Although Tommy Tune Won't Receive His Tony on the Telecast, There Will Be Musical Tribute With Alan Cumming | Playbill

Tony Awards Although Tommy Tune Won't Receive His Tony on the Telecast, There Will Be Musical Tribute With Alan Cumming Although nine-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune will not receive the Lifetime Achievement Tony honor during the live CBS telecast June 7, there will be a musical tribute to Tune, according to Tony Awards host Alan Cumming.
Tommy Tune Photo by Joan Marcus
//assets.playbill.com/editorial/2bdd06215e2da8535a9680c652b1b57f-goodtune200.jpg
Tommy Tune Photo by Joan Marcus

On "Late Night With Seth Meyers," Cumming told Meyers, "We're doing this tribute thing to [Tommy Tune], and it's sort of like being in a weird, kind of virtually reality dream because we're dancing and singing in a sort of mashup of three very famous shows that Tommy Tune has done — none of which I know and none of which I really understand. So, I'm just doing it like a robot, like a dog learning tricks, and there's all these dancers around me." 

It was recently announced that Tune, 76, will present the award for Best Direction of a Musical, an award he has won himself. He is being honored for “outstanding dedication to theater and iconic achievements over the span of his more than 50 years in the business,” according to a Tony Awards statement.

He won his nine Tonys the hard way: in four different categories: Best Director of a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Lead Actor in a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Watch the clip of Cumming on "Late Night" below: 

Make sure to follow us on social media for all of our awards season coverage. The 2015 Tony Awards — hosted by Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming — will be broadcast on Sunday, June 7, 2015 (8-11 PM ET/PT time delay) on CBS, live from Radio City Music Hall in NYC. For information, photos, videos, and more, go to TonyAwards.com.

//assets.playbill.com/editorial/460837b3a560987f591be1cab6a46397-TOMMY_TUNE_09_25104383.jpg
Tune in My One and Only

Tune made his Broadway debut in 1965's Baker Street as "One of the Killers," and went on to dance in A Joyful Noise and How Now Dow Jones, becoming a protege of choreographer Michael Bennett, who featured Tune (and made him "associate choreographer" in the 1973 musical Seesaw. The show's big Act II number, "It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish," helped earn Tune his first Tony Award, as Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

He went on to win Tonys for A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine (for Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography, shared with protege Thommie Walsh); Nine (Best Direction of a Musical); My One and Only (Best Actor in a Musical and Best Choreography, shared, again, with Thommie Walsh); Grand Hotel (Direction and Choreography), and The Will Rogers Follies (Direction and Choreography).

Tune's last show to reach Broadway was the musical sequel Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public in 1994. He played several concert shows on and off Broadway, and appeared this past winter in the Encores! production of Lady, Be Good!.

Heather Hitchens, President of the American Theatre Wing, and Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, issued an earlier joint statement saying, "It is our honor to present the legendary Tommy Tune with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding dedication to theatre and iconic achievements over the span of his more than 50 years in the business. He has succeeded in multiple facets of the industry – both on stage and off – and is a shining example of the magical experience that live performance brings. We are proud to celebrate his triumphs with the Lifetime Achievement honor this year."

 
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!