Johnny Oleksinski: Dolly Parton’s Broadway-bound musical gets vicious reactions in Nashville: ‘Drag bar in Vegas’

[mitchern]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 10:04am

 

https://nypost.com/2025/08/23/entertainment/dolly-partons-broadway-bound-musical-gets-vicious-reactions-in-nashville-drag-bar-in-vegas/

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 10:29am

Nothing new here as many have said the same thing but good seeing this on the New York Post and not just on a Broadway message board. Hopefully this article gets forwarded to Dolly so she sees the bad word-of-mouth is also getting national gossip exposure. 

[Ensemble1711444445]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 12:34pm

Updated On: 8/25/25 at 12:34 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 12:45pm

Ensemble1711444445 said: "Another Cabaret sized flop for ATG?"

I think this can probably do a minimum of 9 months on Broadway and then it can tour, play cruise ships and theme parks, play internationally, and get licensed. That doesn't mean the Broadway investors will be rolling in dough, they might barely get to 100%. But the revenue stream is a lot more evident for this show.

Aside from shortening it, I don't know that improving its quality will have much impact on how it performs in New York. And replacing Sher would mean replacing the whole team around him and basically starting from scratch, as far as the physical production goes.
 

also of note: "a source said Stephen Adly Guirguis’ new play “Dog Day Afternoon” with “Walking Dead” star Jon Bernthal and “The Bear”’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach is going in the Wilson instead."

At almost 1300 seats, the Wilson is a great size for most musicals, but that could bite them where it hurts for this one...are they overestimating the draw of Bernthal & EMB?

Updated On: 8/23/25 at 12:45 PM

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 12:50pm

Yes.  Definitely overestimating their appeal.  Guirguis is the appeal for us, not the actors.

[Ensemble1711444445]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 1:58pm

I like your math! A 30 million dollar show running for 9 months recouping!! Thats roughly 900 a week profit. 

1.1 running costs and then 900 profit put you at 2 mill a week but you would have to sell at least 2.3 to cover that. This is not Wicked. 

Tour would be a separate raise so they would have to recoup and then make up- up to 30 million. That's a lot of cruise ships especially when she is touring, on tv, at Dollywood and working Vegas.  You can see Dolly a lot of places the only reason to see her on Broadway is if it's good.  

Broadway should aspire to be good as a bare minimum - for the audiences and the investors. 

[gibsons2]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 2:47pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Ensemble1711444445 said: "Another Cabaret sized flop for ATG?"

I think this can probably do a minimum of 9 months on Broadway and then it can tour, play cruise ships and theme parks, play internationally, and get licensed. That doesn't mean the Broadway investors will be rolling in dough, they might barely get to 100%. But the revenue stream is a lot more evident for this show.

Aside from shortening it, I don't know that improving its quality will have much impact on how it performs in New York. And replacing Sher would mean replacing the whole team around him and basically starting from scratch, as far as the physical production goes.


also of note: "a source said Stephen Adly Guirguis’ new play “Dog Day Afternoon” with “Walking Dead” star Jon Bernthal and“The Bear”’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach is going in the Wilson instead."

At almost 1300 seats, the Wilson is a great size for most musicals, but that could bite them where it hurts for this one...are they overestimating the draw of Bernthal & EMB?"

I wish they stopped mounting plays in theaters like Palace and Wilson (if it indeed goes there). The only way to see a play in a house of this size is to  buy one of the exorbitantly priced prime orchestra tickets.  

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 2:52pm

Note that I never said it could recoup due to BROADWAY sales. I was merely pointing out the other revenue streams that will pay into the mother company, as a way of illustrating that it has a much greater potential for financial upside than CABARET.

Consumer products of **** quality will almost always exist on Broadway in the modern landscape. I don’t see them going away so I’m not spending time lamenting the choice to bring a show like that to Broadway. As long as every few years one catalogue show becomes a hit, people will keep mounting them.

