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Last fall, Dolly Parton told USA Today that she had been working on a Broadway musical based on her life for “at least 20 years.” Well, it’s definitely happening now! Dolly officially announced last week that Hello, I’m Dolly (named after her 1976 debut album) is in production with a planned opening in 2026. The Queen of Country is writing the music, cowriting the book (script), and serving as a producer. No cast has been announced yet. According to Dolly, the show won’t be a “jukebox musical” a la Mamma Mia! or Jersey Boys, which, respectively, reworked ABBA and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons songs into show tunes that fit within a stage plot. Instead, we are getting treated to some brand new original music!
“Hello, I’m Dolly, and I lived my whole life to see this show on stage,” she said in a statement. “I’ve written many original songs for the show and included all your favorites in it as well. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll clap, you’ll stomp; it truly is a Grand Ol’ Opera. Pun and fun intended. Don’t miss it!”
In a press conference at CMA Fest on Thursday, Parton noted that Hello, I’m Dolly is not a jukebox musical, meaning it won’t just feature her past hits reworked as showtunes. “You’ll get to know all of my life up to now,” she added. “It really does have a lot of story, a lot of family.”
She went on to note that she’s been thinking about telling her life story for years, but it’s taken a while to get the concept right. “Everybody just wanted to take it up to the Porter [Wagoner] days,” she recalled. “My life didn’t even begin until after that, till the ’70s! Although all those days were important, we do cover all of those years and all the things that we went through. I thought, ‘Well I need to write some original music where it really tells my life story from the time I was little and dreaming about being a star.’ So I’m hoping you’re gonna laugh and you’re gonna cry.”
Parton has worked with several of her Hello I’m Dolly collaborators in the past. She’s cowriting the book with Maria S. Schlatter, who previously worked with Parton on the 2020 Netflix musical Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.
Speers said in a statement, “I first had the pleasure of working with Dolly Parton in 2019 when she trusted us to develop a new version of her musical 9 to 5 for London’s West End. I had always heard she wanted to do a musical based on her life, so when she asked if I would be interested in producing it, I was bowled over. As the world knows, Dolly is a magical blend of talent, hard work, intelligence, charm, wit and a gigantically big heart. I’m thrilled we’re going to bring her inspiring story to Broadway.”
Well, LFG. Take my money. I would watch/listen to the soundtrack of a Dolly Parton Broadway musical any day of the week. One small wish, though, and that’s that I do hope that Dolly listens to the advice of the professionals that she’s working with when it comes to writing for theatre. While musicals can be these big, campy, glittery spectacles, I hope it’s not as corny as some of her TV specials have been, lol. As for the show itself, I want to see big hair, fun outfits, rhinestones, lots of pink, and tons of Dolly’s brand of girl power.
I’m here for this but I also hope it’s not campy. Dolly has done so much important work in addition to her music, from Imagination Library to the vaccine, that deserve more than a campy nod.
If they can avoid the trap of The Cher Show which featured three actresses playing the artist with songs used as replacement for a story, this might work. Give Dolly the Coal Miner’s Daughter treatment and take a serious look at a fascinating individual, and not another Donna Summer: The Musical, which also featured three actresses playing the artist with songs used as replacement for a story.
I’m also in the camp of take my money for this! I trust that Dolly will ensure that her story gets both the right amounts of gravitas and rhinestones.
Has anyone been to Dollywood? She maintains a replica of the tiny, two room cabin she grew up in at the theme park and maintains musical shows/arts crafts exhibits that respect the history of the area and her entire career. It is a theme park obviously, but not all.of the attractions are camp and fluff. Dolly takes her history very seriously and respects her background in a way few people who have achieved her level of success do. She really is an amazing woman.
That haircut is giving ”I can cut my own bangs, I just need a mirror” kind of vibes.
If I could combine a work event with this, I’d totally watch it. I think she’s fascinating, and intelligent, and has achieved so many great things, be it supporting literacy projects, or funding research.
But I’m not getting on a plane for a 10 hour+ flight just for a musical, even if it’s DP.
I cant’ wait for this! She says it will include her old favorites as well, so its not entirely new music. And that makes sense because Dolly writes her own songs and they get written about her life, so of course she’s going to use some songs that she wrote 30 years ago to talk about what happened in her life 30 years ago.
It’s like if someone used Fleetwood Mac’s songs in a musical to tell the story about Rumours…..its not creating a new story like Mamma Mia did, its just using the songs that were written about the breakups and such to…..tell the story about the breakups. with some new songs added in.
Dolly is just gold. I’d love to see this.