Dolly Parton Archives - North West End UK

Dolly delights in Spring/Summer season at Leeds Playhouse

8Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

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 songw...

<strong>Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – Southbank Centre</strong>

14Dec

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – Southbank Centre

Dickens' tale of poverty, inequality and transformation has been a staple of the holiday season since it was first published in 1843. While Dickens was highlighting the terrible deprivation of the London slums, Dolly Parton's new musical takes the audience to the Appalachian Mountains in 1936, at the height of the Depression. As in the original tale, Ebenezer Scrooge owns everything in the town, having taken over ownership of the mine, shop and bank from his partner, Jacob Marley. The inhabitants of the town work all hours for a pittance for Scrooge, struggling, scrimping and saving, but finding joy in their families, and in their hopes and dreams. There's no such joy in Scrooge's life, and he focuses all his time and energy on making and saving money. He has no-one and regards Christmas ...

9Feb

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

9 to 5: The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

“Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living / Barely getting by, it's all taking and no giving” I’m sure this sounds familiar, if not musically then probably existentially! One of country music’s most iconic singers, Dolly Parton, wrote these well-known lyrics back in 1980 for the film ‘9 to 5’, which she then transferred to the stage in 2008 with the help of book-writer Patricia Resnick. Parton’s fingerprints are everywhere, from the tone of the music and lyrics throughout, to her on-stage presence as the narrator of the story; that was a cute and unexpected touch, although I’m not sure that the story was complex enough to warrant the level of narration it got! 9 to 5 takes us to a corporate office in middle America where Judy is starting her first ever job having been dumped b...

3Nov

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

9 to 5: The Musical – Liverpool Empire

In 2009, nearly 30 years after the film's release, 9 to 5 made its debut as a Broadway Musical with new songs written by Dolly Parton. It then made its way over to the West-End where it premiered in February 2019. Since its UK premiere, 9 to 5 The Musical, has been seen by over half a million people at over 450 performances. This is its second national UK tour. I can remember watching the film 9 to 5 in the early 1980’s starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton and being blown away by it; straight from the start the music was gripping and of course the theme of feminism, equality and women’s rights was spot on. It was Dolly Parton’s acting debut, and she was fabulous as secretary to the story’s antagonist, exploitative boss. In a nutshell, the story is about thre...