Tune debuted in the chorus of Baker Street. Next up was A Joyful Noise in 1967 and How Now Dow Jones in 1968. Five years and countless raves later Tune garnered his first Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in
Michael Bennett’s Seesaw. His first foray into directing was the groundbreaking Off-Broadway hit The Club in 1976. Back on Broadway, but this time as choreographer and co-director, Tune gave us The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas followed by A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, for which he won his second Tony Award, this time for Best Choreography. Tune returned to Off-Broadway in 1981 to direct the highly controversial production of Carol Churchill’s Cloud 9. The next year he brought us Nine, The Musical for which he won his third Tony, and his first for Directing a Broadway Musical. A double Tony Award win followed for Tune as Best Actor in a Musical and Best Choreography for the Broadway hit My One and Only co-starring Twiggy. Grand Hotel, The Musical followed with Tony wins for Best Choreography and Best Direction and the following year Tune did what no artist had done before when he won the same two prestigious honors back to back this time for The Will Rogers Follies. Tune once again returned to the other side of the Broadway footlights in his one-man song and dance show, Tommy Tune Tonight!, later touring with it throughout the country and around the world.
Of his unique talents as a director, choreographer, singer, dancer and actor, the New York Times proclaimed, “Mr. Tune has reshuffled the elements of the old-style musical into state of the art.” Andy Warhol once said that Tommy Tune “exudes a cultivated serenity and a genuine love of life.”
Tune has sung and danced for three U.S. Presidents, the Queen of England and the Royal Family of Monaco. He has appeared in two films in his illustrious career, Hello, Dolly!, starring Barbra Streisand, and directed by Gene Kelly; and Ken Russell’s The Boy Friend where he first met Twiggy. In 1997, Tune gave us Footnotes, a memoir about his extraordinary life in the theatre, and Slow Dancin’, a CD compilation of his favorite romantic ballads. He has also starred in EFX, the ninety million dollar spectacular at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
When he’s not drawing crowds, Mr. Tune is painting canvases in his Hunt's Point art studio. He recently created an elaborate musical entitled Paparazzi for the Holland America Cruise Line, and his latest production, Dr. Dolittle, in which he played the title role, toured the country in 2006. He resides in New York City and is currently preparing original productions.
