Scott Armour-Purvis reviews a production with great music and solid potential but ultimately ‘feels in desperate need of a rewrite.’
When it comes to pulling power, few names reach the giddy five-foot heights of Dolly Parton. With a theme park, a Kennedy Center Honor and 9 to 5 clocking in millions on Broadway, here she comes again with Here You Come Again.
Legendary roast comedian Bruce Vilanch has flicked through the vinyls of the Tennessee songbird and created a good tribute show which Gimme Gimme Gimme and Coronation Streetwriter Jonathan Harvey has adapted for British audiences. Unfortunately, in execution it is a very entertaining tribute show which is interrupted by largely superfluous dialogue scenes which explore the meta-relationship between a super-fan and his superhero.
Antisocial and socially distancing in the attic of his parents’ Northern home, the action follows wannabe stand-up comedian Kevin as he returns from London during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a glass of wine in his hand, he looks to the posters of his teenage icon for support and, in a puff of smoke and a spray of sequins, fantasises his Fairy Godmother Dolly Parton into reality. Part biography and part fantasy, this is a mild romp which bounces along without really saying anything new about anything as the audience waits to hear the Parton chart hits.
This is perhaps the only big-budget piece of theatre we’re likely so see with COVID in a starring role, and, appropriately, it all feels highly-sanitised - references to “Partygate” are less relevant since the ousting of the Conservatives and jokes about hoarded toilet rolls feel like easy nostalgia for a time very few look back on fondly; the show’s message that lockdown would teach us all to live our lives for ourselves seems naively aspirational, too, with food and energy costs post-pandemic making life tougher than ever for most. The result is a piece like three-day old banana bread: still sweet, still tasty but, ultimately, a little dated.
Steven Webb is an excellent West End performer, but his performance as Parton’s biggest fan feels cartoonishly camp and at times uncomfortably anxious. Much of this comes down to Gabriel Barre’s at times misdirection - what should be a tense and stirring performance of “Jolene” is deigned into a cheap drag act played for laughs. When Webb is allowed to act with subtly - with a boot-scoot away from the American accent he sings in - he shines with the performance of a star. It’s a shame these moments are underutilised.
The island in the stream of so much confusion is Tricia Paoluccio: her performance as Dolly is a charming, pitcher perfect and loving tribute to Parton which never descends into a folksy caricature. Paoluccio is an exceptionally beautiful singer and, if you bought a cheaper seat seven rows back, you could be convinced she is the tiny Tennesseean herself. Dolly Parton herself would enjoy hearing her songs in these moments, with “I Will Always Love You” finding pure theatrical magic.
By the time the production reaches its Parton shots and allows itself to be a tribute show, the audience was on its feet and ready for a hoedown. This is why they came in here lookin’ like that in their high heel boots and their painted-on jeans: all decked out like a cowgirl’s dream.
With some of the biggest hits in music, a Dolly Parton jukebox musical should be a rhinestoned jewel of a show - her storytelling and lyricism are human, her melodies are bouncy as a lace fringe on a denim jacket and her stage persona sparkles like a firefly. Unfortunately, Here You Come Again feels in desperate need of a rewrite if it is to last longer than a coronavirus rinsing handwash.
Here You Come Again has completed its run at The King’s in Glasgow but returns January 21-25, 2025. For details about the tour, go to its website.
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