Judy Kuhn :: Having Career High with 'Fun Home'

Judy Kuhn was genuinely surprised when I'd said I thought she had never been pigeon holed in her theater career, much of it spent on Broadway.

"Really? You think so?" she replied.

In fact, she is on Broadway now performing to standing ovations eight times a week in the Tony-Award winning Best Musical "Fun Home," as the leading character Alison Bechdel's put-upon mother Helen, for which she won her fourth Tony nomination. Granted, she's played the put-upon woman before, such as in the Broadway production of "Chess" for which she received her second Tony nomination. She also played the put-upon wife Matilde Schell to Roger Rees' Anton Schell in the pre-Broadway production of "The Visit" at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer.

Fortunately for Kuhn, her luck is better than that of her hapless characters. All along, she had been contracted to leave the ill-fated Kander & Ebb musical "The Visit" in favor of Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron's wildly successful "Fun Home." Dark and sober, "The Visit" closed in June in less than two months after 61 performances, while "Fun Home" will likely run for years after sweeping the Tony Awards. Kuhn chose well.

But if Kuhn has played a number of similar roles in her career, she has played enough different ones to amass a quite varied repertoire of characters. With her petit build, soulful eyes, and highly trained soprano she has had her share of ing�nue roles. (Her voice is a wonder: she can belt in her chest voice, or provide legitimate coloratura in her head voice upon command.) She created the role of Cosette in the original Broadway production of "Les Miserables," as well as Amalia in the 1993 Broadway revival of "She Loves Me," garnering her other Tony nominations.

But she is also known, especially in her regional theater career, for playing strong and sometimes off-center female roles such as Mirielle in the 1993 Hartford Stage production of "Martin Guerre" (that told the story from her character's point of view), and Steppenwolf's 2000 production of "Ballad of Little Jo," in which she played the titular character: a 19th century woman that moves to Idaho and disguises herself as a man. These roles are as far from Cosette as they are from Helen Bechdel. One would be hard pressed on such an analysis to say Kuhn's career is one note. Please someone revive "The Light in the Piazza," Adam Guettel's musical masterpiece, so Kuhn could bring her emotional depth and soaring soprano to the role of Margaret Johnson, yet another put upon wife, but one who takes charge.

If Kuhn's career has had less than a linear trajectory, it could be due to such misfires as the ill-fated 1991 Stephen Schwartz musical "Rags;" or leaving the Broadway-bound production of "Sunset Boulevard" (where she played Betty Schaefer) after its LA engagement; or departing from "She Loves Me" within months after opening and just shy of the making of the cast recording. And those with long memories of arcane musicals will remember that Kuhn went to London in 1989 to star in a spectacular (and spectacularly bad) musical adaptation of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis." Yet while the show may have been a critical and commercial failure, Kuhn emerged from it with an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical. She became virtually a household word with the under 14 set (and their parents) as the singing voice of the title role in Disney's film "Pocahontas," and then of course there is "Fun Home."

In between, she has won raves as Fosca in two productions of Stephen Sondheim's "Passion," and performed in several major concerts, including "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies," "In Performance at the White House," and "Les Miserables: The Dream Cast in Concert," all of which were telecast on PBS. Boston audiences will remember Kuhn from her sympathetic portrayal of Genevieve in the Overture Concert Production of "The Baker's Wife," where she stopped the show with a deeply felt "Meadowlark."

She can be heard on nearly a dozen cast and concert recordings, and four solo recordings, including her newest recording, released on PS Classics just last month, "Rodgers, Rodgers, & Guettel: the Music of Richard Rodgers, Mary Rodgers, and Adam Guettel." Kuhn spoke to EDGE from her TriBeCa loft in NYC about her career, and her love of Adam Guettel, and what his heritage means to the Broadway of today.

Most fulfilling experience

EDGE: Congratulations on your astounding success with 'Fun Home.' I'm thinking you must be glad you chose that project over continuing with 'The Visit.'

Judy Kuhn: I've done a lot of things in my life, but 'Fun Home' has been the deepest and most fulfilling experience. The way audiences have responded is unique. Prior to 'The Visit,' I had a commitment to be in 'Fun Home.' I've been involved with 'Fun Home' for four years now. The show was written on me, to say nothing of the fact that it was a better part.

EDGE: With such a wide range of parts, you still manage to bring insight and empathy to every character you play. How do you get inside these characters to bring such an authentic and honest voice to them?

Judy Kuhn: My approach depends on the part. With 'Fun Home,' I read the book. I didn't do too much research. I try to imagine the 'what if' of her life. Ultimately, though, I had to do the play that Lisa and Jeanine wrote. It's really getting inside the writing, and getting a little bit of the back-story.

