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Stage star hits Las Vegas with Scrabble past, Broadway resume

Updated February 4, 2025 - 8:19 pm

Scroll down Carolee Carmello’s Wikipedia entry a few lines and you stop at a surprise reference.

I ask her to, um, spell it out.

“You’re talking about Scrabble?” the veteran stage actor says. “Is it a reference to liking the game? Or being on the game show?

“It says, ‘She won $14,000 on an appearance on the Scrabble game show in 1989,’” I recite. “Is that right? This is great. It’s listed before any of your Broadway credits.”

“Well, Wikipedia got it right,” she says. “I didn’t even know that was on my page, but it’s true. I love Scrabble.”

Carmello is lining up the tiles, as it were, as the title character in the national tour of “Kimberly Akimbo,” opening Tuesday and running through Sunday at Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center. The musical comedy tells the story of 16-year-old Kimberly Levaco, suffering a rare (and also fictional) disorder that causes her to age rapidly.

As she suffers from the genetic condition, Kimberly is moving to a new town in New Jersey. Her home is rife with unfamiliar teenagers, as she matures quickly and awkwardly.

Two years ago, the musical adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2001 comedy of the same name won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The production is among the highlights in The Smith Center’s Broadway Las Vegas Series.

Carmello is an expert performer, a three-time Tony nominee and 1999 Drama Desk Award-winner for best actress in a musical for “Parade.” This is her first national tour show since “Hello Dolly” five years ago.

Carmello is in her 60s, but has shown playing 16 is in her wheelhouse.

“Fortunately, it’s really a matter of a few weeks of her life around her 16th birthday, so it wasn’t as if I was aging gradually,” Carmello says. “The challenge was getting into that 16-year-old mindset.”

The company helped Carmello achieve a teenage mood.

“I have a great cast of very young people around me who play my high school friends, and that gives me a lot of inspiration to work off of,” Carmello says. “And I have children that are in their 20s, so their teen years weren’t that long ago. I remember some of that more than I remember my own teenage years (laughs).”

Carmello was attracted to the role largely for what it was not. This production is not a spectacle. It is the quintessential actors studio.

“There are only nine people in the cast, so it’s not, you know, a huge group of people,” Carmello says. “There aren’t big special effects. There are no helicopters or chandeliers. It’s just a really uplifting, funny, touching story that makes you think, and makes you feel.”

In the vernacular of the star’s favorite board game, it’s a Triple Word score.

Femmes plug in

There is a common sentiment among Rush fans that women hate Rush. This is based on a long history of women hating Rush.

But Femmes of Rock? They love Rush. They own Rush.

We caught Nina Di Gregorio’s rocking violin ensemble Saturday night at Myron’s. The band tore through a Rush medley peppered with “YYZ,” “2112,” “Xanadu,” “The Spirit of Radio,” “Tom Sawyer,” and “La Villa Strangiato.”

Rush tribute bands are taxed to play this set. It is remarkable for a string ensemble. I teared up during “La Villa.”

The Femmes added a stretch of Led Zeppelin (“Rain Song,” “Kashmir,” “Immigrant Song,” “Heartbreaker,” “Whole Lotta Love”) and an AC/DC stretch highlighted by “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” a favorite of landscapers across the nation.

That stretch was powered by the vocals of Di Gregorio’s hubby and my longtime buddy, Brody Dolyniuk, founder of Yellow Brick Road who has produced and starred in several Symphonic Rock Shows next door at Reynolds Hall. Dolyniuk’s Zeppelin USA show is booked July 18 at Green Valley Ranch tickets on sale ow; his “80s Symphonic” production is set for Sept. 12 at Reynolds Hall, tickets not yet on sale.

The long play (or, LP) for Femmes of Rock should be a move into Reynolds Hall. This show can (and on the road, does) play far more spacious spaces than Myron’s. No show has rocked harder in that room than Di Gregorio’s production. The Femmes are back for two shows July 12, 6 and 8:30 p.m. Celebrate the spirit of radio, and superior musicianship.

The weekend

Two reliable sell-outs at Myron’s are running back-to-back this weekend.

David Perrico Pop Strings Orchestra: All the Hits” plays 7 p.m. Friday, returning April 19 and June 6. His Pop Symphonic orchestra (68 pieces) is back at Reynolds Hall on Aug. 2. Thirty-two Raiderettes are in the mix. The leader of the Raiders House Band is riding his great Friday night run at Front Yard at Ellis Island during the Raiders’ regular-season schedule.

Saturday at Myron’s, it’s Melody Sweets’ “All My Loving” is 8 p.m Saturday. This is a Valentine’s Day-themed burlesque extravaganza. Limited seating is still available (meaning the number of seats, not the size of the seats).

Joshua Danger of the fab vocal band Mo5aic, and well-known burlesque performers Maude Zoleum and Buttercup are among the guest stars. And, impress your friends, or not, by knowing “All My Loving,” which Sweets has covered, was the first song The Beatles played on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

Cool Hang Alert

Keeping with, and closing with, The Smith Center theme, Spectrum is at Myron’s at 7 p.m. Thursday. This is The Smith Center’s go-to for Motown — and more! Tight harmonies and the choreography is spot-on, all of it backed by Tex Richardson Ensemble. And those sequined-red jackets are everything. Hit TheSmithCenter.com for intel, and fashion tips.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

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