Happy Birthday to four-time Tony nominee Judy Kuhn, born May 20, 1958, in New York. She grew up in Bethesda, Md., where she became interested in performing after seeing her first show at Adventure Theater. After graduating from Georgetown Day School, Kuhn studied voice at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1981. She appeared in the Off-Off-Broadway musical Pearls (1985) and made her Off-Broadway debut one month later in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, as understudy for the title role, subsequently making her Broadway debut with the show later in the year.
In 1986, she starred in Rags, which ran for only four performances on Broadway but earned Kuhn her first Drama Desk nomination. Below are Kuhn with Dick Latessa performing “Rags” and at the 1987 Tonys. Six months later, she was playing Cosette in the Broadway premiere of Les Misérables, which brought her another Drama Desk nod and her first Tony nomination. Below are Kuhn and the cast in a medley at the 1987 Tonys.
In 1988, Kuhn earned her second Tony and third Drama Desk nominations for the Broadway premiere of Chess. Below is the press reel from the show. The following year, she received an Olivier nomination for the West End premiere of Metropolis. Below are Graham Bickley and Kuhn performing “It’s Only Love” and “Bring on the Night” for a British TV morning show.
In 1993, Kuhn starred in the U.S. premiere of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles but didn’t move to New York with the show. Instead, she was back on Broadway later that year as Amalia in Roundabout’s revival of She Loves Me, which brought Kuhn her third Tony nomination. Below is the press reel from the show. She made her film debut in 1995 as the voice of the title role in Disney’s Pocahontas. Below is Kuhn singing the Oscar- and Grammy-winning song “Colors of the Wind.”
She ended the Nineties with roles in the Off-Broadway musicals As Thousands Cheer (1998) and Dream True (1999), and began the next decade with a Jeff award-winning performance in the title role of The Ballad of Little Jo (2000) in Chicago. The following year, Kuhn starred in the Off-Broadway musical Eli’s Comin’ (2001), for which she won an Obie Award. Below are clips of the show (starting at 8:40) in a Vineyard Theatre documentary. In 2002, she starred as Fanny Brice in a Broadway concert version of Funny Girl. Below is Kuhn singing “Who Are You Now?”
After voicing Princess Ting Ting in Disney’s Mulan II (2004), Kuhn returned to Broadway in the 2006 revival of Les Misérables, this time as Fantine. In 2013, she earned a Drama League nomination as Fosca in the Off-Broadway revival of Passion. Below is Kuhn singing “Loving You.” She was back Off-Broadway in Fun Home (2015), which soon transferred to Broadway. For her role as Helen, Kuhn received the Lortel Award, her first Grammy nomination, and her fourth Tony nomination. Below is Kuhn with Alexandra Socha performing “Days and Days.”
https://youtu.be/9wuF7LUa3ec
In 2015, Kuhn played Golde in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof and reprised the role in the 2018 London revival, for which she earned her second Olivier nomination. Other recent work includes the 2020 digital special Take Me to the World and the upcoming Off-Broadway revival of Assassins.