On the other hand, Fosca (from 'Passion') was of a different time and place, and I needed to learn about a 19th century Italian woman, and what was her strange and undefined illness, and what was wrong with her. The only thing I could come up with was a very severe depression. I read William Styron's (author of 'Darkness Visible,' and 'Sophie's Choice') memoirs of his depression, and he described the sensations of what depression felt like, and I applied that to Fosca.

Favorite role?

EDGE: What has been your most extraordinary and/or favorite role to play on stage?

Judy Kuhn: I would say the two we already talked about. Fosca and the show I'm doing right now. Helen isn't the biggest role I've played, but being part of 'Fun Home' is so incredible. To do Fosca twice, in two different productions has been incredible. It is the Hamlet of women's roles. I've been so lucky to have done it twice. I could do it tomorrow and think of many different things I could do with the role.

EDGE: Who have been your strongest influences in your theater and singing career?

Judy Kuhn: Gosh! I don't know if I could say who are my influences. I've had great teachers, rather than influences. I try to learn from all the people I work with. I started my career working with Trevor Nunn. I learned so much about story telling from him. John Doyle was a great teaching director. I learned about asking the right questions. I learned so much from 'Fun Home,' and to work with the way a character is written. I did a production early in my career of 'The Glass Menagerie' with Shirley Knight, and I learned so much in that rehearsal room. I also teach, and I learn a lot from teaching.

EDGE: You had your own connection with Richard Rodgers very early in your career, in fact your first big job. Tell us about that.

Judy Kuhn: My first big paid job was performing in the 1981 National Tour of 'The King and I' starring Yul Brynner. I was a five-month replacement for the Tuptim understudy. That was before we properly got vigilant about having Asian actors playing Asian characters. It was fun to be on the road for five months, I made one very good friend for life, Mary Beth Peil who was Anna. When we got back to NY, then I got cast in ['The Mystery of Edwin] Drood' in NY.

The Rodgers' legacy

EDGE: Let's discuss your new CD. You mention in your liner notes that you became familiar (and enthralled) with Adam Guettel when someone gave you a copy of the original cast recording of 'Floyd Collins' shortly after it opened Off-Broadway. What about his work did you find enthralling?

Judy Kuhn: I just think he's an extraordinary writer. He's a unique original voice: the melodies, the rhythms. That score was so inventive. I found it deeply moving. He writes great lyrics. I was then blown away that he was Richard Rodgers' grandson. I was fascinated by that connection. I knew Mary [Rodgers] a little bit. They were a complicated but fascinating family.

EDGE: Probably not since the Bach family have so many generations of the same family produced such brilliant musical voices. Why is that important to explore in a CD?

Judy Kuhn: It started out as a concert at Lincoln Center in February. I just love the idea of the connections between these three: the generational, familial, genetic connections. Also performing the music of three artists that span a century fascinated me. They are unique but also connected. I pitched it to the American Songbook Concert Series. We got great reviews, and then Tommy Krasker [PS Classics] agreed to do the recording.

Hardest thing

EDGE: Having now carefully analyzed and performed the works of all three generations, where do you see similarities, and where do they most diverge?

Judy Kuhn: Obviously they diverge in terms of the years they lived in. Stylistically, Adam is more adventurous harmonically, and Mary too, than their father/grandfather. One of the reasons we put the 'Floyd Collins' and 'Oklahoma' numbers together, they both explore the American dream, that optimism. Mary Rodgers had the idea for 'The Light in the Piazza' and gave it to Adam for him to adapt to a musical. I love how they influenced each other.

EDGE: How did you find musical director Todd Almond, and when did you decide you wanted to do this project with him?

Judy Kuhn: I love Todd. I've always admired him as an artist. The musical director I worked with on my last CD wasn't available. It's a hard thing finding a great musical director, not just a great musician and great arranger, but someone you can share a room with. I was just having dinner with some friends, and they recommended him, and I thought, 'That is genius!' My instinct told me that it was a great idea, and I asked him if he was free, and it turned out it he was, and that he was also a friend of Adam's. It was like going out on a blind date, when you know you already want to be with the person. The fact that he sings allowed us to add the duets to the recording.

EDGE: Back to theater. What is the most memorable thing to have happened to you in your theater career?

Judy Kuhn: I've been working for over 30 years, so the thing that is most present is 'Fun Home.' The curtain call and ovations on opening night of 'Fun Home' was an overwhelmingly unforgettable moment. It's pretty hard to match the experience that I'm having now.

Judy Kuhn can be seen Tuesday-Sunday in Fun Home at Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 West 50th St, NY, NY. For tickets, visit http://funhomebroadway.com/tickets.php. Kuhn can also be heard on her new recording, Rodgers, Rodgers, & Guettel, released on PS Classics. To purchase, visit http://www.psclassics.com/cd_kuhn2.html or http://www.judykuhn.net.