By Ronald B. Hellman
With Thanksgiving next week and the holiday season just around the corner, I have a treat for you. Her name is Carol Carota and she is one of the most delightful and talented people I have met in my nearly 40 years in local theater.
She is dedicated and motivated, looks real good and, even after lots of time in the high-anxiety world of show business, still has a kind word for just about everyone.
In the early years of The Outrageous Fortune Co., when Carota still lived in Jackson Heights, she had four major — and some of her favorite — roles: Frankie in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” Claudia Faith Draper in “Nuts,” Sylvia in “Sylvia” and Emma in “Betrayal.” But that’s just part of her story.
Carota is a natural on the stage — she said, “You are either an actor or you’re not.” A graduate of Plainedge High School in North Massapequa, L.I., she attended the B.O.C.E.S. Cultural Art Center in her junior and senior years, where she picked up most of her acting skills, and put in a year at Hofstra majoring in performing arts. But, she said, “You must have innate talent to excel.”
“I feel lucky to have worked with many of the leading theater groups in Queens and Long Island,” she said. Among them she listed Parkside Players, Aark Players, Oak Hill Theatre Co., Plaza Theatricals, Bayway, CAP Center, Township Theatre Group, and Outrageous Fortune — all with many wonderful memories.
She fondly remembers the late Dick Nagel, “who always treated his actors with respect and taught me many things about the craft,” as well as the late, multi-faceted Jegana Martin. Among some of the special people she has met along the way are Gene Vitale, Lisa Forté, Lorraine Kuehnle and the “fabulously talented” John Ferry.
The highlight list of Carota’s favorite roles is long: in musicals, Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls,” Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady,” Maria in “West Side Story,” both Julie and Carrie in “Carousel” and many other leads in comedy and drama.
“I have always felt more comfortable in dramatic roles,” she said. “I love getting inside the character and finding those soul-bearing moments.”
You might imagine that Carota could tell about many challenging and hilarious experiences with all the shows she has done and you would be right. But until she writes her memoirs, just settle for this most traumatic one.
She and her new boyfriend had the title roles in “Frankie and Johnny %u2026” and his entire family showed up one night and sat in the front row. They not only got to hear a lot of talk about the characters’ sexual encounter, but got to see the two of them in the buff. Yikes!
But now what is she up to, since it’s several years that Carota has been off the stage? The answer is she is now a schoolteacher doing “five shows a day” in the classroom. She earned a degree in English education from C.W. Post, is working on her master’s in educational technology and is working full-time at Patchogue-Medford High School teaching modern literature and creative writing.
“The joy that comes from knowing that I may make a difference in some young girl or boy’s life is a fulfillment that is indescribable,” she said.
Although I am opposed to the now all-too-common standing ovation, Carol Carota is the exception who deserves one.
Contact Ron Hellman at rbh24@columbia.edu.
