NINE TIME TONY AWARD WINNER TOMMY TUNE RETURNS TO THE VENETIAN ROOM
In his review of A Day in Hollywood – A Night in the Ukraine (1980), New York Times’ critic Mel Gussow called director/choreographer Tommy Tune “The toe-tapping heir to Busby Berkeley. What his predecessor did with 50 dancing girls and a sound stage, he can do, in cameo, with 4 feet.” This was Tune’s first solo Broadway 
show at the helm, and it not only won him a Tony award for best choreography, it steadfastly confirmed him as an uppermost, wholly original talent.
Certainly, Tune had been around for years as a performer, appearing on Broadway in Baker Street (1965) and How Now, Dow Jones (1967), although he is well-remembered as the spindly, acrobatic paramour Ambrose Kemper in the film Hello, Dolly! (1969). Walter Kerr, also of the Times, remembered him “marching up and down a mini-staircase in Seesaw (1973) – it was as if his limbs had sprouted into stilts.” For the same show, Clive Barnes noted that Tune, portentously playing a choreographer, was bright, charming, a lithe, eccentric dancer, a natural performer, and “6 feet 6 inches of chiefly leg.” Tune, who was associate choreographer to Michael Bennett of this big-budgeted flop, won, as supporting actor, his first of nine Tony awards in four categories (the second-most for any individual after Hal Prince).
Since then, the legendary tap-dancing triple threat has also won eight Drama Desk Awards, three Astaire Awards, and the Society of Directors and Choreographers’ George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement. Tune is also the recipient of the National Medal Of Arts, the highest honor for artistic achievement given by the President of the United States. For the past three years, he has been touring the 
country in his musical memoir Steps In Time, but now he will take to the Fairmont’s Venetian Room, dancing, singing and storytelling through 50 years of big time showmanship in Taps, Tunes, and Tall Tales, accompanied by Michael Biagi on piano.
Known as one of the most prolific director/choreographers of the twentieth century, Mr. Tune also worked on Nine (1982), My One and Only (1983), Grand Hotel (1989) and The Will Rogers Follies (1991). In 1999, he made his Las Vegas debut as the star of EFX at the MGM Grand Hotel. He returns to The Venetian Room for the first time in more than two decades, and audiences for his brand new solo show can expect an autobiographical performance featuring handpicked songs from the great American Broadway songbook, accompanied by Tune’s effortlessly graceful style of dance, and a collection of stories from the performer’s magnificent career.
The show is presented by Bay Area Cabaret, which, after several seasons of presenting shows in a variety of elegant showrooms, found a permanent home when it was invited to reopen the Fairmont Hotel’s historic Venetian Room, which had been dark as an entertainment venue for over 21 years. From 1947 to 1989, the Venetian Room reigned supreme as the city’s premier showroom, and it was here that Tony Bennett introduced his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Tommy Tune is the only performer in Bay Area Cabaret history to have been honored with his own star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Tommy Tune – Taps, Tunes and Tall Tales
presented by Bay Area Cabaret at the Fairmont Hotel’s Venetian Room
Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 5 p.m.
for tickets call (415) 392-4400 or visit City Box Office
visit Bay Area Cabaret for more info on upcoming shows