[Ensemble1711444445]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 4:38pm

Sorry wasn't trying to bash you. It is just that investors are being told these shows can make money --now with massive budgets -- and logic like hypothetical tours and cruise ships are misleading. That money is years and years later and rarely makes up for losses on the mothership while usually requiring further investment.  Investors are the lifeblood of the business and if a theater owner/producer is bringing something in they should believe it is high quality and could make their money back. 

 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 7:22pm

Ensemble1711444445 said: "Another Cabaret sized flop for ATG?"

This show clearly needs to be reworked and delayed until next season.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 7:31pm

The Post is a garbage rag and this should have just gone in the Dolly musical thread that already exists.

[Wick3]

Posted: 8/23/25 at 10:55pm

I doubt it'll happen but I feel the only way this Dolly Parton musical will recoup on Broadway is if they can get Dolly Parton herself to be a part of it. Even if she only sings 1 song at the end or something I can see people paying $$$ to see her live on Broadway.

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 8/24/25 at 9:45pm

Looks like another home run for Bart Sher!

 

She'd kill with a Springsteen-like intimate show.  

Updated On: 8/24/25 at 09:45 PM

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/24/25 at 9:55pm

Similar to what Johnny writes in his piece, I remember reading in one of the Eddie Shapiro interview books - whichever one Sherie Rene Scott is in - that Bartlett Sher is patently incompetent with anything that isn’t a revival. 

Sherie speaks about how frustrated she was and how basically redundant Sher was as a director of Women on the Verge.

Sounds like lightning is striking again here. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/24/25 at 10:22pm

Sher's weakness with new work is not new. He is also so wrong for this type material, you have to wonder why he even entertained the offer in the first place...but a paycheck's a paycheck.

[CopleyScott17]

Posted: 8/26/25 at 1:38pm

Sounds like the most entertaining thing about this show is casting Quinn Titcomb as one of the Dollys.

[DurantPlummer41]

Posted: 8/26/25 at 4:26pm

Was 'Light in the Piazza' a fluke for Sher or was the material a perfect match for him?

[kdogg36]

Posted: 8/26/25 at 5:20pm

DurantPlummer41 said: "Was 'Light in the Piazza' a fluke for Sher or was the material a perfect match for him?"

That's a great question. My personal impression regarding Women on the Verge is that the inadequacy of the final product was more due to time management than lack of creative vision. That's still on him, of course, but it suggests he still has it in him (or at least had it in him 15 years ago) to shepherd a new musical under the right circumstances.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 8/26/25 at 6:09pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "Similar to what Johnny writes in his piece, Iremember reading in one of the Eddie Shapiro interview books - whichever one Sherie Rene Scott is in - that Bartlett Sher is patently incompetent with anything that isn’t a revival.

Sherie speaks about how frustrated she was and how basically redundant Sher was as a director of Women on the Verge.

Sounds like lightning is striking again here."

The entirety of “Johnny’s reporting” is hearsay. I would expect nothing less from a trashy right wing rag like the New York Post. 

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 8/26/25 at 7:18pm

kdogg36 said: "DurantPlummer41 said: "Was 'Light in the Piazza' a fluke for Sher or was the material a perfect match for him?"

That's a great question. My personal impression regardingWomen on the Vergeis that the inadequacy of the final product was more due to time management than lack of creative vision. That's still on him, of course, but it suggests he still has it in him (or at least had it in him 15 years ago) to shepherd a new musical under the right circumstances."

That production was mostly cast and fostered by it's original director, Craig Lucas. Sher's production was an improvement over Lucas's but the show was already in serious fighting shape when it first played in Seattle, before Sher took over direction. 

 

Updated On: 8/26/25 at 07:18 PM

[BJR]

Posted: 8/26/25 at 7:47pm

verywellthensigh said: "She'd kill with a Springsteen-like intimate show."

VERY MUCH SO