Judy Kaye is an American singer and actress. She has appeared in stage musicals, plays, and operas. Kaye has been in long runs on Broadway in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera (earning her first Tony Award), Ragtime, Mamma Mia!, and (in a second Tony award-winning role) Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Early life Kaye attended UCLA, studying drama and voice.Flatow, Sheryl.Broadways Favorite Diva" judykaye.com (reprint from Playbill.com), accessed March 19, 2011 "Her voice spans three octaves. She started out as a mezzo and now sings all the way up to an E natural...but basically she feels she is now a soprano."Lopinto, Maryann."Meet Judy Kaye - The Phantom's Diva" judykaye.com (reprint from Show Music Magazine), accessed March 19, 2011 She "easily shifts between Broadway belt and soaring soprano" according to Playbill.com.Gans, Andrew."Diva Talk:Chatting with Souvenir Star Judy Kaye, Alice Ripley On High and News of Cook and Moore" Playbill.com, December 17, 2004
Career Kaye made her Broadway debut as a replacement Rizzo in the original company of Grease in the 1970s. Her next show was the Broadway musical On the Twentieth Century (1978), playing only the small role of the maid Agnes, and also the understudy for leading lady Madeline Kahn. Kahn left the show early in the run, and Kaye took over the lead role. The New York Times reported "Judy Kaye replaced Madeline Kahn...and bang, boom, overnight she is a star."Corry, John. New York Times, May 5, 1978, p. C2Gromberg, Alan."Spotlight on Judy Kaye" , talkinbroadway.com, accessed March 10, 2009 Kaye also toured the US in the musical.
Her next two Broadway ventures flopped. The Moony Shapiro Songbook (1981), a campy spoof of songwriter-based revues like Side by Side by Sondheim and Ain't Misbehavin', closed after fifteen previews and one official performance. Frank Rich, in his New York Times review, wrote "Two members of the company suggest what might have been - Judy Kaye, a skilled musical-comedy comedienne who sings a pretty ballad at a white piano."Rich, Frank."Theater:'Moony Shapiro Songbook' The New York Times, May 4, 1981 In November 1981 Oh, Brother!, which transplanted William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors to the Middle East, closed after thirteen previews and three official performances."'Oh, Brother! Listing" Internet Broadway Database, accessed March 19, 2011 Frank Rich's New York Times review noted that "Judy Kaye, while getting campier each time out, remains a big belter with a sure comic sense."Rich, Frank."The Stage: 'Oh, Brother!,' A Musical'" The New York Times, November 11, 1981
She was featured in the 1987 concert version of the rarely produced musical Magdalena. In 1988, Kaye returned to Broadway as Carlotta in The Phantom of the Opera,Rich, Frank. "Stage: 'Phantom of the Opera'" The New York Times, January 27, 1988 She won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for this role.1988 "Tony Awards" infoplease.com, accessed March 19, 2011
It was nearly a decade before her next Broadway role, appearing as Emma Goldman in Ragtime from 1997 to 2000.Brantley, Ben. "THeater Review: 'Ragtime': A Diorama With Nostalgia Rampant" The New York Times, January 19, 1998 She was the only principal to remain with that show for its entire run, where she showcased her remarkable range as she sang the Goldman alto part while hitting the B5 high note in the opening prologue.Jones, Kenneth."Broadway Ragtime Closing January 16; National Tour Journeys On" Playbill.com, January 14, 2000Broadway's "RAGTIME" Reunion: Stars in the House In 2000, she played Mrs. Lovett opposite Len Cariou as Todd and Davis Gaines as Anthony in a London concert of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.Kaye, Cariou & Gaines to do London Sweeney Concerts, Feb. 13 Next on Broadway, she appeared as "Rosie" in Mamma Mia! in 2001–2003,"'Mamma Mia!' Listing" Internet Broadway Database, accessed March 19, 2011 and received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical.Gans, Andrew. "Tony Winner Judy Kaye to Depart 'Mamma Mia!' in October", Playbill.com, June 25, 2003
