Shields — who has appeared in the Broadway revivals of Cabaret, Wonderful Town, Chicago and Grease (the latter produced by Tune) — will present the nine-time Tony Award winner with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Fred & Adele Astaire Awards gala in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center Studios. A cocktail reception and seated dinner will precede the awards ceremony and performances.
The winners of the 2008 Fred & Adele Astaire Awards will be announced May 15. Categories include Best Male Dancer on Broadway, Best Female Dancer on Broadway, Best Choreography on Broadway and Best Choreography in Film. Tune is the first-ever recipient of the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Astaire nominating committee includes dancer-choreographer director and National Dance Institute founder Jacques D'Amboise, New York Post senior theatre and dance critic Clive Barnes, former New York Times chief dance critic Anna Kisselgoff, Dance Magazine's editor-in-chief Wendy Perron and theatre columnist Sylviane Gold as well as Newsday chief theater critic Linda Winer.
Established in 1982, the Fred & Adele Astaire Awards (formerly known as The Astaire Awards) recognize outstanding achievement in dance on Broadway each season. The award was established with the cooperation of Fred Astaire to honor him and his sister, Adele, who starred with her brother in ten Broadway musicals between 1917 and 1931.
A nine-time Tony Award winner, director-choreographer-actor Tune has helped create such Broadway shows as Nine, My One & Only, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, The Will Rogers Follies and Grand Hotel. He helmed Off-Broadway's The Club and Cloud Nine, and he spent two years starring in the Las Vegas production of the spectacular EFX at the MGM Grand Hotel, where he was awarded Best Production Star of the Year in 2001. Tune was recently seen in the national tour of Dr. Dolittle. Tickets range $350-$500. A limited number of seats are available at $50 for balcony seating for the awards and performance. Proceeds benefit The Auditory Oral School of New York. Tickets and further information are available by phoning (212) 655-9377.
