Dolly Partons Broadway-bound musical gets vicious…
Working 9 to 5?
From what I hear, Dolly Parton’s new musical goes to need to be labored on 24/7, 365 to be remotely prepared for its deliberate Broadway bow next 12 months.
Called “Dolly: A True Original Musical,” the show, which is produced by Parton, her frequent collaborator Danny Nozell and Ambassador Theatre Group, opened earlier this month in her home state of Tennessee.
Carrie St. Louis, Katie Rose Clarke and Quinn Titcomb star in “Dolly: A True Original Musical.” Matthew Murphy
The opening-night Nashville viewers’s enamel have been gnashing, all proper.
But not those of national critics. We have been barred from reviewing “Dolly,” which tells the beloved 79-year-old nation singer’s life story from her poor Appalachian upbringing to global superstardom.
I used to be crushed. I had to unpack my cowboy boots and blond wig.
But fortunately my spies stumbled outta mattress and tumbled to the theater for me.
“Instead of Broadway, the better move is for it to run in a drag bar in Vegas,” said one unimpressed wag.
“Granted, they’d still have to cut two hours.”
Word is that the show could be very long and contains too many of Parton’s songs that are sung in full. And some obscure ones at that.
The show opened this month in Nashville, Tennessee. Dara-Michelle Farr/AdMedia / SplashNews.com
Three ladies play Dolly at different phases — Katie Rose Clarke (eldest), Carrie St. Louis (center) and Quinn Titcomb (younger) — which is the same recycled format that “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” “The Cher Show,” “The Donna Summer Musical” and “MJ” all used.
Clarke apparently fares best of the trio. She opens Act 2 with “Jolene.” And when she sings “I Will Always Love You” as she bids farewell to Porter Wagoner, it’s said to be very shifting.
Offstage, sources say director Bartlett Sher, better identified for elegant Lincoln Center musicals such as “The King and I” and “South Pacific,” and a latest pileup of awful performs, is a unhealthy match for honky-tonk Dollywood.
“He can’t do new musicals,” one said. “Stick with revivals.”
Reactions to the ebook, meanwhile, vary from “bland” to “terrible.”
The show tells the life story of Parton, from Appalachian childhood to global superstardom. Dara-Michelle Farr/AdMedia / SplashNews.com
It’s co-written by Parton and Maria S. Schlatter, who also wrote Parton’s syrupy vacation film “Christmas On The Square,” which, to state the apparent, ain’t “Gypsy.”
Everyone I talked to who’s seen the show agrees the script wants to be scrapped and redone by an skilled theater hand.
The consensus? If ebook ought to keep, ebook would only be in the waaaaay!
I discovered one kind-hearted viewers member who gave me an optimistic review.
“It has good bones,” he said. “It just isn’t finished.”
Indeed, “Dolly” will possible not make it to Broadway by the spring.
The show mulled heading to either the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where “Moulin Rouge” is still operating, and the August Wilson Theatre after “Cabaret” closes.
But a source said Stephen Adly Guirguis’ new play “Dog Day Afternoon” with “Walking Dead” star Jon Bernthal and “The Bear”’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach goes in the Wilson instead.
Parton is no stranger to Broadway — her “9 to 5” performed there in 2009. Aubrey Reuben
A few industry viewers went so far to say the show is unfixable. Well, they’ll have lots of time to strive.
I’m told Sher is reluctant to make adjustments. But gung-ho Parton is tremendously invested in her bio-musical being a winner.
“There is an undeniable magic in the air when Dolly’s in that building, and there’s nobody better at rallying the troops and executing an artistic vision,” a manufacturing source said.
“You give her five minutes with any cynic, and they will walk away a true believer. She’s going to lead the team to a giant success.”
Back in 2009, when Parton was placing on the stage model of “9 to 5” at the Marquis, she was reportedly very keen to throw out songs and write new ones as needed.
Of course, that musical closed a flop and misplaced more than $10 million.
Broadway — what a method to make a livin’!
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