By Eyal Solomon, Publisher & Editor, Theater Pizzazz…
Ms. Dean discusses her career and her involvement with the hit musical, from its early Broadway success to its current revival
Carmel Dean has deep ties to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, beginning with the original Broadway production in 2005, where she served as associate conductor, vocal arranger and played synthesizer, helping shape the show that would run for over three years. For the 2025-26 New York revival at New World Stages, celebrating the musical’s 20th anniversary, Carmel is music supervisor, overseeing the musical elements of this joyful and beloved production through its extended run into April 2026.
Q: Can you share the arc of your career, especially your journey to Broadway?
A: Absolutely. I began playing piano when I was three and a half in Perth, Western Australia, and music was at the center of my childhood. My parents loved classical music, so I grew up going to the symphony and the ballet, always practicing and performing.
I didn’t truly discover theater until late in high school, when I worked on a production of The Boyfriend. Because I attended an all-girls school, we partnered with the boys’ school nearby, and Heath Ledger happened to be in that class. Like so many people, I caught the theater bug immediately.
I knew I wasn’t meant to be an actor. I couldn’t dance, and performing wasn’t my path. But I was a strong pianist, so becoming a music director made perfect sense. I built my own musical theater education, learning repertoire, working with singers and dancers, arranging, and conducting.
Eventually, I came to New York for graduate school at NYU. While there, I met one of the most important figures in my life and career: composer William Finn.
Q: What did William Finn mean to you, and to musical theater?
A: William Finn, who passed away last year, left an extraordinary body of work. He wrote deeply personal musicals like Falsettos, A New Brain, Elegies, and The Royal Family of Broadway.
Bill was fearless in writing about life as it truly was. Falsettos confronted the AIDS crisis at a time when very few musicals were willing to address it directly. His work captured love, loss, humor, and heartbreak within a community facing unimaginable grief. Even now, after his death, his voice continues to resonate deeply in musical theater.
Q: How did working with him lead to Broadway?
A: I offered to volunteer and assist him in any way I could, writing out music, arranging, helping however needed. I was lucky to meet him at the moment he was beginning Elegies, and that became my first major professional credit at Lincoln Center.
Soon after, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee came along, and in 2005 it became my first Broadway show. I served as vocal arranger, learning quickly as Bill would say, “Add harmonies, add parts, make it sing.”
The show ran for three years, and I realize now how rare that kind of success is. Today, being back with the new production as music supervisor feels like a full-circle moment. I went from being low on the ladder to leading the music department.
Q: What was the biggest challenge on Spelling Bee?
A: The process was so joyful that the challenges blur, but I learned quickly how fast theater moves. James Lapine once told me to write an arrangement immediately, right there in the room. That was a huge lesson. In theater, you have to be brave, flexible, and willing to try.
Q: What about your own productions as a writer?
A: In recent years, I’ve shifted toward creating my own work. I wrote Well Behaved Women, a musical inspired by trailblazing women in history, celebrating courage, humor, and determination. I’ve also developed Renascence with Transport Group, about the life and work of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. It is an intimate piece that blends history, lyricism, and emotional storytelling.
Q: What’s ahead for you now?
A: I’ve just begun writing a brand-new musical, and I’m very excited about where it’s heading. I also have an upcoming commission I can’t announce yet. I feel grateful that this next chapter will focus on creating new stories of my own.
Photos: Matthew Murphy, Bruce Glikas (headshot)
