Stage Icon Tommy Tune Working on New Broadway Musical After Signing with New Agent

He's back! Ten-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune (that's a well-deserved mouthful!) is collaborating with a Tony-winning playwright on the musical adaptation of a book and major film set in "the world's fastest-growing film market," according to Deadline.

Official details are so far being kept under wraps, and in the meantime, Tune is working with director James Lapine on BARBARA COOK: THEN AND NOW, set to open next month off-Broadway.

BroadwayWorld is also happy to report that the actor, director and choreographer has just signed with Paradigm's Jack Tantleff, who also represents Tune's friend and protégé, NEWSIES helmer Jeff Calhoun.

"Tommy Tune is one of the greatest and most iconic names in musical theatre history," Tantleff, head of the Theatre Literary Department at Paradigm, said in a statement. "I don't think there's any question that we want -- and need -- a new Tommy Tune musical on Broadway, and everyone at Paradigm is thrilled to be on board to help make that happen."

Tantleff, who "bonded" with Tune at the off-Broadway opening of MAURICE HINES TAPPIN' THROUGH LIFE, told Deadline the legend is "eager to return to Broadway" after the star returned to New York after several years in Las Vegas to find "all his collaborators were gone. Everybody had died. 'I didn't know what to do,' Tommy said; he might have really felt lost."

Tantleff added: "We could not be more excited...When you mention the name Tommy Tune to somebody, there's immediate interest. I don't know any other director whose body of work matches his. We've just started throwing ideas back and forth, and I have no doubt there will be a big Tommy Tune show very soon."

Tune is one of the country's most prolific performer/director/choreographers and is celebrating his golden decade on the great American stage. He has received 10 Tony Awards, which includes the 2015 Tony for Life Achievement in the Theatre, The National Medal of Arts, 8 Drama Desk Awards, 3 Astaire Awards, and multiple Life Time Achievement Awards including the Society of Directors and the Choreographers' George Abbott Award.

A native Texan, Tune began his career as a dancer in the Broadway shows Baker Street, A Joyful Noise and How Now Dow Jones. He has received Tony Awards for The Will Rogers Follies (Direction and Choreography), Grand Hotel (Direction and Choreography), My One and Only (Actor in a Musical and Choreography) Nine (Direction), A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine(Choreography) and Seesaw (Featured Actor in a Musical). Tune received two Tony nominations (Direction and Choreography) for The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. Film credits include Hello Dolly, The Boy Friend, and Mimi Bluette...fiore del mio giardino, and in 1999, he made his Las Vegas debut as the star of EFX at the MGM Grand Hotel.

Tune is the recipient of the National Medal Of Arts, the highest honor for artistic achievement given by the President of the United States, and he has been honored with his own star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into The Theater Hall of Fame by Gwen Verdon. In 2009, the New York Landmarks Conservancy designated Mr. Tune as a Living Landmark. In early 2015, Tune received rave reviews for his tap dancing and singing role in the Encores! production of Lady, Be Good! at New York City Center. He is currently touring the country in his one-man show, Taps, Tunes and Tall Tales.

Photo Credit: Stephen Sorokoff