Anyone who is even the slightest bit of a Dolly Pardon fan has heard talk during the past few months about her original Dolly musical being created, written, and developed by the queen herself.
In the official press announcement on January 28 at Belmont’s Fisher Center, Dolly was joined by renowned director Barlett Sher to inform us that the world premiere is scheduled to run July 18 – August 20th in Nashville at Belmont’s Fisher Center this summer.
Musicals often premiere off-Broadway before they are taken to the prestigious strip in New York City. Because Dolly is from Tennessee and the Fisher Center is a world-class theater venue, it only made sense to have its debut here.
With so many musicals made after a famous person's death, Dolly was adamant about having the one about her life done while she was still alive.
She told the press, “I have always wanted to do my life story as a musical. I just thought that I wanted to see it done while I'm still around to be able to oversee it and make sure that it's done properly in a way that I want to see it rather than wait till I'm gone and let somebody else you know decide how they think it should be done.”
She continued, “I love the Theater. And I do think the Theater is a great place to tell Dolly's story. I think it's perfect to do it here at Belmont. I think it'll be amazing in New York.”
Naturally, the well-loved songs from Dolly’s repertoire will be featured in the highly anticipated musical, but she has also written new songs to help tell her story, songs that can be adapted for the big stage and a full orchestra. Look for the new tune, “I Wouldn’t Be Here If You Hadn’t Been There,” that will soon be released as she promotes her musical.
Of course, Dolly is a natural storyteller, but to write the musical of her life, she teamed up with Maria Schlatter to help her with the project. Schlatter had worked with Dolly on some of her previous films, and she knew they worked well together.
Probably the most challenging part of creating the musical is casting it. No human on the planet has been emulated more than Dolly. There was open casting as they searched for the right people to play the parts. The musical will portray Dolly at three stages of her life: one as a child, then as a young adult, and another more current version.
Dolly, who wrote much of the music in the award-winning musical 9 To 5 and starred in the film adaptation, finds it strange to be working on her musical without starring in it.
She shared, “I’m just thinking, ‘I'm not even up there.’ That's me singing those songs. It's just kind of funny. I think I need to be up there doing that. But the Lord knows I couldn't handle all that many shows in a week for sure.”
We also learned of Belmont’s newest program, “Dolly U," which is described as an "immersive educational experience that will begin with a focus on creating the musical’s world premiere." It is a partnership between "Dolly: An Original Musical," CTK Enterprises, and Belmont University.
Belmont President Greg Jones explained, “Our collaboration will include connections from the classroom to the stage to entrepreneurial ventures. Our first project is focused on Dolly, an original musical. We piloted this new program last summer. As Dolly herself noted, students were embedded with the production team, gaining hands-on experience in a real-world project alongside leading and world-renowned experts in their fields. Belmont is committed to reimagining higher education. And this partnership represents one way we're living that out in real-time.”
Dolly talked more about her musical. She said, “I’m never surprised about anything, but I am surprised at how hard these people work. [Theater] is so different than country music or the world that I live in. I depend on Bart (Barlett Sher) because he’s the greatest. I trust his opinion.”
Besides giving us a close-up of her life’s story, she tries to portray her personality, depth, and spirituality, “all the things that made me who I am,” she shared.
The most important thing for Dolly is that she represents herself as a good and decent human being and have fun while doing so.
In conclusion, Dolly proclaimed, “We’re so excited to be here at Belmont. It’s really a thrill to be working here with all of you in this wonderful theater, which is so beautiful. I hope all of you are going to enjoy the show. And if you don't see it here, hopefully, you'll come to New York and see it.”
You can buy tickets for the Dolly: An Original Musical here.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and X.