Dolly Parton is bringing her signature sparkle to the Broadway stage.
The queen of country revealed exciting new details about her upcoming musical, Hello, I’m Dolly, set to make its debut sometime in 2026.
The long-awaited musical will reportedly chronicle her life and career — from her humble beginnings in Tennessee, where she grew up with 11 siblings, to her rise in the Nashville music scene and beyond. It will feature a mix of her timeless hits and new original songs.
“I’m writing my life story as a musical for Broadway,” Parton, 78, said during a conversation with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Aug. 27. “We’re working on it now, and it takes months and months to get those kinds of things together.”
While the show will include “all the hits that you know,” Parton emphasized that the story will delve into “what was going on at that time” in her life, offering a deeper look behind the music.
Here’s everything we know so far about Hello, I’m Dolly — and the big question on everyone’s mind: Who could don the iconic blond wig to play the queen of country?
What we know about ‘Hello, I’m Dolly’
The title is a nod to her 1967 debut album, which included songs like “Dumb Blonde” and “Something Fishy.”
The production has been in development for years, but major clues about what it will look like can be found in NBC’s TV movie Coat of Many Colors (2015), first revealed to fans through an exclusive preview on Yahoo.
Introduced and narrated by Parton herself, the film starred Alyvia Alyn Lind as a young Parton and was inspired by the singer’s autobiographical song of the same name. It drew in nearly 16 million viewers and marked the beginning of Parton’s journey to bring her life story to Broadway.
In a June 2016 interview with Variety, Parton revealed that the film was intended as “a good promotional tool” for the Broadway musical, which at the time had no firm release date.
She confirmed that the stage production would delve into aspects of her life depicted in the TV film, including her harsh experiences as a young girl like the premature birth and loss of a baby brother.
“The whole first act is my early days before I went to Nashville,” she said of the musical. “The second act is about my days in Nashville and beyond. So the first part of the musical will be a lot like Coat of Many Colors with music and songs and will involve more details.”
Who else is involved?
The musical will feature a score by Parton and will include some of her biggest hits as well as new songs.
The book will be co-written by Parton and longtime collaborator Maria Schlatter, who won an Emmy in 2021 for producing Netflix’s Christmas on the Square, starring Parton and Christine Baranski. It’s produced by Parton, Adam Speers for ATG Productions and Danny Nozell for CTK Enterprises.
It will be directed by Bartlett Sher, whose Broadway directorial credits include The Bridges of Madison County (2014) and the revivals of Fiddler on the Roof (2015) and My Fair Lady (2018). Additional members of the creative team and casting have yet to be announced.
This ain’t her first rodeo
Though Parton herself hasn’t starred on Broadway as a performer, she has appeared in musicals as a composer and lyricist.
In 2009, Parton premiered 9 to 5: The Musical, the stage adaptation of the 1980 hit film in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Parton not only composed the score for the show but also saw Megan Hilty step into her original role. The musical ran on Broadway from April to September 2009 and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best New Musical.
Before that, Parton’s music had been featured in Candles, Snow & Mistletoes (1993), a three-day Christmas variety show that featured her 1984 song “With Bells On,” a duet with Kenny Rogers.
Parton’s music was also showcased in a regional production of Here You Come Again, a musical that debuted last year featuring the story of a diehard fan whose imaginary version of Parton gets him through trying times. Though she wasn’t part of the creative team, the musical featured her hits “Jolene,” “9 to 5” and “Islands in the Stream.”
Could three actresses play her?
The show could very well be in three acts, featuring different actresses who would play her at three different phases of her life and career — like what The Cher Show and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical have done.
“I have to have at least two, well, three Dollys, really,” she said in a February 2022 interview on the talk show Mr. Nashville Talks.
“I have to have a little Dolly, we have to have the medium one and, now that I’ve lived long enough to be older, I might play myself as my older self,” she teased. “I don’t know. Anyhow, but there’s many ways to do it.”
Who could play the queen of country music?
Parton has acknowledged that no one has yet officially signed on to play her in the upcoming musical, joking in the 2022 interview with Mr. Nashville Talks, “It depends on when I get it done. Most of them age out!”
Over the years, however, she’s teased a few stars who could fill her iconic shoes:
Kristin Chenoweth
The Broadway powerhouse and high-pitched soprano has for years been subtly — and sometimes not so subtly — campaigning to play Parton.
In March 2022, she playfully retweeted a post about the musical, simply stating, “I’m ready Dolly.” Her ambitions were crystal clear in a December 2021 interview with Jay Leno on The Kelly Clarkson Show, in which she declared, “I want to [play Dolly in the musical]. I just want to say, ‘Dolly, where’s my camera?’”
Parton has expressed her support for Chenoweth at various times.
During Carrie Underwood’s 2009 Christmas special, Parton said, “I think Kristin Chenoweth would be real good,” adding, “I’m hoping that she might possibly do that when I get finished.”
She echoed these sentiments on Mr. Nashville Talks in 2022, saying, “I love Kristin Chenoweth. She’s just absolutely fantastic. I thought she’d be an ideal person to do that.”
Carrie Underwood
In the same 2009 Christmas special, Parton jokingly suggested that Underwood could take on the role.
“[If you’re interested], we could get you a big ol’ bra and get you all fixed up!” she said. While it seemed lighthearted, it showed that Parton saw real potential in the American Idol alum.
Miley Cyrus
Though Cyrus hasn’t publicly campaigned for the role, fans were quick to nominate the “Flowers” singer, who also happens to be Parton’s goddaughter.
When Parton shared the official logo of the musical on Instagram in June, fans flooded the comments with suggestions like, “Nominating @mileycyrus to play young Dolly” and “Cast Miley Cyrus as Dolly—we need her to get a Tony!”
Cyrus donned Parton’s famous wig during a January 2020 appearance on The Tonight Show, where she and host Jimmy Fallon impersonated Parton and Kenny Rogers for a rendition of their 1983 duet “Islands in the Stream.”
