Carolee Carmello Interview

Robbie Rozelle: Welcome to the stage door, Carolee. How're things in Urinetown?

Carolee Carmello: Good... it's really fun, and it's a really nice group of people. All the things you want at a workplace. You know, it's a very silly show...

RR: I'm looking forward to seeing you in it.

CC: Aww, thanks. Have you seen it before?

RR: No, I haven't. I've been waiting for a reason, and you're a reason.

CC: Well, thanks. It's very witty, and that's what I like about it. And it's so nice to do a show where you can get laughs, because I don't always get hired to do that, so it's a nice change.

RR: Let's start at the beginning... did you attend a lot of theatre growing up?

CC: No. I grew up in Albany, NY. I think the first Broadway show I saw was when I was in college. I went to school up in Albany, too, and I made a trip one Saturday with a couple girlfriends down to New York and we saw a show, but it wasn't part of my upbringing at all.

RR: I know you have degrees in Business and French.

CC: Yeah, I went to college for business, because I really had no intention of pursuing an acting career. I don't think I really knew that there was a possibility of that.

RR: How did theatre become such a major force in your life?

CC: It just sort of snuck in the back door. I was doing a couple of community theatre shows when I was in college. I really didn't do much theatre before college. The theatre that I did do in college was really just a hobby. It wasn't even part of the university program, but there were some community theatres in town. I got involved in a couple of different productions in my spare time. During one production of The Music Man, when I was a senior in college, I met up with a producer of a local dinner theatre. He offered me a job for the summer after I graduated from college. I decided to do it, because I wasn't sure which direction I was headed in after that. I was sort of faced with a decision at that point, because the theatre where he offered me the job was offering an Equity contract. At the time I didn't even know what Actor's Equity was. This producer explained to me that I really had to join this actor's union if I want to do this professionally. And if I didn't want to do this professionally, and just keep on doing what I'm doing what I've been doing through college, then I really shouldn't join this union, because I wouldn't be allowed to do community theatre anymore. So I stood there on the telephone in my mother's living room going, "Huh. Professionally. I never thought of that." I think it was really a matter of getting it out of my system. I was telling myself, "If you don't do this now, you'll always wonder what would have happened, and you'll feel like you didn't pursue all the avenues that were in front of you." So I decided to do that for the summer, and then see what would happen. After the summer, when I had my Equity card, I decided to move to New York and see what would happen. I gave myself a time limit, to see if I could get jobs. I was sure it wasn't going to happen. I just felt like it was a long shot, but I needed to prove to myself that it wasn't in the cards for me before I moved on to something else. So I stayed in New York for a little while, and I got little jobs. Every time I was about to give up and go back to law school or whatever, I would seem to get another job that would coax me back in. That happened for years, until one day I realized, "Ok, I guess I'm really doing this as a profession now. There's no turning back." It wasn't that long ago, really, when I made that decision. Maybe ten years ago, I went back and took the placement exams for graduate school, because I thought, "I'm tired of waiting around for these jobs." So I was going to go back and get my MBA. So I took the tests, and of course another job came along, and I said, "Oh, ok, I'll go out on tour."

RR: And you are now the hardest working woman in musical theatre. You are in everything!

CC: Thank you for saying that! I do feel like I do a lot of juggling between here and home, but the work is not that hard. It's the home life that's a little harder. I have this little cut-out from a magazine on my dressing room mirror. My husband bought me a subscription to "Working Mother Magazine. It's some quote from some woman in the film industry, who says, "I went back to work after my baby was born and I realized that it was like a vacation because it was so much easier than what I was doing at home with a small child." And that's really how it is, for me, because I go to work, and I'm really just playing. It's dress-up and it's playtime. We make each other laugh, it's really pretty easy. Then I go home, and the work really starts.

RR: Now, Elegies was not your first William Finn project... There are four by my count.

CC: That sounds right.

RR: You were in the original Broadway cast of Falsettos, and you toured with the show as well. How did you and Bill cross paths?

CC: I wasn't the original, original. Janet Metz played the part downtown. When they moved to Broadway, Janet wasn't available. We met when I auditioned for him. I went in and did my Janet Metz impersonation. Luckily, they bought it and I got the job. That was the beginning of an admiration fest for me, because I just think Bill is so unique and so talented, all those things you want in a composer. Whenever he calls, or whenever he's doing something, I try to do it, because I think he's such an interesting writer.

RR: Which is how you got involved with Infinite Joy?

CC: Yeah. He just called and said, "We're doing these songs of mine at Joe's Pub, would you do it." And I said, "Sure. I'll be eight months pregnant."

RR: I don't know how you didn't throw yourself into labor hitting some of those notes you hit at the end of those songs.

CC: It's hard to breathe when you're that far along...

RR: I've seen you twice in shows when you were pregnant, and I just think "Oh my god, how is she doing that?"

CC: The hardest thing is the breathing, because when you're singing, you need to get as full a breath as you can sometimes. You really can't do that when you're pregnant, because there's no room. You're body pushes everything out of the way for that baby. So, yeah, that's the hardest part.

