Carolee Carmello Thought She Was Going to Retire. The Theatre Had Other Plans

Carolee Carmello has more than earned her position as one of musical theatres most consistent talents. A three-time Tony nominee, Carmello has carved a niche for herself as an ever reliable industry favorite, portraying a variety of iconic roles across the country. From Donna Sheridan to Dolly Levi, she has left her mark on some of Broadway’s most iconic leading lady roles, while also originating roles in some of the most talked about cult classics in recent memory.

“I think one of my reviews for Bad Cinderella said something like ‘Carolee Carmello has more flops than there are posters at Joe Allen’s’,” Carmello laughs, her voice warm. “I feel very lucky to have done them all. You know, so few people get to have a career where they make a living doing musical theatre. I feel very fortunate to be able to look back on all those experiences.”

As she prepares to open a new revival of Maury Yeston’s Nine at the Kennedy Center and return to the touring circuit with Kimberly Akimbo on the horizon, she’s filled with gratitude.

“There were times that I thought, ‘Well, I guess I’m retired now,’” Carmello confesses, referring to the pandemic shutdown that prematurely ended her tenure in the Hello, Dolly! national tour. “I was about to be 60, coming out of the pandemic. I was at that age where you kind of go, ‘Is this my time to go? Is it time to hang up my character shoes and go quietly into a nice community for over 50 year olds, and enjoy the pool and the tennis courts?’” 

Not so, since the 1776 revival and then Bad Cinderella came right after the pandemic, and now these next two roles. Remarks Carmello, “It’s like this is a surprise tag onto what I thought was the end of my career.”

Running August 2–11, Andy Blankenbuehler’s reimagining of Nine offers Carmello a chance to return to her onstage beginnings, albeit in a wiser capacity. Carmello first appeared in the lush musical in 1985, starring as the “most properly improper” Carla in a production at Elmsford’s An Evening Dinner Theater. Carla is the mistress of the show’s married narrator Guido, who in the midst of a creative block, revisits his relationship to the pivotal women in his life.

“That production certainly had an impact!” Carmello shares. The show marked her first notice in the New York Times, but its biggest impact had to be “on my hair color. It was the first time I dyed my hair red. They didn’t have money for a wig, but because of Anita Morris, having played the part with her amazing red hair, they asked me to dye mine. I was a dirty blonde at the time, and I just loved the red, and I have kept it for all these years, except for when I was pregnant.”

Thirty-nine years later, Carmello has graduated to the role of Liliane La Fleur, the former vedette of the Folies Bergère and Guido’s producer who insists he make a musical. Stepping into the role of the French artist has allowed her to engage parts of herself that were set aside as her performance career took off.

“It engages a different side of my personality,” enthuses Carmello. “I went to college for business administration and French, and she hits both of those things sort of square on the nose: she’s a businesswoman, and she’s French. And she’s got this great song with lots of panache.”

That song, “Folies Bergères,” is a joyous stand-out of the score, draped in rose-tinted exuberance and some divinely decadent costumes, teases Carmello. “My French has gotten a little more confident every day, and I started stretching that muscle…I went on a Playbill Cruise back in May. I had never been on a river cruise before, and we went from Paris to Normandy, visiting all these beautiful little French villages along the way. It was just great, and the perfect prep.”

While Nine’s run will be brief, as is traditional at the Kennedy Center, Carmello won’t be far from the public eye for long. She’s newly announced as the star of Kimberly Akimbo’s national tour, set to begin performances in September. There, she plays a 16-year-old teenager named Kimberly Levaco, who has a medical condition which causes her to age at a rapid rate.

“I’m really excited about it,” Carmello gushes shortly before going to Nine’s sitzprobe rehearsal. “It’s certainly very different from what I’m doing in Nine! Kimberly’s vulnerability, and her hopefulness in the face of some dire situations…I just love the awkwardness. I’ve had two teenagers, and sometimes those parts of life in the middle of high school can be hard and challenging. I think it’s a really hard time to go through, and I’m looking forward to bringing some attention to that time, and hopefully letting her humanity shine. She’s a very complex human, and those are the best kinds to play.”

When Carmello was announced as the tour’s leading lady, some were pleasantly surprised; the role of Kimberly Levaco was originated by Victoria Clark (who earned her second Tony for the role). Clark’s high-toned soprano is not a one-to-one comparison to Carmello’s warm mezzo-soprano. For Carmello’s longtime fans, however, it is yet another callback to an early highpoint in her career.

“We’re not going to change any keys or anything,” Carmello shares. “When I took over in the Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate from Marin Mazzie, people said, ‘Oh, they changed the keys for you’. No, they didn’t change any of the keys. It just sounds different, because I have a different ping to my voice.”

As she begins performances in Nine, with Kimberly Akimbo rehearsals just on the horizon, Carmello can’t help but linger in her gratitude.

“I feel very lucky that I can play two roles that are so very different, and to do it back to back like this. That’s the dream come true for an actor, to have lots of challenges in different directions, and be able to use all the different parts of your soul and your personality. I’m really excited about both of these things, in very different ways. One’s in sequins and feathers, and the other one is in jeans and flannel shirts. And they’re equally exciting, and authentic to who I am.”

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Photos: Kennedy Center’s Nine Meets The Press