Judy Kaye Replaces Jayne Houdyshell in Carnegie Hall's All-Star GUYS AND DOLLS Concert

Carnegie Hall today announced that two-time Tony Award winner Judy Kaye will now play the role of General Matilda B. Cartwright, replacing previously announced actress Jayne Houdyshell, for its gala benefit performance of Guys and Dolls on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Kaye's career highlights include Tony Awards for her performances as Best Featured Actress in a Musical in The Phantom of the Opera and Nice Work If You Can Get It and Tony Award nominations for her roles in Mamma Mia! and Souvenir.

Kaye joins previously announced cast members Nathan Lane as Nathan Detroit; Patrick Wilson as Sky Masterson; Sierra Boggess as Sarah Brown; Megan Mullally as Miss Adelaide; John Bolton as Angie the Ox; Robert Clohessy as Lieutenant Brannigan; Colman Domingo as Rusty Charlie; John Treacy Egan as Nicely-Nicely Johnson; Christopher Fitzgerald as Benny Southstreet; Steve Schirripa as Big Jule; Lee Wilkof as Harry the Horse; and Len Cariou as Arvide Abernathy.

Three-time Tony Award-winning director Jack O'Brien (Hairspray, The Nance, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) directs the concert production, collaborating with Rob Fisher (The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall and founding music director of Encores! and Anything Goes and Chicago) as music director conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's and choreographer Joshua Bergasse (NBC's SMASH). Additional creative personnel include costume consultant William Ivey Long, lighting designer Alan Adelman, projections designer Wendall K. Harrington, and sound designer Nevin Steinberg, with casting by Telsey + Company. The musical is presented with full orchestra, cast, and ensemble, and is a gala benefit, providing support for the wide-ranging music education programs of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.

This Guys and Dolls benefit evening is sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP with corporate chair Stephen R. Howe, Jr. and co-chaired by Leni and Peter May and Nelle Nugent and Jolyon Stern. Benefit tickets start at $1,000 and include the best possible concert seating as well as admission to a festive after party at Remi Restaurant with members of the cast. For a more complete evening, a VIP pre-concert dinner at Carnegie Hall is also available to table buyers at the $15,000 level and above. Benefit tickets are available by calling Carnegie Hall's Special Events office at 212-903-9679 or online at carnegiehall.org/guysanddolls. Benefit Table availability is limited. All proceeds from the event will support Carnegie Hall's artistic and education programs.

A limited number of concert-only tickets, priced $40-$120, can be purchased at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at carnegiehall.org/guysanddolls.

With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, Guys and Dolls has remained a perennial favorite in the American musical theater canon. The musical is an adaptation of short stories by Damon Runyon and paints a picture of 1930s New York City, focusing on gamblers Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit, missionary Sarah Brown, and nightclub dancer Miss Adelaide. The score includes favorites such as a "A Bushel and a Peck," "Luck Be A Lady," "Take Back Your Mink," "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat," and "If I Were A Bell." Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950 and was subsequently revived in 1976, 1992, and, most recently, in 2009.

Carnegie Hall's concert presentations of favorite musicals in recent years have included Rodgers and Hammerstein's works The Sound of Music with Laura Osnes and Tony Goldwyn (2011), South Pacific with Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell (2005), and Carousel with Hugh Jackman and Audra McDonald (2002), as well as Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat with Nathan Gunn, Carolee Carmello, Marilyn Horne, and Alvy Powell (2008).

Photo by Jennifer Broski