Written by Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre, and Tricia Paoluccio

With Additional Material by Jonathan Harvey

Directed by Gabriel Barre

Review by Annie Aslett

Tickets: from £13.00

Here You Come Again gives country legend, Dolly Parton, the “jukebox musical” treatment in this new production currently touring the UK, showing at Glasgow’s King’s Theatre until 6^th October. Stop reading here if you’re a huge Dolly Parton fan – you’re going to love this show. Maybe continue reading if you’ve only got a passing appreciation.

In the Here You Come Again universe, Parton is an omnipresent Mary Poppins-esque figure, materialising in the homes of hard-up fans across the world to offer them a spoonful of country sugar. In this story, we meet Kevin Rutter, a lifelong Parton fan who finds himself self-isolating in his childhood attic bedroom when he and his partner “take a break” in March 2020. That’s right – it’s a COVID musical! Take a COVID bingo card along with you – Joe Wicks, stockpiling toilet roll, disinfecting groceries and Tiger King all get a mention. We’re just close/far enough away from lockdowns that this feels nostalgic, and surprising, as a setting: a piece of history that will soon be overdone as more and more lockdown projects appear on our stages and screens. Total isolation does go some way to explaining the mental state of someone who conjures the spirit of Dolly Parton in their hour of need. We all went there.

Kevin is played by Steven Webb – those who saw this performer in his extended run as Elder McKinley in the Book of Mormon will know him as a powerhouse comic actor whose stage presence begs for a leading role – Here You Come Again creators Bruce Vilanchi, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio are lucky that he chose this one. Webb brings much-needed vitality to a cliché-heavy script – his tongue-in-cheek flamboyance does a lot of heavy lifting in keeping the show from veering into sickly sweet. Webb’s costume (more on Paul Will’s fabulous costume design later) of cargo shorts and a daring socks/sandals combo only goes so far in making Webb convincing as a man “on the wrong side of 40”. Webb’s youthful features (“I thought that wee guy was incredible” heard on the way out) had me Googling his age in the interval (he’s 39, by the way), as his look reads more bearded teenager than man approaching middle age. Never fear, though; Webb has a trick for all actors who are blessed not to look their age – a well-timed ‘dab’ during the curtain call cements you as a true millennial. Image aside, Webb shows his experience as he flits deftly between comedy and tragedy as chinks of loneliness and depression break through Kevin’s sassy armour. 

There’s only one person who could help Kevin out of his rut – hello, Dolly! Kevin gets used to having actual Dolly Parton in his attic remarkably quickly, as co-creator Paoluccio pops out of one of Kevin’s posters in his hour of need. Paoluccio’s Dolly is spot-on and a joy to watch– her life-long love of the singer is evident in her pitch-perfect impression of Dolly’s light yet gritty vocal sound. Paoluccio is Dolly-incarnate in her meticulously designed outfits by Paul Wills; her costumes and wigs are all unique and created as nods to different eras of Parton’s iconic look.

Two excellent lead performances are enough to get on board with the bonkers premise, but the show’s script and structure prevent this musical from taking off. Jukebox musicals are notoriously difficult to do well – the best manage to find a balance between creating a believable narrative whilst cramming in all the hits. Here You Come Again firmly favours song over story, as some of Parton’s biggest tunes are crowbarred into a barely-there plot – without the songs, this story could be told in 5 minutes rather than two hours. This draws question marks around the point of this musical – the Dolly-loving crowd (complete with a lot of high-quality Dolly cosplay) would have turned out for Paoluccio, the world-class Dolly impersonator that she is, doing Parton’s greatest hits. The moments of concert-style interactivity – singing along to 9 to 5, phone torches swaying to Islands in the Stream, and the medley of hits during the curtain call –  are the highlights. Combine this lack of direction with a script that is heavy on Parton-themed inspirational tea-towel quotes; the result is confused.

Or, maybe, too traditionally “American”. Writer Jonathan Harvey was tasked with translating this all-American show, originally written by Vilanch and Barre, into a show that works for British audiences. Harvey clearly had a lot of fun with transposing the cultural references, but the script’s soul still feels distinctly American. Herein lies the confusion: there are some genuinely funny jokes here, which, combined with Webb’s wit, make for a lot of laughter; as a result, for the dryer humour of UK audiences, the vapid platitudes feel more funny than sincere. Take, for example, the scene during which Kevin realises that he should break up with his partner after his Islands in the Stream duet with his hero – I don’t think “somewhere in there, he got swept downstream” was supposed to be a joke, though there is laughter from the audience all the same.

Unhinged though the show is, the quality of the performances, design and, of course, songs are enough to make Here You Come Again well worth a night out. Don your rhinestones and cowboy hats, and strap in for a wild, if bizarre, ride.

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