RR: You've also been heavily involved with the workshops of The Royal Family of Broadway.

CC: Yes. I did a reading and a workshop of that. I really enjoyed it, but I don't know what's happening with it now. I wasn't in the last version of it, but I think they were having some problems with the rights to it.

RR: It's a marvelous score, at least what I've heard of it.

CC: I think it is too. It's a great score, and it's based on a great play. It's a really fun show. I don't know exactly where they stand in all their battles, but I hope they get to do it sometime, because I really enjoyed it.

RR: What did you think when William Finn said to you, "Listen, I'm doing this song cycle called Elegies, which is eulogies for all my friends..."

CC: Well, at the time he called, it wasn't called Elegies... I think it was just called "William Finn Song Cycle" or something. It didn't have any shape really. He called about a year ago and said, "We're going to do this reading... would you do it?" And of course, if I'm available, I'll do whatever he says. He didn't really tell me what it was about. He said they were some songs he had written after September 11. At the time, it was fresh in all of our memories. I thought that would be really interesting and timely, so I said, "Sure. What time do you want me to be there?" I did the reading, and it was almost a year later they decided to do it at Lincoln Center. I already knew what I was getting into that point. It still wasn't called Elegies... I think they changed the name halfway through rehearsals.

RR: It's one of the few shows that I really wanted to see and just couldn't.

CC: Luckily, it got recorded. It was touch and go for awhile. I'm so glad that Fynsworth Alley stepped in, because there were really some beautiful songs. Not that many people could see it, because it wasn't performed that many times. Even with full houses every time, it just wasn't many people. I think the recording will do well for people like you, and fans of William Finn, and Betty Buckley, and Michael Rupert... People will just enjoy it.

RR: And your fans. You have a huge fan base. Trust me. I thought it would be fun for our readers to see some of the other cd’s you are on our label, with your thoughts on the songs or shows... The first one I come across is "The Memory Of Tonight" from Arthur, appears on Unsung Musicals 2... you sing it with your husband and co-star Greg Eddelmen.

CC: Yeah. I think he's pretty great. That was the show that we started our relationship on. That song has amazing nostalgia for both of us. It really is a song about falling in love, and that's what we did during that show. When we had a chance to record it, we were really excited about it. The show had been done so many years before that. We didn't think any of that music would ever get recorded. That's another score that I really loved that never panned out. It was so much fun to sing it, and to sing it with him.

RR: You also sing with Gregg on "Evensong," which was cut from The Mystery of Edwin Drood, is on Lost In Boston...

CC: That was a long time ago. I think that was the first one I ever did.

RR: It's written by your pal Rupert Holmes, who wrote "Remember WENN."

CC: I didn't really know him at the time. That was before "Remember WENN." He's the sweetest man ever on the face of the earth.

RR: He's doing a musical version of "Remember WENN."

CC: That's what he says. I don't know what state it is in right now. Last time I talked to him, he said he had sort of kernels of ideas, but he hadn't put anything on paper. So I don't know where it is right now. It seems like a good idea, a musical version of Remember WENN.

RR: It's a great show. You sing a sizzling "Night and Day" on Cole Porter: A Musical Toast.

CC: I forgot you guys did that. Live recordings are so scary. I think we did two performances of that show. I don't know if they recorded both of them, and just picked their favorite, or if they just did one. To pick something from a live... it's never really perfect. It's live... things never sound quite the way you wanted them to sound. It's always so scary to me. That and Infinite Joy were both scary for me.

RR: You got really lucky.

CC: Yeah, I guess so. I have to say I listened to "Night and Day" once after they sent me the recording, and I kind of cringed at a couple of the notes. I don't think I've listened to it since. It's a great arrangement.

RR: It's a killer arrangement!

CC: They did a great job.

RR: You are also on two cast albums... Das Barbecu, and of course, john & jen, which Fynsworth Alley just reissued.

CC: I heard about that! Someone just ran into me yesterday and said there was a new cover, and new notes. I'd love to see it.

RR: We'll have to send you a copy. How did you become involved with that project?

CC: That was one of those shows that I was involved with from the beginning. 1995, I think. Gosh, you know... I probably just auditioned for it. I can't even remember. The first time I did it was at a little theatre that Goodspeed runs. I guess I just auditioned for it back then, or maybe Gabe asked me to do it. I really don't recall. After that there were several other readings and different versions of it. When they finally got around to doing the production off-Broadway, I was pregnant. Gabe called me and said, "Guess what! We're putting this production together, and we'd love to you do it!" And I said, "Oh no! I just got pregnant!" He said, "Oh no! Maybe we can work it out anyway!" They were nice enough to try to accommodate my pregnancy, knowing that I wouldn't be able to last very long, because there's only so long that you can hide it. It's not the kind of show where, you know... like Urinetown, they had Megan Lawrence's pregnancy that they just wrote into the show. They couldn't really do that in john & jen.

