NR: Do you think it's easier or harder that both you and Gregg are actors?

CC: Oh...it's both. It's easier because we understand what each of us is going through and if there are jobs that he doesn't get, I know exactly how devastated he is. Right now, we're on the same schedule. I know other couples where one of them is an actor and one of them is an accountant or something like that, and they don't have as much trouble with childcare but they never see each other. One is working all day and then they switch off. They get to say, "Good-bye. I'll see you tomorrow." It's easier for us because we get to spend time together, but it's also harder because this business is so precarious and you can never plan anything. You can never say, "OK, I've reached a certain level and now I'm sure I'll have a job in the next few months and we won't have to worry about where the next paycheck is coming from" because you always do. My husband's been nominated for three Tony awards and he's pretty well established as far as theater goes, and yet he went a good nine or ten months last year not working.

NR: Would you encourage your daughter to be an actress?

CC: I would not encourage her, but I know how it is to want to do something, so I'd let her do it. Hopefully she'll want to do something else.

NR: What do you think? Do you think she may be interested? I know it's hard to tell if she's that young.

CC: She's very theatrical but it may also be because she sees us do it all the time. She's never done anything on her own yet. She's never performed, but she's backstage all the time. She's traveled with us and she sits in rehearsals sometimes.

NR: How about the two of you? Have you performed together often?

CC: Yeah, actually we've had quite a few opportunities, before and after we were married. We met doing a show. We met at City of Angels but we didn't really know each other because he was the lead and I was in the chorus. Then we did a show together up at Goodspeed - a musical of the movie Arthur, the Dudley Moore movie.

NR: (incredulous) That was a musical?

CC: (laughing) Yeah. It was really good actually. It never made it into town but it was a really good show. We did that show together. We did Falsettos together on the road. We did 1776 on Broadway last year.

NR: Do you like working together, or is it a little too much time together?

CC: I like it, but I think there is something to be said for having your separate time. It's great because whenever we're working together we know we're on the same schedule, which doesn't always happen. We also know that we both have a paycheck so it's always nice when we're both working. (laughs) Yeah, I do like working with him. He's really fun to be with.

NR: You have a huge fan base that follows you.

CC: Really?

NR: I don't know if you're ever reading on the Internet...

CC: Never.

NR: Parade has a tremendous fan base on the Internet. A lot of them came to this show to see you. You didn't know that?

CC: No. I have so little time when I get home. Sometimes my husband will go and check his stocks or something on the Internet, but I so rarely go on the computer unless I'm playing a Disney game with my daughter. I never have time to do it. I've had a couple people tell me that they've done websites of me and I haven't even had a chance to look at them all.

NR: I was wondering if that prepared you for the League.

CC: Not at all. I have to say that the fans for this show are unlike anything that I've ever experienced in any other show. Of course, I wasn't in Jekyll & Hyde, and the first I experienced it was in Texas because I had never performed the show in front of an audience before. People were coming from all over the country to Dallas and Houston, saying things like, "We came from Ohio. We had to see the show." I would look at them and say (disbelieving), "You flew all the way from Ohio - to see the show?" There were a lot of people who did that. Some said they had flown down from Boston, and I said, "The show's going to be in New York in a month!" They said, "We couldn't wait. We had to see it." It was amazing. They were so enthusiastic and so passionate about the show, so crazy about it. It's great because when you're on stage you can really feel that. It's so nice to be in a show that people really respond to.

NR: What do you do when you're not working?

CC: Chase my daughter around. Let me see, what else do I do? It's mostly about my daughter because these are kind of long hours, especially on a two show day. When I'm home I try to spend time with her when I can. She's a great kid so I don't like to do too many other things. But I did get to sing for the First Lady on Monday. That was exciting. It was really cool. That's the perk of being in a business like this.

NR: What roles would you still like to play?

CC: The one that I finally did get to play right before I came here, (which I would love to do again) is Ella in Bells Are Ringing. (Note: Carolee won the L.A. Ovation Award for Best Actress in this role.) It was so much fun and I would love to do it again. Those things are short and it was only three weeks. I would do anything to do that show again. The other one that I always, always wanted to do, but I'm probably too old for it now, is My Fair Lady. I just feel like it's kind of passed me now unless I do it in some out of the way theater somewhere where they figure that they would give me the chance. It's just one of those parts when you're growing up you just say, "Oh, I want to play that part."

NR: Well, maybe there's someone out there who would love to offer it to you. Thank you so much.

CC: You're welcome.

Underneath it all, I suppose Carolee is just a "working mom" like many of the rest of us. OK, she's a working mom who gets standing ovations, but a working mom nonetheless. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with her and I love to see her perform. I wish her the best of luck in the future, and I think the business world's loss was most definitely our gain.

Questions suggested by:

Shanda, Andrew Reith, Jaime, Renee Girard, Jessica Parker, Nathan R. Brainard, Farin, Catherine, Wendy Gibb, Alejandro Luciani, karen k., Will, Erin White, Chris Miller, CJL, Kiersten Scarpati, Dee Koudsi, Bec Finkelstein, Jan Combopiano

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.