BWW INTERVIEWS: Tommy Tune Shares with Friends In Deed Sept 21

Celebrating 50 years in the business is more than an accomplishment...it's a sign of being a legend. And that is exactly the word I can use when I talk about the esteemed and gifted performer, choreographer and director, Tommy Tune.  Tune will be appearing in his brand new road show, Steps in Time, for Friends In Deed's one-night-only spectacular Broadway Benefit Gala on Monday, September 21^st at 8:00 PM at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (899 Tenth Avenue)  All proceeds will benefit Friends In Deed - The Crisis Center for Life-Threatening Illness.

Steps in Time is a highly acclaimed and critically praised Broadway Biography in song and dance. Written, directed and choreographed by Mr. Tune, the road show will make its Manhattan premiere on September 21^st. The multi-talented Manhattan Rhythm Kings will back-up Mr. Tune throughout an evening traveling through the legendary song-and-dance man's 50 years, his golden anniversary, in show business.

Known as one of the most prolific theatre men of the Twentieth Century, Tommy Tune has enchanted audiences over the past 50 years with his charisma, vision, and innovation.  He has been the recipient of a record nine Tony Awards. Two for acting (Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Seesaw and Actor in a Musical for his performance in My One and Only), four for Best Choreography (A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Grand Hotel, My One and Only, The Will Rogers Follies) and three for Best Direction of a Musical (Nine, Grand Hotel, The Will Rogers Follies.  In addition, he has received eight Drama Desk Awards, three Astaire Awards, and the Society of Directors and Choreographers' George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement.   He is also the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the country's highest honor for artistic achievement.

Mr. Tune's talents extend beyond the stage, however. His film credits include Hello Dolly, The Boyfriend, Mimi Bluette, Fiore Del Mio Giardino, and Hollywood Blvd.   He has been honored with a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame. Throughout his career, he has toured extensively in productions of Irma La Douce, Seesaw, Tommy Tune Tonight, My One and Only, Bye, Bye, Birdie, and his act with the Manhattan Rhythm Kings.  Most recently, Mr. Tune directed the new musical, Turn of the Century, at the esteemed Goodman Theatre in Chicago.   The show, slated for Broadway, was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice of Jersey Boys fame.

This interview for me definitely goes under The category of "I can't believe that I actually spoke to him!".  But I did and I get to share it with all of you.  Ladies and gentleman...Tommy Tune...

TJ:   Truly, this is a thrill be talking to the Tommy Tune. It is like a dream come true. I have been a fan for years.

TUNE:  Oh, how nice...thank you! You know, we have the same initials. My name is Thomas James and you are TJ as well!

TJ:   That's true...I am Timothy Joseph...a nice Irish name. The complete ticket is Timothy Joseph Patrick Fitzgerald.

TUNE:   Wow! You don't get more Irish than that!!!

TJ:   (laughing) Not that I can think of! When I think of Tommy Tune, the word legend comes to mind. You have achieved so much in your career. What is your secret to success?

TUNE:  It's just love and work. Isn't that it...what else is there? I love what I do and I work really hard at it. The other thing that comes to mind is in the secret department. Yves St Laurent was asked what's the most important thing and he said, "The most important thing is to last."  So, maybe that's part of it. If you have the good fortune to live a while and work for a long time through your life...maybe that's it! And it all adds up. That's what makes a success.

The other part that I'm most proud of is that I've always been able to support myself in my chosen profession. I've always paid my rent and I think that's a success in this day and age. It really boils down to something as simple as that. If you can find something that you love to do and you give your heart and soul to it and it works for you, that's a success. That's not a secret...it's a formula.

TJ:  This year marks 50 years in show business for you. How did you get into the business?

TUNE:  Yeah, this is literally my fiftieth year in the business! And I woke up on the morning of January 1^st this year and I realized it...I took stock. And I thought, "OK, what year is it now...2009. Let's see, hmmm." And I was still in bed doing the math and suddenly thought, "Oh my God! This is your fiftieth year in the business!! What are you going to do about it?" So I immediately starting putting together what all had happened and thought, "I think this is a show!" Of course, I can't cover it all and have to move through it really quickly. I sort of hopscotch. It isn't linear...I think linear is boring. So I jump back and forth in time and really hit on a lot of the good fortune that has rained down on me during these past fifty years in my chosen profession. It's quite amazing to look back and think about it. It happened so fast. I'm older and taller than I ever intended to be! (laughing)

TJ:  You must be what....six feet six inches?

TUNE:   Actually six feet six and a half inches. I'm one of these strange people that kept growing. At 25, I was still growing and I couldn't believe it. I thought, "God! When is it going to stop?"

TJ:  You will be performing your show, Steps in Time, at a special gala to benefit Friends In Deed on September 21 with the Manhattan Rhythm Kings.

TUNE:  Yes, I adore this charity! My friends, Mike Nichols and Cynthia O'Neil founded it twenty five years ago. It was just as AIDS was coming on to us and everybody was so freaked out about it. People that got it were terrified and families of people that got it were terrified. Nobody knew what to say. And many people getting AIDS...you were outing yourself because at that point, it was just considered a gay problem. People couldn't talk to each other. Mike and Cynthia realized this and they made this beautiful cushy place where you could go and sit with your family or one on one and talk with the counselors there. They could just talk it through and learn how to breathe again and learn how to live with this thing instead of being so frozen...the emotions were just so frozen.