Kaye has performed extensively in regional theatre, in roles as widely varied as both Julie Jordan and Nettie Fowler in Carousel, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Meg in Brigadoon, Hildy in On the Town, Lalume in Kismet, Lili Vanessi in Kiss Me, Kate, Pistache in Can-Can, Babe Williams in The Pajama Game, the Old Lady in Candide, Maria in The Sound of Music, Rose in Gypsy, Anna in The Anastasia Game, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Lucy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Sally in Follies (1995, Theatre Under the Stars),"1995 Theater Under the Stars Production" sondheimguide.com, accessed March 20, 2011 Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar.Judy Kaye biography filmreference.com, accessed March 10, 2009
Kaye's non-musical roles have included such classics as The Man Who Came to Dinner and You Can't Take It with You (1996, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Storrs). In 1996 she performed in The Royal Family at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey as Kitty Dean.Ridley, Clifford A."A `Royal Family' That's Slightly Mismatched", philly.com, October 4, 1996 She appeared in Lost in Yonkers in 2011 as Grandma Kurnitz at the Arizona Theatre Company in Phoenix, Arizona.Bio , arizonatheatre.org, accessed March 20, 2011
Kaye appeared in Stephen Temperley's Souvenir and "drew raves for her humorous, yet touching work" with her portrayal of the legendarily bad singer Florence Foster Jenkins.Gans, Andrew. , playbill.com, November 2005 The play originally ran Off-Broadway in November 2004 to January 2005.Gans, Andrew. "Judy Kaye to Star in York Theatre's Souvenir Beginning Nov. 23" Playbill, September 28, 2004 After a production at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in August to September 2005, it premiered on Broadway, from October 2005 to January 2006,"Souvenir Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed November 2, 2015 and she has since performed it in several venues in the United States.Gans, Andrew. "Tony Winner Kaye Reprises Role of Off-Key Singer in A.C.T.'s 'Souvenir' Starting Feb. 13", playbill.com, February 13, 2009 Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review, wrote: "Ms. Kaye strikes that single note of personality with a happy mixture of ardor, unblinking obliviousness and ... pitch-perfect period detail."Brantley, Ben. "A Mighty Squeal From a Big Heart", The New York Times, November 11, 2005.
In June 2006, Kaye assumed the role of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd on Broadway for one week during Patti LuPone's vacation."Kaye cues up for Sweeney", Daily Variety, May 19, 2006, Vol. 291, No. 35, p. 2 She returned in August 2006, when LuPone left for a week to play "Rose" in Gypsy.Osborne, Robert. "Rambling Reporter", VNU Entertainment News Wire (The Hollywood Reporter), August 8, 2006 She went on to play Mrs. Lovett in the 2007–2008 North American Tour of Sweeney Todd.Lipton, Brian. "Judy Kaye and David Hess to Star in Sweeney Todd Tour", theatermania.com, May 7, 2007Hernandez, Ernio. "Slice of Life: Judy Kaye and Company Begin Sweeney Todd Pre-Tour SF Stint, Aug. 30", playbill.com, August 30, 2007 The Curtain Up review of that tour in Los Angeles praised Kaye, stating: "There's humor in this production ... Much of that is due to Kaye's impeccable timing, the delicacy of her yearning and her way with a tuba."Hitchcock, Laura. "Review"Sweeney Todd Goes West", curtainup.com, March 12, 2008 Kaye had previously played Mrs. Lovett in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Sweeney in 1991. The New York Times reviewer wrote of her performance there, "it's going to be tough to come up with a Todd and a Mrs. Lovett comparable to George Hearn and Judy Kaye. ... Ms. Kaye's voluptuous voice taps and illuminates musical treasures. The ribaldry, seductiveness and wit of her performance appear thoroughly rooted in Mrs. Lovett's love for Todd."Klein, Alvin. Sweeney Todd, in All Its Musical Power" The New York Times, November 15, 1991
