Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre, Tricia Paoluccio, adap Jonathan Harvey
Simon Friend Entertainment
The Lowry, Salford
October 29-November 2, 2024;. 130 mins
(Also Blackpool Grand, November 26-30; Liverpool Empire, December 3-7; Grand Opera House, York, January 28-February 1; Sunderland Empire, February 11-15)
Dolly Parton has two substantial assets; a great voice and a positive personality. Which makes her an
ideal fantasy companion for a sad, 40-year-old-loser, Kevin (Steven Webb) locked up in his Halifax
attic during covid.
Even sadder is that the attic belongs to his parents who send him up chicken pasta bake with a gingerbread man by rope to avoid contamination. And to add insult to injury he has broken up with his lover. A real riches to rags story...
Steven is the star of Here You Come Again. With a long career in the theatre, starting with Oliver!, he uses
physical comedy coupled to an onstage wish to be a real comic performer, to great effect. Anyone
who can wear Birkenstocks while dancing with Dolly and not look like a wally has to be a good
performer. He conveys the passion of the true nerd for a person who is unobtainable in the real
world. But in the comfort of their own attic bed he can be with the object of his desire, at least for a
while.
Tricia Paoluccio plays a rather restrained Dolly, but after the real one, anyone else might lack a few
sequins. What she does have is a voice that catches some of the exuberance of the parade of hits the audience sings along to gusto – and she manages to catch the relentless goodwill perfectly, just like the real Dolly. One could imagine being with Tricia on good and bad hair days.
The three writers have had a comparatively easy ride, which is the real problem for the play. When
you have a Nobel-winning poet like Bob Dylan you can have a story that uses his songs (as in Girl from
the North Country) to enhance your tale. This production appears to have worked work the other way: these are the songs, what story can we attach? Despite this, director Gabriel Barre makes good
use of the actors, showing them as real people.
The live band adds to the reality element. A frenetic hoedown performance by Kevin uses their,
and his, skills to eye-watering effect, despite his Birkenstocks. The audience in the front row gets
more than perhaps they anticipated from a musical play.
More info and tickets here
