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Broadway legend Tommy Tune’s legacy is taking center stage at the University of Houston, thanks to a generous gift from Tune and his sister, Gracey—a new collection that will give students and scholars a front row seat to the artistry of a show business icon.
“The University of Houston felt like the natural home for it because it’s where my story truly began,” Tommy Tune said. “This collection represents my life in musical theater, and I want it to inspire the next generation of artists in the city that first inspired me.”
Tune, a Houston native who earned his M.F.A. at UH in 1964, is a nine-time Tony Award winner and the only person in Tony Awards history to win the same categories in consecutive years, taking home best choreography and best directing in 1990 and 1991.
“You don’t win nine Tony Awards in so many facets of the craft — and a 10th for Lifetime Achievement — without shaping the era itself,” Gracey Tune said. “This collection covers every corner of his Broadway life, and many of his creations still live on stages around the world.”
The collection, which is kept in the UH Archives in the MD Anderson Library, is filled with costumes, scripts, design sketches, choreography notes, photos and personal letters—more than 50,000 items in all. It captures the creative spirit of Broadway in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s and provides a window into how iconic productions were conceived, staged and experienced.
“This collection is a significant contribution to the study of theater history, particularly musical theater,” said University of Houston Archivist Mary Manning. “It will be invaluable to students, performers, filmmakers and researchers who want to explore Tune’s creative process, reconstruct productions or gain cultural context for the works he directed and performed in.”
For Tommy, the gift is a full-circle moment — a way to give back to the city and university that first nurtured his imagination.
“The University of Houston has an energy and creative spirit that matches everything this collection represents,” Tune said. “If my life’s journey can help even one young artist see a bigger future for themselves, it will be the perfect encore.”
