Tommy Tune

Tommy Tune 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).

Tune, Tommy (b. 1939), actor, choreographer, and director. A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, the lanky, attractive if slightly effete theatre jack‐of‐all‐trades made his Broadway debut in the chorus of Baker Street (1965). He was featured in Seesaw (1973), then served as choreographer and co‐director for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1978). Tune then went on to direct and choreograph A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (1980), Nine (1982), My One and Only (1983), Stepping Out (1987), Grand Hotel (1989), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), and The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (1994). Off‐Broadway he staged such long‐running plays as The Club (1976) and Cloud 9 (1981). He frequently returns to performing, usually in concerts or specialty shows.

Will Rogers Follies, The (1991), a musical comedy by Peter Stone (book), Cy Coleman (music), Betty Comden, Adolph Green (lyrics). [Palace Theatre, 983 perf.; Tony, NYDCC Awards.] The musical bio of the celebrated cowboy comic was told in the form of a Ziegfeld Follies extravaganza, which helped mask the fact that there was hardly any plot to speak of. Keith Carradine was a personable Will Rogers and Cady Huffman shone as a kind of mistress of ceremonies, but the focal star was Tommy Tune, who directed and choreographed the lavish production. Notable songs: Willamania; Give a Man Enough Rope; Our Favorite Son; My Big Mistake.