RR: There's a lot of music that got left off the recording. I revisited the show a few years ago in Ithaca (with Urban Cowboy's Matt Cavenaugh), and was surprised to see how much was left off.

CC: I didn't even remember that. When I did the album... I still call them albums... my daughter was three weeks old. I remember going to the recording studio going "Oh my god. Just get me through this day, because it's gonna be really bad." My husband came, I was breastfeeding. He came to the recording session with me and held the baby in the other room, and every time I had to nurse, they would take a break, or record one of Jim's songs. I remember all the different people were holding her and trying to calm her down, because she was kind of a fussy baby. All sorts of people were running in trying to rescue her. That was a rough day, having just given birth a few weeks before. I don't recommend it.

RR: It's been several years since Parade, the musical that elevated you to musical theatre star, closed. Looking back on that show, what are your thoughts?

CC: It's still one of the greatest scores that I've ever had the privilege to sing. I still have memories of the first time hearing some of that stuff, when I was in Philadelphia. The first reading we did, at the now Hal Prince theatre. That was before it was renamed. I just remember all of us sitting in this little rehearsal room, and I kept sort of looking to the left of me, and the right of me, to see if anyone else was feeling like I was, which was kind of overwhelmed at how good the score was. You do so many of these readings, and ninety percent of them don't go anywhere. The one's that do sometimes are not the greatest either, but get produced for whatever reason. This was one of those ones that I thought, "Oh my god, I really think if nothing happens to this, I don't know anything about musical theatre." Because it was really good. Every time there was a new reading of it, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved in it. It was just a great experience. The only bad part of it at all was that it closed before I wanted it to. That was really frustrating.

RR: I saw it in it's closing week, crying all through it. Then, I threw my remote at the TV when you were robbed of your Tony award.

CC: (laughs) That's sweet of you.

RR: What are your memories of A Class Act? I have read that the show was fraught with tension, because the director, Lonny Price, was also the writer and star.

CC: It was a little tough. I've never done that. I've never been involved in a show where I was acting onstage with the director. It's very stressful. He wouldn't be able to participate in the rehearsal, because he had to watch it. So the understudy would do the rehearsal, and he would watch, and you would get notes. He had to step in, and had to figure it out with a new actor. It was difficult. I think Lonny is really talented. I just think it's a very fine line to walk, to be in a show that you are directing. I know people do it with movies and other things... I can't imagine. It's hard enough for me to do one job, let alone jump back and forth. I know it wasn't Lonny's first choice, because they had tried to cast it. Even while we were rehearsing it, they were still trying to cast it. The first week of rehearsal. It was only after that first week that he said, "Ok, I'm just gonna do it, because we're not finding what we're looking for, and I want this show to get done." So, it was very strange. Yeah, there was some tension. It was an interesting project.

RR: I have two more questions for you, and then you can run off and get into costume. Now, I know you told my pal Andrew Gans that there was no solo album in the works, but I seem to recall a duets album with your husband, set for the JAY label. What happened to that?

CC: We were in the planning stages. We signed a contract with him. I suppose someday we'll do it. The problem is, right after that, I got pregnant with my second child. When you have two kids, and you're both trying to work, and run a family and a career... there just aren't enough hours in the day. Now, for the last six months, we've been trying to do a house renovation as well. So any extra moments that we have are always devoted to that. It just takes a lot of time to put together a cd. I don't just want to do it just to do it. I want to do a nice job, and pick songs that I'll feel good about in ten years. Because it's so permanent. It's not like doing a concert, where you can throw the good in with the bad, and you know the whole evening will be entertaining for what it is. When it's recorded, it just seems like it has to be better than that. It has to be thought out, it has to have some kind of thru-line. We have good ideas for what we wanted to do, it just got sidetracked because of our second child. I'm sure someday we'll get back to it. We haven't worked on it in a long time. I'm sorry. People always yell at me, "Why aren't you doing an album?"

RR: We all want it. We're all wearing out our bootlegs. Final question: You've done several revivals, and replaced people in shows. If you could have any musical revival fashioned around you, what show would it be, and why?

CC: Hmmmm... Gosh. It's so hard, because the one I really, really wanted to do has already happened, so it's never going to happen again. I really was dying to do Bells Are Ringing. That's one of those shows you can't do more than one in twenty years. So the next time it comes around... it ain't gonna be me. Gosh, you know... I don't know. In my dream of dreams, I'd love to do Evita or something like that. But that's never gonna happen. Because if they ever do it, they'll do it with a TV star. That's what happens these days. That's the frustrating thing about being in musical theatre right now. It used to be the sort of last holdout for just casting the right person in the right role. But now it's not. Now it's, "How many TV shows have you done?" and whether you have a series running.

RR: Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to seeing you in Urinetown.

CC: I hope you enjoy it. I think you will. It's very funny.

RR: I'm sure I will. And I look forward to hearing Elegies.

CC: Thank you. I hope it turns out alright.

RR: I'm sure it will. Have a great show.

CC: Thanks. See you soon!

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