It's sublime artistry. But Tune is a Broadway baby, so he cannily disguises it as contemporary nostalgia under an engaging gee-whiz boyishness. Unlike the overblown, often crass extravaganza My One and Only, in which Tune starred on Broadway and in two Chicago engagements, Tommy Tune and the Manhattan Rhythm Kings allows the Texas-born star to display a fey, down-home charm that suits the easygoing finesse of the material Tune performs--all of it drawn from the heyday of American songwriting in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s.
Complementing, and thoroughly integrated with Tune's presence are the Manhattan Rhythm Kings, an all-male trio who early on demonstrate their versatility as close-harmony singers, tap dancers, and musicians. Big and bearded Brian Nalepka handles the bulk of the onstage instrumentals, playing bass fiddle and tuba while Hal Shane and Tripp Hanson join Tune for a series of sensational tap trios. All of this is done with an air of deadpan goofiness and good-natured camaraderie (during last weekend's heat wave, Hanson wiped his sweaty hands on Tune's formal white jacket before playing the piano). But the cutting up is always guided by tasteful restraint and self-effacing skill--as are the glowing lighting by Natasha Katz and the sparkling orchestrations by Peter Matz, Bob Holloway, and Larry Wilcox, cracklingly played by a 16-piece orchestra under Jack Lee's musical direction.
Very much a show for the whole family, Tommy Tune and the Manhattan Rhythm Kings doesn't pander to those who long for the good old days ; rather, it embodies gracefulness, proportion, professionalism, and an artist's genuine enjoyment of his art, and proves that those values are still attainable in the right hands. Or the right feet. 'Swonderful!
As practiced in jazz and popular music, it reflected the pace, high spirits and jagged optimism of America at the turn of the century. On Friday night, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, with guest conductor Michael Krajewski and special guests the Manhattan Rhythm Kings, demonstrated that American music has always aimed the beat at the feet. The concert was billed as a Night on the Town. A singing, dancing trio, the thellip;
