Broadway legend shifts gears for Theatre Aspen

Get your tickets and plan your seats soon because Broadway legend Judy Kaye is coming to town for a limited run of “Driving Miss Daisy” June 12-28 during Theatre Aspen’s 42nd summer season. It’s bound to sell out.

Alfred Uhry’s Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Driving Miss Daisy” is a heartwarming story set in the Deep South in 1948, on the brink of the Civil Rights Movement. It follows the humorous and often challenging friendship between two unlikely companions over 25 years crossing race, class, and time.

Performing in plays is a bit of a twist for Kaye, 76, who is known for her three-octave singing range and vocal ability. This time, along with her costars, Bernard Dotson and Jim Poulus — it’s the spoken words that pack the punch in this meaningful production directed by Tony nominee Hunter Foster. 

“It was never on my radar before because I have pretty much spent my life doing musical theater,” Kaye said. “The last couple of years it’s been decided I can do plays. So people are offering me plays, and I am just adoring it.”

“Driving Miss Daisy rehearsals are going by quickly,” Kaye said about having only two weeks to practice before opening night in Aspen — rehearsing six days a week in Manhattan.

Kaye added that everyone’s having a good time with the wonderful play.

“I love Alfred Uhry’s writing,” Kaye said. “I loved seeing his work, but I have never sat down and read his work because I have never been asked to do it. It’s an extraordinary piece of writing.”

Kaye noted that not every script has been a gem, but actors hold the gift to elevate the material.

“I have always believed actors are actually the best people on earth,” Kaye said. “We can take dross and turn it into gold.”

Kaye’s career began at 18 and has since starred in dozens of musicals. Among the memorable: She played Betty Rizzo in the first national touring company of Grease opposite John Travolta as Doody in 1973. She took on iconic roles as Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd,” Carlotta in “The Phantom of the Opera,” and Madame Morrible in “Wicked.” The most physically demanding role of her career was the high-energy character Rosie in “Mamma Mia.”

Most recently, Kaye appeared in the play “Babbitt,” based on the Sinclair Lewis novel, alongside Matthew Broderick in Washington in October 2024.

Kaye has a long history with her “Driving Miss Daisy” co-stars, saying, “I feel like I’ve known them all of my life.”

“We go back to the 90s together,” Kaye said of Dotson. They worked together in “Ragtime” in Los Angeles and New York, and they performed in “Sousatzka” in Toronto. 

Kaye worked with Jim Poulus in London for several months on “Paradise Found,” created by Harold Prince — an experience she calls “extraordinary.”

“This is a lovely reunion with Jim, who is a delicious, really, really good actor, and Bernard, who can seemingly do anything. He’s a musical theatre puppy too, and he’s going to be a wonderful Hoke,” Kaye said.

“It’s also a really cool experience to work with Hunter, who has become an icon in the theatre,” Kaye added of the musical actor turned director.

Kaye’s passion for the theater never fades. “We’d all be doing this for free — if we weren’t lucky enough to get paid for it. We would be amateur actors if we hadn’t made it in this business.” 

After the Aspen run ends June 28, Kaye will return to a farm she owns in upstate New York to tend her vegetable garden.