Interview: Tommy Tune Reflects on SEESAW and Winning His First Tony Award

Richard Ridge of "Backstage with Richard Ridge" recently sat down with the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and Broadway legend Tommy Tune, to discuss his past work, getting started on Broadway and if he would ever return to the Great White Way.

Check out a sneak peek of the interview in which Tune discusses work in SEESAW and winning his first Tony Award. Tune in on Sunday morning for the full interview!

Let's talk about Seesaw.

Well Seesaw was my big breakthrough because I had danced in the chorus up until then. Then I went off to do some movies and then I came back to New York. I was going to stay with Michael Bennett until I found a new apartment because he had a sweet place and said I could stay and when I got there he was gone and there was a note saying 'Don't unpack. Call this number and we will fly you to Detroit. I'm taking over on a show called Seesaw." So it had been a two character play that had been made into this big show. So I dropped off what I didn't need and went. Unfortunately I left my tap shoes but I had clogs on, that was back when we wore clogs, and that's why the number in Seesaw I do in clogs because I didn't have shoes to rehearse, I rehearsed in clogs and he said 'Oh, I like it. Let's keep it. Do it in clogs.'

What an incredible show because it was in a lot of trouble in Detroit until Michael [Bennett] and all of you came in and he really transformed this musical into what it became.

He really did. He really fixed it up. He was Dr. Bennett. He really fixed it up and he brought in more dancers, he brought in Bob Avian, he brought in Michele Lee. And then he put me in the show. And then I won my first Tony.

That was your first Tony. What do you remember about that night?

Oh, okay first of all we were told to only come to the show with a girl on our arm. And my partner at the time had been so supportive that I just went, 'This is not right.' So I defied the law. And we came together and they put him on one side of the post in the last seat of the Shubert Theatre and I was on the other side, so you couldn't tell the two boys were together. This was a long time ago. We've come a long way. We've come a long way. Then when they said 'The nominees are...' and the picture would come on of one nominee and then another and when they said 'Tommy Tune for Seesaw.' They didn't put the camera on me because of my date. So, that was interesting. And I've never forgotten that because now it's... life is so much freer.

Because I just watched your acceptance speech again and I was like 'My God, they had him sitting in the back.' And you ran down the aisle.

Last row! But that was good for my entrance, wasn't it?

It was a great entrance.

I don't remember making that entrance. When it happened because you don't know. I don't remember coming down that aisle but I do remember they say 'Talk fast.' But they didn't say you only have 90 seconds. They just say make your speech so I thought the sooner I get there, the sooner I can start thanking everybody like MIchael Bennett and Bob Avian and Joe Kipness, the producer, and who was the man that owns the Yankees, he was a producer too.

George Steinbrenner.

Yes, George Steinbrenner was one of the producers of it.

What a great New York musical. I loved Seesaw. I really hope someone does something, or you could take a look at it again to maybe direct it.

You know, it may just be nostalgia on my part but I thought it was a really good show.

Tune is one of the country's most prolific performer/director/choreographers. He began his career as a Broadway dancer in Baker Street, A Joyful Noise and How Now, Dow Jones. He has received Tony Awards for My One and Only (Actor and Choreography), Grand Hotel (Direction and Choreography), The Will Rogers Follies (Direction and Choreography), Nine(Direction), A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Choreography) and Seesaw(Featured Actor). In addition, Mr. Tune has been awarded eight Drama Desk Awards, three Astaire Awards and the Society of Directors and Choreographers' George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is the recipient of The National Medal of Arts, has been honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was designated a Living Landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. He is currently touring the country in his one-man show Taps, Tunes and Tall Tales. www.tommytune.com