Tommy Tune Celebrates Songs of Bygone Era

For those who are enchanted with songs that idolize “the way you sip your tea,” or beg unknown forces please not to monkey with Broadway, Tommy Tune territory was the place to be Friday night in Cerritos. With the Manhattan Rhythm Kings opening and a zippy 16-piece orchestra behind both acts, it was a brightly nostalgic, smoothly paced evening of familiar and lesser-known songs from the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s.

Years ago, the setting for bits and bytes of witty lyrics and subtle shuffling would have been a swank supper club, but the wonderfully intimate Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts--with an audience skewed to the over-50 crowd--stood in well.

The Rhythm Kings, a three-man harmonic vocal trio in black tuxedos and red socks, have worked with Tune during the 12 years since he discovered them on a New York street corner. In their own set, Tripp Hanson’s sweet tenor stood out. He and Hal Shane did some mild-mannered tap--even pressing bassist-singer (and non-dancer) Brian M. Nalepka into service--but vocalizing is their main attraction.

Tune, of course, is what you find in the dictionary under “triple threat,” having won multiple Tony awards for Broadway shows such as “My One and Only,” from which he sang a Gershwin medley. In his white tie and tails plus rhinestone vest and tap shoes, Tune can put on the Ritz with the best. Astonishingly, during an aw-shucks question-and-answer session with the audience mid-act, no one asked Tune exactly how tall he his, since he seems to be taller than--well, anyone dancing really. Images of his elegant frame stretched into an Astaire-like arc of desire linger on.

But there were no extended dance passages--unfortunately, having enough breath to sing and talk after dancing is one of those problems that even triple threats haven’t been able to solve.