Tickets for the New York run of the biographical musical about country superstar Dolly Parton go on sale July 8.
One year after their well-received world premiere in Nashville, the producers of Dolly! A True Original Musical announced Tuesday that the show, a biographical stage extravaganza charting the rise of country music living legend Dolly Parton, will kick off preview performances at Broadway’s St. James Theatre on December 7.
The official opening night will be January 19, 2027 — which just happens to be Parton’s 81st birthday.
“My whole life has been a musical,” Parton said in a statement. “A grand ole opera, really. And I can’t wait to present it to you on Broadway. I hope you enjoy watching as much as I’ve enjoyed livin’ it.”
Tickets will go on sale for Dolly fans and eligible Capital One cardholders beginning July 8 at 10 a.m. ET at DollyMusical.com. General sales will follow at 10 a.m. July 10.
Tony winner Bartlett Sher, who directed the Nashville premiere, will return as director of the Broadway production. The musical features a book by Parton and Maria S. Schlatter, and a score showcasing some of Parton's greatest hits and completely new tunes.
“During our world premiere in Nashville,” said Sher, “I was overwhelmed by the deep connection audiences have with Dolly. You mention her name and people light up and share a time that she has inspired them and brought them joy.
“But despite all of that genuine love, Dolly has never really shared her story before. She’s offered glimpses and peeks, but this musical allows her to reveal the unfiltered story in her own words.
“As we prepare to come to Broadway, we’re thrilled to show that rhinestones were never her whole story.”
When I reviewed the Nashville production for C&I, I noted that, while it would not be erroneous to refer to Dolly as an “authorized biography,” given Parton’s strong ties to the project, “it would be churlishly unfair, and largely inaccurate,” to label it as a whitewash.
“For one thing,” I wrote, “Dolly simply is too vibrant and spirited to be labeled as some sort of bland hagiography, and too wink-wink knowingly self-mocking to suggest Dolly doesn’t mind making herself the butt of jokes.
“When some chauvinist pig accuses her of being a ‘bra-burner’ feminist, she quickly responds: ‘We all know if I set my bra on fire, it’d take three days to put it out.’ On the other hand, the Dolly depicted here – portrayed by Quinn Titcomb as a precocious child star-in-the making, Carrie St. Louis as a naive but ambitious Music City newbie, and Katie Rose Clarke as an extraordinarily persuasive and compelling adult Dolly – is nobody’s doormat.
“When longtime performing partner Porter Wagoner (a hilariously self-aggrandizing John Zdrojeski) tries to put her in her place, Dolly defiantly announces she’s the only one who’ll ever decide where that place is: ‘God made me. And he didn’t make me to be somebody’s girl singer for the rest of my life.’
Under Sher’s fluid direction, Dolly “smoothly ticks off a list of major events in the personal and professional lives of its larger-than-life subject, following Dolly from her formative years in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee (robustly celebrated in the hand-clapping, foot-stomping number ‘My Mountains, My Home’) through her slow but steady rise to fame – as, yes, Porter Wagoner’s partner in performing – and her solo breakout as a genre-transcending, multimedia superstar, and finally back to Tennessee, where she thoughtfully resets her priorities while establishing herself as a widely-admired philanthropist, entertainer, and all-around great person.”
Dolly: A True Original Musical is produced by Dolly Parton, Danny Nozell, Adam Speers for ATG Productions, and Gavin Kalin Productions.
Speers said that “everything we learned during our world premiere in Nashville” has been put to good use. As they prepared of the January 19 opening night, “we’re shaping the show and deepening the storytelling so that the Broadway production fully captures the spirit of this amazing woman.
“To be opening the show on Dolly’s 81st birthday is not only a celebration of a milestone, but of a life shaped by generosity, courage, and purpose that, in this moment, feels not only uplifting and inspiring, but essential.”
