“You Would Not Believe Some of The Stuff We've Got”: Dolly Parton Discusses ‘Dolly: An Original Musical’ at Nashville's Belmont University

After confirming plans to unveil her brand new musical late last year, Dolly Parton has revealed during a special event at Nashville's Belmont University that Dolly: An Original Musical will be premiering on July 18th at the institution's Fisher Center.

The new production will trace the country legend's life story, from growing up with 11 siblings in a cramped cabin in rural Tennessee to becoming the unofficial Queen of Country. Dolly: An Original Musical will run from July 18th to August 17th, with the show presumably then being lined up to transition to a tour or a stint on Broadway.

During the momentous announcement at Belmont University, which has produced country music trailblazers such as Florida Georgia Line, Brad Paisley, Trisha Yearwood and Ashley Gorley, Dolly Parton touched on the casting process for the musical.

The ‘Jolene’ hitmaker joked, “You would not believe some of the stuff we've got. We've got some absolutely great people. We got drag queens, we got all kinds of people playing Dolly”.

Parton went on, “We really hope to find just the right people, and we'll be announcing pretty soon who we have to do that. But we appreciate all the people that have applied for the job, because it's a hard job - I don't believe I'd want to live it again!”

The country music icon concluded by endearingly expressing her gratitude at the response the news of the musical has received so far, “But anyway, we're very proud of the fact that people were so interested, we got thousands and thousands of people”.

Elsewhere during her speech, Dolly Parton explained why she's launching the musical now, quipping, “I ain’t getting no younger...but as I tell my husband, I ain’t getting no older either”.

Parton continued to showcase her brilliant sense of humour, remarking, “I’ve outlived so many plastic surgeons”, before touching on the bittersweet reason behind her keenness to open Dolly: An Original Musical sooner rather than later, “But I actually have always wanted to do my life story as a musical...and 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 would want to see it, rather than to wait until I’m gone and let somebody else decide how they think it should be done”.

Hopefully, Dolly Parton will be around for many more years to come, so she can witness Dolly: An Original Musical blossom into her second theatrical smash hit, following 9 to 5's global success and its plethora of Tony and Drama Desk Awards nominations.

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