The musical Paradise Found featured Kaye in a production co-directed by Harold Prince and Susan Stroman at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London from May – June 2010. She appeared in the musical adaption of Tales of the City at the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, California, from May through July 2011, as Anna Madrigal.Hetrick, Adam. " Tales of the City 'Bites Into That Lotus' As New Musical Opens in San Francisco May 31" , playbill.com, May 31, 2011
She starred in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, which opened on Broadway in April 2012.McGrath, Charles. "Ferris Bueller’s Nights Onstage", The New York Times, April 5, 2012 She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for this role.Gans, Andrew. "Once, Tribes, Follies, Salesman, Audra McDonald, Danny Burstein and More Are Drama Desk Winners" , playbill.com, June 3, 2012Gans, Andrew. "Outer Critics Circle Winners Announced; Once and One Man, Two Guvnors Are Top Winners" , playbill.com, May 14, 2012Jones, Kenneth. " Once, Clybourne Park, Porgy and Bess, Audra McDonald, Salesman Win 2012 Tony Awards" , playbill.com, June 10, 2012 In 2014, she played General Matila Cartwright in Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall. Later that year, she joined the Broadway production of Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother and remained with the show till its final performance on January 3, 2015."It's Possible! Judy Kaye Will Join Cinderella Cast as 'Fairy Godmother'", August 11, 2014, accessed September 20, 2014
From February to October 2016, Kaye performed the role of Madame Morrible in the Broadway production of Wicked."Carrie St. Louis, Judy Kaye, Peter Scolari & More Will Join Broadway's 'WICKED' Next Month!", broadwayworld.com, January 21, 2016, accessed January 16, 2016"Broadway's Wicked to Welcome Dreamgirls Star Sheryl Lee Ralph", broadway.com, October 14, 2016, accessed March 3, 2018 She then took over the role of the Dowager Empress in the Broadway production of Anastasia from September 2018 through January 2019."Judy Kaye To Join ANASTASIA as The Dowager Empress", broadwayworld.com, September 20, 2018, accessed January 2, 2019"Constantine Germanacos and Penny Fuller Will Join the Company of ANASTASIA", broadwayworld.com, December 6, 2018, accessed January 2, 2019
On November 17, 2021, Kaye opened in the Broadway production of Diana, The Musical at the Longacre Theater. She plays the roles of Queen Elizabeth II and the novelist Barbara Cartland, who was Princess Diana's step-grandmother.
Opera, operetta, and recordings She has performed frequently in opera, operetta and older musicals, including leading roles in The Beggar's Opera, Orpheus in the Underworld, Leave It to Jane, Oh, Lady! Lady!!, The Cat and the Fiddle, and Trouble in Tahiti. She appeared in concert at The Town Hall, New York, in Eileen and Sweethearts (1983)Wilson, John. "Operetta Sweethearts At Town Hall", The New York Times, December 17, 1983 and Sweet Adeline (1985).Wilson, John. "Music: Kern's Adeline Is Revived", The New York Times, May 24, 1985
In August 1990 she played Musetta in the Santa Fe Opera production of La Bohème.Henahan, Donal. "Review/Opera; Boheme Artists Who Look the Part", The New York Times, August 4, 1990, p. 13 She debuted the role of Abbie in the premiere of composer Edward Thomas' musical version of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, presented by the New York Opera Repertory Theater in 1989.Rothstein, Mervyn. O'Neill Centenary: Celebrating the Master", The New York Times, October 13, 1988 She performed the title role in The Merry Widow at the Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, New Jersey) in 1991.Klein, Alvin. "Theater: Nonstop Gaiety in Merry Widow" The New York Times, April 28, 1991 She has appeared with opera companies and orchestras such as the Santa Fe Opera (1985 and 1990), the New York City Opera (1989), the New York Philharmonic (1990), the Boston Pops Orchestra (1990), and the London Symphony Orchestra (1990).