Dolly delights in Spring/Summer season at Leeds Playhouse

For the first time ever all of Dolly Parton’s biggest hits can be heard together in a new musical comedy, Here You Come Again, which is then cornerstone of the Spring/Summer 2024 season at Leeds Playhouse before it heads off to the West End 

After a successful US tour, the show is packed with the country legend’s iconic songs, including Jolene, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream, I Will Always Love You and Here You Come Again. It’s the story of a diehard fan whose fantasy version of international icon Dolly Parton gets him through trying times, but the wit, humour and charm in her songs teaches him a whole lot about life, love and how to pull yourself up by your sequinned bootstraps.

It was originally written by two-time Emmy award-winning comedy writer and songwriter Bruce Vilanch with Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio and has now been adapted for the UK by British playwright Jonathan Harvey when it plays in the Courtyard theatre from 11th May to 8th June.  

“We are so excited to bring this gem of a show to the UK, following actor playing a regional tour in America, and to also set it in the UK with a brilliant new British actor  playing the lead role of Kevin, along with a creative UK design team and fresh approach to the  storytelling that features all of Dolly’s biggest hits, along with her wit and wisdom which the world needs today, more than ever,”  says Gabriel Barre who directs the show.

“And she will be gloriously brought to life by the American actress, Tricia Paoluccio, who has been stunning audiences everywhere embodying the spirit, humour, and heart that have made Dolly an enduring icon.” 

Other season highlights include another co-production with Opera North to revive the classic musical My Fair Lady directed by the Playhouse Artistic Director James Brining. This production Features Frederick Loewe’s score and book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner as Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a ‘proper lady’.  The production in the Quarry from 31st May to 29th June features members of the Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North with additional guest artists performing familiar tunes including I Could Have Danced All Night, Get Me to the Church on Time and Wouldn’t It Be Loverly. 

In July, there’s a world premiere of Paranormal Activity: A New Haunting Live on Stage, written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett, Artistic Director of Punchdrunk. 

imitating the dog are back with their unique version of Mary Shelley’s iconic Gothic tale, Frankenstein, from 15th – 24th February ahead of a UK tour. It’s a multimedia exploration of the classic novel as a psychological thriller which asks the fundamental question – what is it to be human? 

In May Leeds-based Fidget Theatre is back at the Playhouse with Robyn Hood, an imaginative and entertaining show for all the family. Written and directed by Fidget Co-Artistic Directors Ruth Cooper and Andrea Heaton, it follows the success of their family show Football Freddie, which the Playhouse took out on a Community Tour this summer

The Playhouse are restaging Director Amy Leach and Designer Hayley Grindle’s critically well received reworking of Macbeth in May. It premiered in 2022, with more than 5,000 students experiencing Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy in the Quarry theatre. With this in mind there’s a new timetable of performances to enable even more schools to see the play this time around. 

All tickets are on sale to Leeds Playhouse’s Priority Access, Playhouse Pass Members and Under 30 Scheme from 1pm Wednesday 6th December with tickets on general sale from 1pm Wednesday 13th December. 

For more details of the Playhouse’s Spring/Summer 2024 season go to www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk or Box office 0113 2137700.