Dolly Parton speaks onstage during Kicking Off CMA Fest: A Special Conversation With Dolly Parton Hosted By Rachel Smith at Music City Center on June 06, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Originally appeared on E! Online
Dolly Parton is gettin’ ready to giddy up back to Broadway.
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The country music icon — who received a Tony Award nomination in 2009 for "9 to 5: The Musical" — just unveiled the search for actresses to play her in a new stage show about her life coming in 2026.
“I'm announcing the search for Dolly,” she said in a Dec. 5 Instagram announcement. “Whether you're chasing your dreams from a small town or you've spent years performing on stages across the country, I wanna give you the chance to help me bring my story to Broadway and maybe even play me.”
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“This show’s a celebration of my music, my life and all the amazing people who have been with me along the way,” she continued. “Now, we're looking for talented performers who can capture the spirit of my journey, whether you're an experienced theater professional or an undiscovered gym with that little special song.”
But the 78-year-old — whose career began by age 10 and has spanned music, TV and film, garnering 11 Grammys, inductions into the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame and countless other honors — isn’t just looking for one person to portray her.
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“There are three Dollys that we're looking for,” Parton exclusively told E! News. “There's got to be a little Dolly, because I started when I was very young. And then there's the middle Dolly that I spent a lot of those years. And then the older Dolly, the one that kind of narrates the whole thing [and] comes in and out and even kind of works with the other two.”
And while she is determined to find the right women to play the parts, she’s mostly looking forward to the process.
“[The search is] going to be fun 'cause you never know who you're going to find,” Parton explained. “It would be great if we found some unknown person that was just fantastic. I keep thinking it's going to be hardest to find the little Dolly.”
“Wouldn't we be blessed if we could find a little Shirley Temple?” she asked. “You know, one of those little kids that can memorize and remember and dance and sing and all that. But I'm hoping that we wind up with all the good people.”
—Reporting by John Redmann
