Carolee Carmello Completes Cast of GHOSTLIGHT Reading, Set for 12/2 at New 42nd Street Studios

Three-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello (Parade, Mamma Mia!, "Smash") completes the star-studded cast of the highly anticipated industry reading of Tim Realbuto and Matthew Martin's musical Ghostlight, which had a sold-out and extended run at The Signature Theatre as part of NYMF 2011. The invite-only reading of the revamped version will take place on Monday, December 2nd at the famed New 42nd Street Studios in Times Square.

Carmello will play the role of Ziegfeld's wife Billie Burke, who is most known for playing Glinda the Good in the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Carmello joins previously announced "That's So Raven" star Anneliese Van Der Pol (Beauty and the Beast; Vanities; Vampires Suck) as Olive Thomas; Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll and Hyde; Les Miserables; Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark) as Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.; Rachel Bay Jones (Pippin; Hair; Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) as Molly Cook; Kimberly Faye Greenberg (One Night With Fanny Brice; Danny and Sylvia; Ghostlight at NYMF) reprising her role of Fanny Brice; Trevor McQueen (Annie Get Your Gun; 'S Wonderful; A Boy With Dreams) as Jack Pickford; and Jennifer Hope Wills (The Phantom of the Opera; Wonderful Town; The Woman in White) as Doris/Cora/Lois Long.

The Ghostlight ensemble will feature Brad Rakushin (as Irving); Abigail Ludrof (as Annabelle); Ryan Rhue (as The Man); Angelia Golden; Nathan Jentink; Elliot Lane; Jessie MacBeth; Taryn Tonelli; Tim Wessel; and Emily Witte.

Ghostlight, which has book, music, and lyrics by the popular up-and-coming writing team of Matthew Martin and Tim Realbuto, tells the true story of infamous Ziegfeld Follies girl and silent film star Olive Thomas, whose ghost is said to still haunt Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre today. In Ghostlight, we see Olive's meteoric rise to fame in the Follies alongside Fanny Brice, her affair with a married Ziegfeld, her falsely idealized friendship with Follies comedienne Molly Cook, her whirlwind Hollywood marriage to movie star Jack Pickford, and ultimately her tragic downfall, which led to her mysterious death at age 25 in Paris at the height of her fame.

Realbuto and Martin will co-direct the evening, the same duty they performed during the NYMF production, with Alison Holman (Freedom's Song) as musical director. The show boasts a Tony Award winning production team, who plan to have a workshop before an out-of- town tryout, aiming for a Broadway production within the next three seasons.

Although the reading is closed to the public, the creators have initiated a raffle to anyone who donates to their IndieGoGo campaign. The winner of the raffle will receive two seats to the special event. You can donate to Ghostlight and enter the raffle at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ghostlight-a-new-musical.

Carmello is a Drama Desk Award winner and three-time Tony Award nominated actress whose numerous Broadway credits include last season's Scandalous by Kathy Lee Gifford (Tony and Drama Desk noms. - Best Leading Actress in a Musical); as well as starring roles in Parade (Tony nom., Drama Desk Award); Sister Act; The Addams Family (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle noms.); Lestat (Tony and Drama Desk noms.); Mamma Mia!; Urinetown; Kiss Me, Kate; The Scarlet Pimpernel; 1776; Falsettos; and City of Angels. Her many Off-Broadway and National Tour credits include Elegies; A Class Act; john and jen; Les Miserables; and Chess. Her numerous film and television credits include playing Marie Bishop on NBC's "Smash"; starring as Maple LaMarsh on the Emmy Award winning television series "Remember WENN"; "Frasier"; "Law and Order"; "Law and Order: SVU"; "Ed"; and starring opposite Giancarlo Esposito and Larry Fine in Zhenya Kiperman's film I Will Avenge You, Iago!

Her numerous recordings include the original concept album of Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll and Hyde, as well as a slew of cast recordings, none being more popular than the cult favorite Parade by Jason Robert Brown.