Two-time Tony Award winning actress Judy Kaye has been a favorite of Broadway and regional theater audiences for decades. Moving effortlessly between brassy comedies, heartfelt character driven musicals, and darker, more operatic fare, she was busy playing Queen Elizabeth II in the new musical, Diana, when the pandemic shut down Broadway in March of 2020. On this episode of Cocktails at Table 7, we talk to the warm and witty Judy Kaye about the many ways she’s kept busy this past year, the pros and cons of workshopping a new musical via Zoom, how she weathered two Broadway flops in one (long ago) season, and how to party like royalty, even during a blackout.
Judy Kaye first came to prominence playing Lily Garland in the original Broadway production of On The 20th Century opposite John Cullum and Imogene Coca. In a career spanning five decades, she has played theaters and concert halls across the globe, in roles as diverse as Lucy Van Pelt, Rizzo, Maria Von Trapp, Mrs. Lovett, and Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers. Recent Broadway appearances include Cinderella, Wicked, Anastasia and Diana. She played Eurydice in Orpheus In The Underworld, Musetta in La Boheme, and Lucy Lockett in The Beggar’s Opera at The Santa Fe Opera. She has twice received the Tony Award; first in 1988 for the role of the tempestuous opera diva Carlotta Giudicelli in The Phantom of the Opera, then again in 2012 for her performance as the high-flying Duchess Estonia Dulworth in Nice Work If You Can Get It. She has also twice received the Theater LA Ovation Award; for her work as Emma Goldman in Ragtime, and as the melodically challenged Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir, two roles she originated on Broadway. She has sung with symphony orchestras throughout the US and Europe, and twice at the White House. She is also the voice of Kinsey Millhone in the Sue Grafton Alphabet Mystery Series for Random House Audio. (Bio courtesy of Broadway.com)
Cocktails at Table 7- Inside New York’s Joe Allen is produced and hosted by Jason Woodruff, Dana Mierlak and Sean Kent, with music by James Rubio and logo and artwork design by Christina D’Angelo. The Producers would like to extend a special thank you to the owners of Joe Allen, Orso and Bar Centrale Restaurants.