Tommy Tune needed back on Broadwway - FIND HIM PLEASE!

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:46am

I searched this site for a bit and found mentions of the man, and he's included on many people's "favorites lists". I searched the Interent and found stories about Tommy going to the Catskills, to Oregon, to Denver, to a crusie ship, etc. All for his song and dance show (which, if it's the same one I saw in 1994, is very good!).

He was a MAJOR player in the muscial theater scene all through the seventies, eighties and early nineties. (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Seesaw, Welcome to the Club, Nine, Grand Hotel, Will Rogers Follies, Grease (why?), and many more I know I am forgetting. The guy has something like 9 tony awards! He, Bennett and Fosse were the ONES.

The question is this:

When is he going to choreograph for Broadway again?

I want to hear that he is involved in a new production or revival for Broadway! I want to see his choreography again.

As we all know, he kinda dissapeared after the vicious bitch slapping he received for "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public". Remember the critical tagline.."The most universally reviled Broadway show in the last ten years"?

Anybody out there know what is going on with Tune?

NOTE: if you are like me, and like to look for these people through the interent, be warned! There is a collection of photographs of Tommy Tune out there that are funny/disturbing. I found them at his "Tommy Tune" website, which I couldn't find tonight to link you there.

Photo Shoot ingredients: One tall tap dancer, 10 gallons of gold leaf paint, one loincloth, and the Nevada desert as a background.

Please....come back to us Tommy!!

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:06am

If I remember correctly, Tommy Tune mentioned something about coming back. I dont remember if it was to perform or to choreograph.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:36am

Well, I hope so, but I've yet to see him "stick" to project for Broaway in the last 10 years....remember Easter Parade? The Royal Family? Never came to fruition.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 2:03am

After much further internet searching, I located "The Gold Tommy" photos:

http://www.tommytune.com/gallery.htm

Don't say I didn't warn you...

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 2:27am

Actually, he performed in Las Vegas in a show called EFX (or something like that) for 2 years. Then, he had an off-Broadway show with the Manhattan Rhythm Kings in December 2003 that pretty much bombed, so he hasn't exactly been working a ranch in Wyoming.

He will be appearing in Rockville, Maryland with the Rhythm Kings at Strathmore Hall this coming December. I assume it will be the same show he did with them in NYC in 03.

I saw both shows, and they were pretty terrible. (The Rhythm Kings were wonderful though.) I lost a lot of respect for and interest in Tommy Tune after this...primarily because he did something in these shows that I found hokey and condescending. But it's too late to elaborate. You can search for the reviews and probably read it for yourself.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 2:57am

I Read all of what you are speaking of myself long ago....all of this pre-research is done! I know of his Manhattan Rythym Kings group and their various tours to places around the country. I saw EFX in Vegas and it was terrible...My first words after the curtain went down were...he needs to go back to New York...NOW!

This brings me back to the original question...when is he leaving all of these performances and coming back to broadway?

[Barihunk]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 9:14am

The man is 66 years old. Maybe he just wants to retire. In the corporate world he would be sipping Mai Tais in Boca at this stage of the game. Why does this business we call show insist on pushing people to work until the grave? I say if the man feels he has done everything he wants to... let him be.

[zelda]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 10:56am

remember buskery alley..oh yeah he broke his foot "wink wink" just like christina

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 11:16am

I loved his and Thommie Walsh's choreography for "My One and Only". That was such a fun show.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 11:27am

Tommy was recently on the pledge breaks in L.A. for "Broadway's Lost Treasures III." The host basically asked him the very same question: When are you going to be doing something on Broadway again?

Tommy said that he has three projects all potentially "Broadway bound" currently. He didn't name them or elaborate any further.

I agree, that he's at an age when "corporate America" retires, plays golf and sips cocktails.... but we still desperately need our creative geniuses on the boards! I don't see too many legends in the making coming up these days. A few potential regulars, but most aren't what I would classify as "visionaries." Can you imagine if Sondheim said, "That's it, I'm done now... Who wants to play Scrabble?" I'd be a bit depressed, but hey, it's his choice, right?

Tommy has nothing to prove anymore. He's "been there, done that," for both plays and especially musicals. I'm sure it would take a special project that he feels strongly about to get him "back in the saddle." I for one hope he finds it. And soon!

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 11:38am

Tommy should do a revival of Bye Bye Birdie as Albert Peterson.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 11:58am

That tour of BYE BYE BIRDIE didn't come to NYC, specifically because Tommy Tune said that he (at the time) didn't believe in starring/directing revivals in NYC.

I, of course, would love to see him back as a director. GRAND HOTEL is one of the greatest Broadway stagings ever, in my opinion.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:28pm

I wish he had done that revival of FOLLIES.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:39pm

I remember Busker Alley (aka, Stage Door Charley, aka Buskers). I saw it three times in SF and thought the dance numbers were great, but storyline just passable.

Barihunk...my point is that he IS still working...and all the time, with his one man show. I am not asking him to come out of a grave...I am simply asking him to leave the sticks and come back to Broadway!

[Barihunk]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 12:52pm

And my point is that a man as talented as Tommy Tune, with his tremendous accomplishments and track records would be on Broadway if he wanted to be on Broadway. I'm sure any producer out there would gladly back him on any project he deemed worthy of helming. Clearly, he has made his choice...

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:28pm

Perhaps you are right..he does prefer to go with the one man show at this point. He probably has more control over the product this way.

*sigh*...this does not help me and my wish for some good old fashioned choreography, though. oh well.

MichaelBennett...yeah, wasn't he talking about not doing revivals anymore and then he helmed "Grease"? I thought that a bit odd.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:33pm

I have always been confused about Tommy Tune's association with GREASE. According to IBDB the credits go like this...

"A production by Tommy Tune
Directed by Jeff Calhoun; Choreographed by Jeff Calhoun; Associate Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell; Assistant Choreographer: Patti D'Beck"

Did he just oversee everyone's work?

[justme2]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 1:34pm

I always wondered this myself...he was doing Whorehouse goes Public at the same time, and Dee Hoty (in her Seth's Chatterbox interview) talked about watching him run from one theater to the other for rehearsals.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 7:50pm

I forgot about Bye Bye Birdie. He was delightful in that.

[Jwei123]

Posted: 8/22/05 at 7:55pm

I'd love to see him Choreograph a Will Rogers revival!