Carolee Carmello

She is a three-time Tony Award nominee and a five-time Drama Desk nominee, winning the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role in Parade.

Carolee Carmello
Carolee Carmello following an appearance on Good Day New York on March 16, 2023 to promote Bad Cinderella on Broadway.
Alma mater	University at Albany, SUNY
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1987–present
Spouse	Gregg Edelman ​ ​ (m. 1995; div. 2015)​
Children	2

 

Carmello graduated from the University at Albany with a degree in business administration.

She won $14,000 on an appearance on the Scrabble game show in 1989.

Carmello made her Broadway debut in a small role in City of Angels and returned to close the show in the role of "Oolie/Donna". She left City of Angels to take the role of Florence in the tour of Chess, from January 1990 to May 1990. She played "Cordelia, the kosher caterer" in the original Broadway company of Falsettos and also played Abigail Adams in the revival of 1776. In the Broadway company of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Carmello was a replacement in the role of "Marguerite St. Just". She originated the role of Lucille Frank in Parade at Lincoln Center, for which she won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (in a tie with Bernadette Peters) and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Next Carmello played "Kate" in the Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate and "Ms. Pennywise" in Urinetown. She starred as "Gabrielle" in Lestat, for which she received nominations for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

She appeared as Donna Sheridan in the long-running hit musical Mamma Mia! several times, joining the show initially in October 2004. She again joined the cast as Donna in September 2006, taking a leave from March 14, 2007, to May 13, 2007, to appear in an early version of Saving Aimee.

Carmello originated the role of Alice Beineke in the musical version of The Addams Family. For this role she was nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.

She took over the role of the Mother Superior from Victoria Clark in the Broadway production of Sister Act on November 19, 2011. In 2012, she played Aimee Semple McPherson on Broadway in the musical Scandalous, for which she received a Drama Desk nomination and a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She performed the role of Mrs. du Maurier in the Broadway musical Finding Neverland from March 2015 through February 2016 and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Carmello appeared in the role of Mae Tuck in the Broadway musical adaptation of Tuck Everlasting at the Broadhurst Theatre, beginning in April 2016. Following Tuck Everlasting's closing in May, she returned to Finding Neverland on July 5, 2016, for the show's last six weeks.

Carmello joined the US national tour of Hello, Dolly, playing Dolly Levi, from September 2019 to its closing in March 2020. In 2023, Carmello played the role of the Stepmother in the Broadway musical Bad Cinderella.

Broadway

Sources: Playbill, BroadwayWorld

National tours

• Big River as Mary Jane Wilkes (1987)
• Les Misérables as Ensemble, u/s Cosette & u/s Fantine (1987)
• Falsettos as Trina (1993)
• Chess as Florence (January 1990-May 1990)
• Hello, Dolly! as Dolly Gallagher Levi (September 2019-March 2020)

Regional

• Grease as Sandy at Pittsburgh C.L.O., 1989
• Bells are Ringing Reprise! as Ella at Freud Playhouse (Los Angeles), 1999
• The King and I as Anna at Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, New Jersey), 2002
• On The Twentieth Century Reprise! as Lily Garland at Freud Playhouse (Los Angeles), 2003
• Baby as Arlene at Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, New Jersey) 2004
• Saving Aimee at Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia), 2007
• Little Shop of Horrors at Charles Playhouse (Boston)
• Scandalous at Pavilion Theatre (Glasgow)
• The Music Man at Schenectady Light Opera (Schenectady, New York)
• Tuck Everlasting at Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, Georgia), 2015
• Gypsy at Broadway Sacramento, 2018
• Sweeney Todd as Mrs. Lovett at Opera Saratoga (Saratoga Springs, New York), 2022
• Into the Woods as The Witch at Pittsburgh C.L.O., 2023

Off-Broadway

Sources: Internet Off-Broadway Database, BroadwayWorld

• I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1991)
• Hello Again (1993)
• Das Barbecu (1994)
• John & Jen (1995)
• A Class Act (2000)
• The Vagina Monologues (2000)
• Elegies (2003)
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2017) as Mrs. Nellie Lovett

Concerts

• Funny Girl (Actors Fund Benefit Concert), 2002
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater as Sylvia Rosewater (Cooper Union), 2003
• Showboat as Julie (Carnegie Hall), 2008
• 1776 (54 Below), 2017

Source: Playbill

Awards and nominations

She is divorced from fellow actor Gregg Edelman. They have two children. She resides in Leonia, New Jersey.