AISLE SAY Massachusetts

TOMMY TUNE
in
Steps in Time:
 
A Broadway Biography in Song and Dance
  Starring Tommy Tune
and featuring the Manhattan Rhythm Kings

The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield MA, August 11

Reviewed by Joel Greenberg 

 

Tommy Tune, all 6’7” of him, opens his show by declaring that he is currently in his 8th decade of life and celebrating his 50th anniversary in show business. That would seem to be achievement enough, but no, he then proceeds to sing and dance and chat (with occasional support from The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, a multi-talented trio of guys) for the next 90 minutes.
 
The showcase for Tune is defined by songs from his favourite shows (some of which he has performed in) and also by his cool, easy and unflappable persona. I suppose it’s fair to say that when you have that height – and all those legs – you needn’t work too hard to show them off, but Tune just settles in, embraces the audience and talks as though he were with a group of his friends. And as he talks he demonstrates a time step or two, slides back and forth across the stage and, in one segment, straddles a ladder from which perch he just carries on with anecdotes and bits of biographical data.
 
Backed up by a very smooth quartet, one of whom is a MRK member, Tune just sails in and out of songs as he weaves a lightweight tapestry of his fifty years on stage.
 
Unfortunately, there is no listing of the evening’s songs provided in the programme and neither are there names listed for his singing-dancing trio or the back-up musicians, so I cannot properly and fairly acknowledge their substantial contribution. But I can say that the presentation is very slick and well broken in. The design elements, however simple, are smart and integrated – the show feels as though it could be at home as much in a nightclub as on a stage of almost any size.
 
Tune’s consummate ease with himself and his style illustrates his longevity in a world that doesn’t often embrace age.  In his 70’s now, Tune has transcended fashion and has entered that period in his life where his still-active status accords him near legendary status. And there aren’t many who can boast as much and show as well as he does, both in song and dance.
 
If there is one regret, I’d have to say that it’s somewhat disappointing to have spent 90 minutes in Tune’s company and, after having left the theatre, to feel that I know no more about him than I did when I walked in. But maybe I do – maybe Tommy Tune is who he appears to be and is not a performer who sees value in revealing personal information that, in truth, has no currency with his time steps, his shuffles and his inordinately long legs.

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