Singer Dolly Parton recently announced on social media that her life story will finally be hitting the big stage as the focus of a new Broadway musical.
She took to her Instagram page to reveal the title card for the musical, titled “Hello, I’m Dolly — An Original Musical,” adorned with her signature diamond and rhinestone glamour.
Her special message read: “Hello, I’m Dolly! I’ve been writing my life story as a Broadway musical for several years and I’m proud to announce we are finally developing ‘Hello, I’m Dolly – An Original Musical’ for the Broadway stage.”
The news immediately left her fans in a tizzy, who left excited comments like: “Tony incoming,” and: “Oh my gosh!!!! Consider me a broadway girlie now!” and: “I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE.”
Dolly later shared a statement alongside the news, which reads: “”I’ve written many original songs for the show and included all your favorites in it as well. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll clap, you’ll stomp, it truly is a Grand Ol’ Opera. Pun and fun intended.”
Not many details have been revealed about the new musical at this point, except that Dolly will be overseeing all music and lyrics. The production will be based on a book co-written by the singer and Maria S. Schlatter, a producer who earned an Emmy as an Executive Producer for Dolly Parton’s “Christmas on the Square.”
In 2016, when a TV movie inspired by her popular song “Coat of Many Colors” aired on NBC, the renowned “I Will Always Love You” singer expressed her desire to bring both the story and her extensive catalogue to Broadway at some point in the future.
In an interview with Variety, she said: “For years I’ve thought it would make a good movie and I knew there would be a time that was right. I’ve been offered many deals to do it through the years but it just didn’t seem like the exact right time.”
“This past year I was working on a Broadway musical based on my life story and it delved into my childhood. … There’s nothing about family and faith on TV anymore and I decided it would be a real good time to do a show like that.”
Dolly revealed that a lot of what was in the movie would be part of the musical as well, adding: “The whole first act is my early days before I went to Nashville. The second act is about my days in Nashville and beyond.”
“So, the first part of the musical will be a lot like ‘Coat of Many Colors’ with music and songs and will involve more details. I thought it would be a good boost and kickoff for [the musical] and a good promotional tool.”
At the time, she theorized that the show was still a few years away, but efforts were underway even back then. “We’re working on it now. We’re auditioning people and looking for all the right people. It will be probably two years before it actually hits the stage knowing how slow things go.”
