Show & Tell: Colby Lemmo of ‘Le Reve – The Dream’

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Q: When did you start dancing?

A: My mom put me in a combination class when I was 4. You did 20 minutes of ballet and 20 minutes of tap.

Q: Why?

A: I honestly have no idea why she decided to do it. I think someone came in and gave her a bunch of business cards while she was working, and one happened to be from the owner of a dance studio. Maybe she walked in and she was, like, “Oh, this could be fun for my little girl.” (Laughs) So, thanks Mom!

Q: After high school, you signed on to perform with a cruise line?

A: I had a friend who was doing it and I talked to her every week. She was having so much fun with all the places she was going, and she was talking about how she was always on the beach, and I was, like, “Why would you not want to do that?” I worked for (Royal Caribbean) for 4½ years and made sure that every contract I did, I got to see someplace different.

Q: Then what?

A: I left in 2007 and I had a plan: I was going to move out to Vegas, and I gave myself 10 months. I lined up another contract with Royal Caribbean for 10 months later in case something didn’t happen here and I didn’t get a job. … I started work at a restaurant right away, waitressing. Then, not long after that, I went to audition for the Pussycat Dolls Lounge and I worked there as a go-go dancer. Then, after that, they had an audition for the actual lounge show, and I got hired to do the show.

Q: “Le Reve” seems very different than cruise ship shows or the Pussycat Dolls. What was like to do “Le Reve” for the first time?

A: It’s an exhilarating feeling to do it for the first time, especially when it’s something you’ve aspired to for a long time. I auditioned for the show for, like, four years before I was ever hired. … So to be there was like a dream. (Laughs). “Le Reve.” “The Dream.”

Q: In this show, you’re not just a dancer but an actor, too. Was learning that part of the role difficult?

A: Doing that role every night is probably the hardest mentally, because you’re this character in a show that everybody’s supposed to believe. Everybody’s supposed to follow you on this journey, so, in your mind, you’re translating what you’re supposed to be thinking to an audience of 1,400 people.