There aren’t many who can lay claim to that statement. It was only a generation or so ago that it seemed almost nobody was actually born in Phoenix. But Judy Kaye was indeed born in the Valley, at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital, well before it moved to Thomas Road. Her parents, Dr. Jerome and Shirley Kaye, and older brother, Joel, had moved from New York to the Valley for Jerry to open his new practice as a pediatrician.
“I came out singing,” Judy laughs. Nobody was terribly surprised by her talent; it was inherited. Several of her ancestors had been vaudevillians; her father and uncle were singing waiters at the summer Catskills resorts in upstate New York. But perhaps what was surprising was the meteoric career Judy has enjoyed since then. Many kids sing; few make it to Broadway.
Fewer still win a Tony Award, and it gets down to single digits when you start naming those who have won more than one. From the time her career started, Judy has never had to work at anything else, never had to wait tables or deliver pizzas – a fact that both pleases and humbles her.
Judy attended Encanto and Clarendon elementary schools in Phoenix. She credits her wonderful public school teachers for helping to instill and encourage her love of music. Joel attended West High, but the family then moved one block out of that district, so Judy attended Central. The music and theater departments were very small; there was no large performing auditorium like the one you can see today as you drive south of Camelback on Central Avenue.
“We performed in an old band room,” Judy recalls. But she had a wonderful choral teacher, Harvey Smith, who was well-known for being the artistic director of the world- renown Phoenix Boys Choir for nearly 40 years.
There were opportunities in the community as well. Judy performed in children’s theater with Don Doyle, who spent 30 years as a theater professor at Arizona State University, where he created the award-winning Theatre for Youth degree programs. She fondly remembers the plays at the old Phoenix JCC with Eve Hurevitz directing. She recalls having a role in the melodrama “Bessie the Bandit’s Beautiful Baby” as well as performing in a Broadway concert revue. “Suddenly the woman who was supposed to sing from ‘Funny Girl’ couldn’t perform, and Evie asked me to sing. I sang ‘I’m the Greatest Star,’ which may have actually been my public debut!”
Judy graduated from Central in 1966, attended UCLA and began her professional career by the time she was a sophomore. She saw a call in the trade papers for “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” and without even an agent she walked in and landed the role of Lucy Van Pelt and earned her coveted membership in the actors professional union, Actors’ Equity, in 1967.
During her time in Phoenix, Judy and her family were active at (then) Temple Beth Israel in Phoenix (now Congregation Beth Israel in Scottsdale). “Rabbi Albert Plotkin consecrated me, confirmed me and married me,” she says proudly. She met her husband-to-be, David Green, in 1987 when they were both in a touring production of “On the 20th Century.”
“It was the bus and truck show from hell,” Judy chuckles. “We played 63 cities in 18 weeks, then stopped by Phoenix and went to Beth Israel to get married!”
It was in the Broadway run of “On the 20th Century” in 1978 that Judy made a major mark. She moved up from a smaller role to replace Madeline Kahn as the lead. According to The New York Times, “Judy Kaye replaced Madeline Kahn … and bang, boom, overnight she is a star.” Prior to this show she had appeared in her Broadway debut as Betty Rizzo in “Grease.”
In 1988, Judy returned to Broadway as Carlotta in the original Broadway cast of “Phantom of the Opera,” and garnered the Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Musical. She received a Tony nomination in 2002 in the same category for portraying Rosie in “Mama Mia” and was nominated in 2005 for Actress in a Drama for “Souvenir,” playing the tone-deaf socialite Florence Foster Jenkins.
“Souvenir closed earlier than I liked,” Judy admits. “As soon as it closed, I started getting offers from regional theaters to perform it around the country.” It was the call from Arizona Theatre Company’s artistic director David Ira Goldstein that quickly caught her attention. “My parents were supposed to be at the Broadway opening, but my father had a stroke and they weren’t able to attend. I wanted to perform in Phoenix so they could be there opening night.” And so she did. That appearance led to a continuing friendship and professional relationship between Judy and ATC. She has sung at fundraising benefits for them and also played Grandma Kurnitz in Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers” for ATC in Tucson and Phoenix in 2011. Her husband, David, has also appeared on stage with ATC several times, most recently in Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” in 2013.
“I hope Arizona realizes what a gem they have with ATC. I’ve performed at a number of the largest regional theaters around the country, and ATC is definitely right up there with the best of them,” says Judy.
Among her regional theater roles, Judy has played Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun,” Nellie Forbush in “South Pacific,” Mama Rose in “Gypsy” and Aldonza in “Man of La Mancha,” to name just a few. Most of these characters and others she’s played are rather brash women, such as the role of Emma Goldman in “Ragtime” that she originated on Broadway. “I do tend to play pretty strong women,” she agrees, “but then I really enjoy playing someone like Julie Jordan in ‘Carousel.’ There are many teachable moments for me in roles like that. I learned the power of quiet and stillness on stage.”
Judy has also performed in opera, including the role of Musetta in the Santa Fe Opera production of “La Boheme” and the title role in “The Merry Widow” at the Papermill Playhouse.
She has appeared with the New York City Opera and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and the London Symphony Orchestras.
Judy was also part of a PBS Presents musical program at the White House during George H.W. Bush’s administration. After the program was over, President Bush approached Judy and asked her to return and do a solo performance. She sang at a state dinner honoring the president of Mexico.
In 2006 Judy assumed the role of Mrs. Lovett in Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” on Broadway when Patti LuPone took some time off. She continued in that role in the 2007-08 North American tour. The Curtain Up review in Los Angeles said that “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.” In 2010 she had a two-month run in “Paradise Found,” co-directed by Harold Prince and Susan Stroman in London, and she appeared at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco in the musical adaptation of “Tales of the City” in 2011.
Then, in 2012, Judy starred with Matthew Broderick in “Nice Work if You Can Get It.” She again received the TonyAward for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, this time for her role as Duchess Estonia Dulworth. In her acceptance speech at the televised award ceremonies, Judy dedicated the award to her father, who had passed away earlier that year.
On Sept. 12, Judy stepped into the role of Marie, the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” now on Broadway at The Broadway Theatre. She is thrilled to be playing the role, and particularly happy she “wasn’t cast as the evil stepmother!”
David is now close to retired, though he still directs Judy in her cabarets and special appearances. Judy says that as long as she’s offered roles she’d enjoy, she’s not in a hurry to retire. She does love to play golf though, a game she learned from her grandfather at the old Century Country Club in Scottsdale.
(Century was the Jewish Country Club in the Valley in the ’60s and ’70s, located where Orange Tree Country Club now stands.) “He taught the whole family,” Judy remembers fondly. “In fact, my nephew, Jonathan Kaye, went on to be with the Pro Golf Tour for a number of years.”
Judy and David now live in Guttenberg, NJ, where “we can see the skyline of New York out our window,” and have a little house in upstate New York, “near the old kokh-aleyns” (bungalow rentals), she says with a laugh. They are entrenched in New York life, but do enjoy coming to Arizona when they can.
Judy Kaye in Phoenix Nov. 1
Judy is coming back to Phoenix on Nov. 1 to perform at the 2014 Heritage Award for the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. AzJHS is honoring Channel 12’s Mark Curtis this year, and Judy will be providing the entertainment, directed by David. The reception begins at 6 pm at the Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N Central Ave. in Phoenix. The program begins at 8 pm. Tickets are available starting at $180, with proceeds going to further the work of AzJHS and the Cutler-Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center. Call 602-241-7870 or visit azjhs.org for more information.
