TADA! Youth Theater to Honor Leslie Uggams and Tommy Tune at Annual Gala
(© David Gordon)
Broadway legends Leslie Uggams and Tommy Tune will be the honorees at this year's TADA! Youth Theater gala, to be held on March 5 at Tribeca 360. The evening will feature a cocktail hour, dinner, live and silent auctions, and entertainment from TADA!’s Resident Youth Ensemble as well as Broadway stars.
Uggams is well known for her portrayal of Kizzy in the landmark TV mini-series Roots. On Broadway, she made her musical-theater debut with a Tony-winning performance in Hallelujah, Baby!, and has since starred in Blues in the Night, Her First Roman, Jerry’s Girls, Anything Goes, King Hedley II (Tony nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie, and On Golden Pond. She can currently be seen as Leah Walker in the hit television series Empire.
Tune, an award-winning performer, director, and choreographer, has received 10 Tony Awards, including the 2015 Tony for Life Achievement in the Theatre. He has also received the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor for artistic achievement given by the President of the United States, as well as eight Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, three Astaire Awards, and multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards, including the Society of Directors and the Choreographers’ George Abbott Award. His Broadway credits include The Will Rogers Follies (Tony Awards for 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), among others.
Founded in 1984, TADA!’s mission is to provide young people from different backgrounds with musical theater programs that inspire them to be creative, learn, and think differently. TADA! produces original musicals for children, teens, and family audiences. TADA! offers a free, year-round, pre-professional training and a positive youth development program for its Resident Youth Ensemble (ages 8-18), as well as musical theater classes and camps for the public and musical theater residencies in N.Y.C. schools and community centers.
