BROADWAY actress Tricia Paoluccio has never met Dolly Parton but inhabits the Tennessee country music icon to the max in the musical Here You Come Again.
Headed for York’s Grand Opera House next week after a London season at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, she says: “I met her sister Rachel, who saw our show in Tennessee, but unfortunately Dolly was away shooting music videos for her rock album [November 2023’s Rockstar], so she wasn’t able to come along herself.
“I don’t know what I’d do if I ever met her. I’d die! I would ask her first, ‘Can I borrow some of your wigs for our show?’ But if I was having a real heart-to-heart with Dolly, I’d want to know, ‘How have you been able to navigate your life and career the way that you have?’ She really has never had a misstep.”
Navigating a path through life in Covid-troubled times with dollops of home-spun advice from an imagined version of Dolly is the story of Here You Come Again, wherein diehard Dolly devotee Kevin (played by West End actor Stevie Webb) is taught “a whole lot about life, love and how to pull yourself up by your bootstraps…even if your bootstraps don’t have rhinestones”.
“I’ve always loved Dolly and been able to sing like her,” says Tricia. “It was my dream to someday be able to use this ability in a theatrical way and thought the best way to do it was to have it be another person’s journey.
“I wanted to sing my favourite Dolly songs but put her in a situation where we could see her in action in a real-life way, in a fantasy friendship where everything is done with lots of humour and tough love too, instead of it being a bio musical about her life.”
Fully authorised by Dolly herself, a plethora of Parton hits feature in the show: Jolene, 9 To 5, Islands In The Stream, I Will Always Love You, Here You Come Again et al. “But if people are expecting a tribute show, it’s not. It’s a proper theatre show; a play with music, with the side benefit of sometimes feeling like a Dolly Parton concert,”says Tricia.
“I think every audience member will find the show to be really funny, with lots of laughs, but they’ll also be surprised by how deep and emotional it is. It’s not about Covid, but the pandemic provides a universal backdrop experience as a time when we needed to let go of our plans, our job routines, our sense of identity. If you were defined by your career, you had a crisis over your identity – and Covid was even more of a worldwide experience than World War Two.”
Tricia co-created the original American script in collaboration with director Gabriel Barre and Emmy Award-winning comedy and song writer Bruce Vilanch in “one of the most harmonious, joyous experiences” of her creative career.
“We each brought something unique to the journey,” she says. “Gabriel is an expert in creating the theatrical framework and keeping us on track. He’s such a diplomat and truly a great director.
“I helped conceive of the basic story and I’d share how I think Dolly would say something or how I think she would behave in a situation.”
Vilanch is a “comedy genius,” she says. “He fleshed out the dialogue based on all of our brainstorming sessions with personal insights to Dolly as he wrote for her and the world of stand-up comics since he’s also from that world.”.
Tricia then worked with Gimme Gimme Gimme writer Jonathan Harvey to give the story a British revamp for the UK tour that began last April in her first ever visit to these isles. “Our producer, Simon Friend, thought Jonathan would be perfect, and he’s been a lovely collaborator, so easy to work with, understanding how things will hit a British audience,” she says.
“What’s wonderful about our show is that you could adapt it to any culture of a person in trouble, who needs Dolly’s help. It could be anywhere, but for this tour we needed the humour to be specific to the UK, changing all of the cultural references to fit.
“We’ve done 32 cities already and they’ve absolutely loved it. They are so on board with it not being a concert but a comedy with a deep heart.”
Summing up Dolly Parton’s appeal, Tricia says: “When it comes to her songwriting, she is a true artist. Like any great songwriter, she knows how to tell a story and connect with the heart, and she’s just blessed with that gift to write so many songs that do that.
“She can tap into human experience, and when you hear one of her sad songs about someone else’s experience, it can make you feel better about yourself, making you think ‘I have so much to be grateful for’.”
Like Dolly, Tricia comes from farming stock. “Even though there are many things where Dolly and I are so different – I’m a plain Jane, who doesn’t care about jewels and clothes; Dolly would be very disappointed at how I look off stage – but I do connect with her in many ways.
“I grew up on a small farm in Modesta, California, a 40-acre almond farm, where my parents taught me that happiness came from small things, growing up surrounded by nature. I do align with Dolly in seeing beauty all around, and like Dolly, I have many interests and I’m an entrepreneur with two businesses as a teacher and an artist with a pressed flower brand.”
Simon Friend Entertainment and Leeds Playhouse present Here You Come Again, Grand Opera House, York, January 28 to February 1, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.