Actor, director, choreographer and entertainer Tommy Tune likes taps. And tall tales. And tunes. And Tony Awards. (Ten of them to be exact.) And he loves alliteration. Which probably accounts for the title of his show, Tommy Tune Tonite! Tune will be performing at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Friday and two shows at Feinstein’s at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco on Sunday.
Tommy Tune won his first Tony Award in 1974 for the Broadway musical Seesaw. He won for Best Featured Performance by an Actor in a Musical. The show was directed by Michael Bennett (who won a Tony that night for Best Choreography before going on to do a little show called A Chorus Line.)
Tune won subsequent Tony Awards for A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Best Choreography), Nine (Best Director of a Musical), My One and Only (Best Actor in a Musical, Best Choreography), Grand Hotel (Best Director of a Musical, Best Choreography) and The Will Rogers Follies (Best Director of a Musical, Best Choreography). To even things out he received a Special Tony Award in 2015 for Lifetime Achievement.
I recently spoke by phone with the 79-year-old legend who had just completed rehearsals in New York for this week’s performances. We discussed his upcoming shows and his philosophy about life.
You are still rehearsing your show?
It’s my job to keep it fresh. I did 1,500 performances of My One and Only and we didn’t change the material, but that’s the technique. I sit down over tea in the morning and figure out my show. Then I go with the music director and figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s a constant process. I have to keep changing it up. That’s the director/choreographer in me. If I were just a performer I would be grateful to do the same show every night. I can’t do it that way.
Instead you are on the road doing hundreds of performances a year. What do you do on the road to make each show unique for that audience?
I love being nomadic and going to different cities to do my show. When you are out doing a show, it’s very important I do one new thing every day like go to a museum for forty minutes to look at one painting. You pick up the vibe in the city because every city has its own vibe. It’s important to take in one new thing.
Cerritos is a big place and then I go to Feinstein’s in San Francisco and I have to reign it in. It’s tricky. It takes a lot of time to perfect this type of entertainment. You aren’t with a company. Your scene partner is your audience.
Does the director in you butt heads with the performer in you?
The director is always butting in! I always have to tell him, “don’t bother me now, I’m on stage. Give me those notes after the show.” The director doesn’t get to come to the show, only the rehearsal. I don’t know anyone else who is a director/choreographer who does this on a regular basis.
Do these shows satisfy your creative impulses as much as directing and choreographing a Broadway show?
It’s two different things. I’ve spent my life with a row of footlights in between. If you are on the stage those lights are shining on you. If you are on the other side, it’s a whole different thing. When I’m directing a show I’m in, with me playing my part, I’ll put my stand-in in and they do it and I go “That’s all wrong.” It felt so right but it wasn’t from my director’s head. As an actor I felt wrong, but the director was right. It’s like a split personality.
You just turned 79. Can you imagine yourself not dancing or singing or entertaining?
I don’t want to. I’m so grateful that I’m still doing it. Chita Rivera feels the same way. [Tune and Rivera regularly tour together.] Look what we’re doing and the people are enjoying it so much. It’s just a blessing. Chita said, when asked a similar question, “Nobody told me to stop.” It’s in our DNA. We have to do it. It’s an addiction of the very best kind.
You’ve said one reason for your not continuing to work on Broadway is that many members of your regular team of collaborators have passed away and that you feel “obsolete.” Do you still feel that way?
You work with people like Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Wally Harper and you develop a shorthand with these people. I live on and they are not alive. It’s generational. I can’t go looking for somebody my age. It’s not happening. I’m 79 for God’s sake. I can’t find people who have experienced what I have. It takes a toll on you.
The key to life is to stay interested. To have a curiosity about it and what’s next. That’s what’s great about touring. You don’t have a chance to get stale. The good thing about performing is it’s not a contest. The people who see you want you to be good and the helps you be good.
I know you aren’t on social media and don’t rely on modern technology. But recently playwright Paul Rudnick tweeted in response to a football trade announcement, “A gay man’s brain: when I saw the Seahawks’ Michael Bennett was being traded, I assumed it was for Tommy Tune.” Apart from the obvious humor there, what does it mean to you to know that you continue to inspire people?
That’s why we do it. To inspire life. To inspire a good time. To inspire creatively if people work in your field. It’s our purpose, isn’t it? It’s my life’s work. I think I’m using the gifts I’ve been given and I don’t take that lightly. All that is not given is lost. If you don’t give it, you are losing it. I’m happiest when I’m in a permanent state of creativity.
Photo Credit: Franco Lacosta