HELLO, I'M DOLLY bio-musical headed for the stage! — Page 2

darquegk, Bobby Anderson played the young George Bailey in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

TheatreFan4 said: "pmensky said: "She’s going to he 80 when the show debuts. If the show spans her entire career, it would be a little odd to have the same actress playing her at twenty-something as well as seventy-something. That’s a big jump, even for the theatre."

What are you even talking about? Dolly's "Story" is done in the 80s. She's been coasting for near 40 years on her Diva status. And this may blow your mind, but actors actually often do play WAY beyond their age quite often on stage."

You’re very ignorant if you think Dolly’s story began in the 80s.

NOWaWarning said: "pmensky said: "You’re very ignorant if you think Dolly’s story began in the 80s."

Respectfully, they said her story was done (as in complete) in the 80s, not that it began in the 80s. Obviously she’s lived and has accomplished a great deal since then, but there isn’t any major drama to mine for after that period. For something to be narratively satisfying, there needs to be obstacles to overcome. By the 80s, Dolly had essentially reached the top of the mountain and has managed to stay there ever since. Similarly, the Cher Show wraps up decades ago when she reached living legend status.

Now maybe there’s more juice to Dolly’s story fromthe last 40ish years that the public doesn’t know about, but I kinda doubt a big Broadway musical would be where she’d spill it. We’ll see!"

Well, what we know for sure is that at least two actors played her in the workshop, so regardless of which years of her life the show touches upon, we know they felt it was a wide enough span to justify casting both Carrie St. Louis and Kerry Butler to play her.

Sammy232 said: "TheatreMonkey said: "While "Hello, I'm Dolly" is the first bio-musical of Dolly Parton, it's not the first Dolly Parton jukebox. There's been a musical touring around the UK that uses her catalogue and is "official" -- "Here You Come Again", with an original narrative shaped around her music (though Dolly appears as a character).

"For the first time ever, all ofDolly Parton’sbiggest hits are brought together in a rollicking and joyful new musical, fully authorised by Dolly herself. Packed with iconic songs like Jolene, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream, I Will Always Love You, Here You Come Againandmore, this lively and touching new musical tells the story of a diehard fan whose imagined version of international iconDolly Partongets him through trying times."

Here's the BWW article about it."

I actually saw this as my aunt is a volunteer at Goodspeed and invited me. It was adorable, but not Broadway material. I could definitely see something like this at a place like New World Stages. And Tricia who is mentioned several times in this thread does a terrific Dolly.

In terms of Dolly's long career/story, I think the more interesting part is the early decades. She was a trailblazer for women in country music. Woman in a male dominated industry and all that."

From one Sam to another (I'm presuming!) that's quite interesting! I didn't know it had been stateside -- and must agree that while the premise seems cute, there's much more possiblity in the the dramatic re-telling of Dolly's career (like this new one will do.)

Bart Sher? Are they being serious?

Dolly's coat of many colors is now just a red parka.

This sort of feels like when an indie auteur director is tapped to direct a Marvel movie.

Kad said: "This sort of feels like when an indie auteur director is tapped to direct a Marvel movie."

Stylistically it feels more like Michael Haneke directing BARBIE. Or David Leveux directing Once Upon. In a best case scenario this is Chris Wheeldon directing MJ or Julian Fellowes writing the book for School of Rock.

Makes me fearful of how self-serious Dolly might be going.

It illustrates a big pipeline issue. Without scouring IBDB, I’d venture to say there are zero women or people of color currently under age 50 who have directed a financially/critically successful original musical comedy on Broadway, right? So if they want a track record then they need to go with an older person, and the big usual suspects cannot direct everything and are equally old (Stroman, Nicholaw, Mitchell, Marshall, Greif, Mayer).

Who directed the previous workshops with Carrie (St. Louis) and Kerry (Butler)?

Updated On: 7/2/24 at 01:12 PM

You make a good point. If this is going to be a musical comedy, then Bart Sher wouldn’t be the first director I’d think of. Yes I think he’s great for lush revivals but I don’t think I’ve seen any comedies directed by him.

Based on the choice of director, I don’t think this will be a musical comedy. Dolly grew up very poor and her religion was a saving grace for her. She did musical comedy with 9 to 5 and there was a silly Dolly-esque character in that. This show could be deep Dolly, but if that’s the case, they should change the name of the show.

Back like 10 years ago coal miners daughter was supposed to be brought to stage with zoey de Chanel I don’t know what ever happened to that