Dolly Parton died Tuesday at age 80, but the Broadway musical telling her life story is moving ahead on the exact timeline she set before her death.
Producers confirmed the Broadway production Dolly: A True Original Musical will open Jan. 19 — the date that would have been her 81st birthday.
“As was Dolly’s wish, the Broadway production of Dolly: A True Original Musical will begin previews Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York City,” the show’s producers said in a statement confirming the schedule Tuesday.
Movieguide® has followed Parton’s career for years, from her rise out of poverty in the Smoky Mountains to a review of her documentary DOLLY PARTON: HERE I AM. Her faith was never far from that story.
“A belief in God is essential,” she told Country Woman Magazine in an interview widely cited over the years, adding, “we grew up believing that through God all things are possible.”
Related: Dolly Parton, Faith-Filled Country Icon and Movieguide® Award Winner, Dies at 80
Tony winner Bartlett Sher directs the musical, which Parton co-wrote with two-time Emmy winner Maria S. Schlatter, drawing on Parton’s own words to tell her story in her own voice.
“Dolly has never really shared her story before,” Sher told Playbill ahead of the show’s Nashville premiere last year. “This musical allows her to reveal the unfiltered story in her own words.” Two-time Tony and Grammy winner Stephen Oremus serves as music supervisor, weaving in Parton favorites like “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “9 to 5.”
It’s Parton’s second trip to Broadway as a writer, following 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL in 2009. Just months ago, she was still talking about the year ahead with characteristic enthusiasm, gushing about opening a museum celebrating her life and career. “My whole life has been a musical,” she said earlier this year of the Broadway production, “and I can’t wait to present it to you on Broadway.”
Parton’s family confirmed her death Tuesday in a statement praising her as someone whose life “shone bright enough for the world to see” through her music, songwriting, wit and warmth. Tributes poured in from across the entertainment industry and beyond, honoring a woman whose songwriting carried her out of a one-room cabin in Tennessee and into seven decades of hits, a theme park bearing her name and movie roles in 9 TO 5, STEEL MAGNOLIAS and THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS.
For Christian families who grew up on her music, the news lands with a particular kind of grief — the loss of an artist who never hid where her gifts came from. Parton often credited her faith and her family for keeping her grounded through more fame and money than most performers ever see, and she seemed to understand that both were gifts to be stewarded rather than hoarded.
DOLLY: A TRUE ORIGINAL MUSICAL now carries the weight of being her final word on her own life, delivered from a stage instead of a stage name. Previews begin Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre, with the show officially opening on what would have been her 81st birthday — a date Parton herself helped choose before she died.
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