It's odd talking about it today being the anniversary of 9/11. I remember what it was like on 9/12...that New York would never be anything again...that you would never have a life...that you would never be able to go into a skyscraper. New York was over...it was over. Our life was over...Broadway was over. It was so major. Our nose was against the wall of it. And that's what happened. And out of that grew...out of this time when AIDS first appeared...out of that grew this incredible organization, that now has spread just to include people with life threatening diseases. They have just done such remarkable work.

The place itself is wonderful. You walk in this very long hall and then it opens up into this splendid space where there are sofas arranged and chairs and just a place to be. And it's all for free. Anybody that's troubled can go there and get help. I think the world of them and I've tried to help them through the years.

When I go this show together, I was telling Cynthia about it over dinner and I was saying that I had just done a benefit of it for a theatre company in Stamford. And she said, "Well, what about us?" And I said, "Well, of course!! It would be my honor to do this show!" This is my one New York performance and I am doing as a complete benefit for them.

TJ:   How did you get into the business?

TUNE:   Well, let's talk about the art of it first. My mother said that I danced before I was born, especially when Irving Berlin music would be on the radio. She would feel me rocking out within her. My dad said I danced before I walked. I'd be crawling through the living room down home in Houston and the music would come on the radio. I would get up on my hind legs and dance. The music would finish and I would get back on all fours and crawl into the den. I hadn't figured out how to walk yet but was somehow already choreographing. I think I was just born to do it.

I got my Equity card before I came to New York by dancing in the Dallas Summer Musicals and my first job was West Side Story down in Texas.  That was really a wonderful debut to dance that Jerome Robbins choreography, being my first professional job. Actually, my first day in New York, which was on a Saint Patrick's Day, there was an audition that said boy dancers that sing and I went and I got the job!  So, my first day in New York, my dream came true. My dream was to dance in the chorus of a Broadway show. Everything else that has happened has just been extremely good fortune. My dream came true so fast, I never had another dream. I just kept working and what evolved evolved.

TJ:  Now I read somewhere that Carol Channing is your theatrical godmother. How did that come about?

TUNE:  Yes. But she came to a show I did in Palm Springs on my seventieth birthday and she came backstage and she said, "It's changed. I am now your spiritual mother and you are my spiritual son."  She made it very clear because now my mommy is gone and she is still here and now she has taken up the title. She wanted it to be clear that it is beyond a godmother now. She said something so deep...she said, "And I will love you through eternity."

I was seventeen when I met her after I had seen her do a magical performance at the Dallas Summer Musicals. I met her and I was just goo goo gaga...I couldn't put a sentence together. I was in awe of this woman. I had shortly before seen her up on the stage as this sort of high priestess of joy hold court. You know, she's a very interesting and strange looking character, as am I, and I think I related to that...she's so different.  And, of course, that's what makes her so special! We got though it and that was the beginning of our relationship.

We would hook up through the years and she would always give me such incredible advice. She explained to me that if I wanted to be a true Broadway persona, I had to tour. That's the way it works. When I got to New York, the gypsies looked down on doing national companies. They felt like Broadway was it and if you went on tour, you were second-rate. Carol Channing doesn't believe that at all! And she learned it from the Lutz' and she passed it directly to me. They told her that after you play your show in New York, you must take it on tour. Then, when you do your next show in New York, the people that saw you in their town come to New York, they will say, "Oh, look! Let's go see the Lutz' because they came to see us!" And she said that's how a career in the theatre evolves.

And it's true, I keep running into people that I performed for and there is the criss-crossing. It's hand to mouth...it's not in cyberspace...it's not on the web...it's not on film...it's not in a can somewhere...it's not on a CD...it is heart to heart. It is live theatre and that is something very special! She is what Liz Smith calls 'a closet intellectual.' She is one of the smartest people I know...I love her so much!

TJ:  What is something that people don't know about Tommy Tune?

TUNE:   I'm an open book! I am who I am and this is what you get. It's sort of like when I met Fred Astaire. He was exactly like Fred Astaire! He was who he was who he was. What you saw on the screen is what you got in person. And I think that's what I am!

Okay, that was amazing, folks! He is what he is and that is a great person, performer and all around nice guy! And he is giving back to support this great organization, Friends In Deed - The Crisis Center for Life-Threatening Illness.  And you can support this great cause and see him live in Tommy Tune - Steps in Time, A Broadway Biography In Song and Dance on Monday, September 21^st at 8PM at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue (between 58^th & 59^th Streets).   $500 Premier VIP Seating, which includes admission to an after-party, is currently available by calling (800) 996-5433.  $250 VIP Tickets (which also include the after-party) and $100 tickets are available through TicketCentral.com, (212) 279-4200 or at Ticket Central box office, 416 West 42nd Street, noon to 8pm daily.

This is TJ Fitzgerald, wishing all the best to Tommy and crew for a successful evening and wishing I could be there. I will be the spiritual audience member and sending inspiring energy. In the meantime, remember how important that we have so much to be thankful for, even in these hard times, and how necessary it is to give back, folks. Theatre is my life. Ciao and peace to you!