Here You Come Again (How Dolly Saved My Life in 12 Easy Songs) @ Casa Manana
Photo courtesy of Delaware Theatre Company
—Review by Jan Farrington
A Dolly Parton comes a-visitin’ musical? Why not?
Kevin’s up in the attic of his childhood home—the place he used to call his “tree house.” It’s May 2020, and his parents want him to quarantine up there for a while. The NYC comedy club where he hung out (in hopes of stardom) is closed, he’s lost his day job as a “cater-waiter”—and his boyfriend’s decided to take a break and re-think their relationship.
All Kevin has left is the food his mom sends upstairs in a basket, and the Dolly Parton posters and paraphernalia he’s been collecting most of his life.
And then…Dolly comes to call.
That’s the premise of a brand-new musical-in-progress at Casa Mañana, called Here You Come Again (How Dolly Saved My Life in 12 Easy Songs). Five companies around the U.S. are developing the production (Casa is the second “host” company), and audience reactions are helping the writers, composers and other “creatives,” who are still tweaking and tinkering with the final form of the show.
Written by Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre (who directs and choreographs), and Tricia Paoluccio (who plays Dolly), the show uses a slew of songs written by Parton, plus a few other songwriters’ tunes she recorded over her long career. Some were her biggest hits, but in a smart move the creative team chose quite a few numbers that remind us just how many good songs Dolly’s given us—even if they weren’t “huge.”
Paoluccio’s bio says Dolly Parton has been “her lifelong inspiration”—and she plays her to a sparkly T. The palomino-blonde wig helps, for sure, but Paoluccio’s vocals and accent are just about perfect in songs such as “I Will Always Love You,” “Two Doors Down,” “Jolene,” and the rollicking “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” She sings like a bird, has spot-on comic timing, and her Dolly-esque mix of sass and truth-telling is warm and appealing.
Jamison Stern (you might know him from the Amazon series After Forever, or the STARZ series Hightown) plays woebegone Kevin, whose unhappiness draws Dolly out of his imagination and into something like real life. Stern is lively and amusing, but he makes us feel for Kevin’s tough situation—and we hope he finds better days. A scene with dueling Dolly wigs is pretty cute, and Stern is touching and true at a later moment when he gets a surprising letter—old school—in the mail.
Samuel Rushen’s lights add color and life as the lonely attic becomes a stage for theatrical songs and stories. Bobby Pearce’s costumes for Dolly are as sparkly as we could wish, and music director Eugene Gwozdz and his small band of players produce fresh, beautiful accompaniment without overtopping the singers. The microphones might need a tweak: dialogue was somewhat fuzzy and over-amplified at times, though the story practically tells itself. And Anna Louizos’ attic set design is a hoot of small surprises; it’s fun to keep finding them.
Here You Come Again plays through Sunday. After lots of serious drama on stage this fall, and before the fluff and fun of the Christmas/holiday shows, it sits in a kind of sweet spot, if you’re looking for one. You’d have to be a pretty tough character not to enjoy spending a couple of hours with this Dolly Parton, a one-of-a-kind American treasure.
WHEN: Through November 13
WHERE: Casa Mañana, Fort Worth
WEB: casamañana.org
