The world premiere of Dolly Parton’s upcoming original musical about her life and career will take place in Music City before it heads to Broadway. The legendary Country Music Hall of Fame member announced on Tuesday morning (January 28) that Dolly: An Original Musical will make its debut at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University over the summer in Nashville, Tennessee.

Parton, 79, spotlights some of her most beloved hits throughout her career — in addition to new music — in the autobiographical production. The East Tennessee-born artist teamed up with Maria S. Schlatter to write the music and lyrics of the show, which is directed by Bartlett Sher. Parton and Sher spoke about Dolly: An Original Musical during an event at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday. The pair joined The Tennessean’s Marcus Dowling on stage to respond to a few questions about the highly-anticipated production.

“Well, I ain’t gettin’ no younger, and as I tell my husband, I ain’t gettin’ no older either,” Parton said when asked what inspired her to debut a musical based on her life, and joked, “I’ve outlived so many plastic surgeons

“I actually have always wanted to do my life story as a musical, and I just thought that I wanted to see it done while I’m still around to be able to oversee it and make sure that it’s done properly, in a way that I would want to see it, rather than to wait ’til I’m gone and let somebody else decide how they thing it should be done. So, I thought that this was something I needed to do, and certainly wanted to do,” Parton said. Her upcoming musical is described:

“DOLLY: An Original Musical takes us on a journey through the life of this rhinestone in the rough, from her barefoot beginnings in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee to performing in platform heels under the bright lights of Hollywood. Featuring all her beloved hits, including ‘I Will Always Love You,’ ‘Jolene,’ ‘Coat of Many Colors,’ and ‘9 to 5,’ and new songs written by Dolly, this joyful and moving new musical will take you inside the literal rags-to-riches story of Dolly Parton and give you new insight into her triumphs, trials, and trailblazing. Directed by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher with a book by Dolly Parton and Maria S. Schlatter, DOLLY: An Original Musical is as endearing and inspiring as the global superstar herself.”

Sher said Belmont University is the “perfect” setting to debut the musical that tells the story of Parton’s life, in addition to shows taking place in New York City. He added that the musical arrives at a time “that I think we need to hear Dolly’s story very much.” Parton’s new songs appearing in her Broadway musical is “still keeping that country flavor,” including with the instruments and in the heart of storytelling.

Parton announced Dolly: An Original Musical for the first time on the CMA Close Up Stage at Fan Fair X at CMA Fest in June 2024. she said at that time that the musical, formerly titled Hello, I’m Dolly - An Original Musical, would arrive in 2026. She said she’s “been writing my life story as a Broadway musical for several years and I’m proud to announce we are finally developing ‘Hello, I’m Dolly - An Original Musical’ for the Broadway stage.”

Since then, Parton has hosted a widespread casting search for the musical. She aimed to offer the opportunity to a range of talent, “whether you’re chasing your dreams from a small town or you’ve spent years performing on stages across the country.” The casting search has since closed; however, Parton and Sher said on Tuesday that they’re still reviewing auditions and have not announced who will play Parton in the musical yet. Sher said he “could spend months and months and months getting it exactly right. …These are very important choices to make, and you have to find exactly the right people,” and it’s been “a really fun” process.

“You would not believe some of the stuff we got. We got some absolute great people,” Parton said in her discussion with Sher and Dowling. “We had drag queens. We had all kinds of people playing Dolly…We really hoped to find just the right people, and we’ll be announcing pretty soon who we are gonna have to do that. But we appreciate all the people that have applied for the job because it’s a hard job. I don’t believe I’d wanna live it again! …We’re proud of the fact that people were so interested that we got just thousands and thousands of people.

“I just want people to go away feeling like they’ve been entertained, of course, but I personally want them to see the person inside of me,” she added of the message she wants audiences to take away from the musical. “The life, the things you go through, the things you truly do have to sacrifice. Everybody thinks it’s all glamorous and glory and money and fame, but there’s so much more to a life like mine when you started when you were tiny, and the prices that you have to pay, the miles that you have to travel, and the sacrifices, like I said, that you make. I just want people to go away feeling, at the end — it’s a triumphant story. And I want them to go away feeling like, ‘woah, I’m glad I went to that. I feel like I just went to church!’”

Parton and Belmont University officials also announced that the country legend is teaming up with the university and CTK Enterprises to launch the “Dolly U” initiative. the “groundbreaking” effort aims to “celebrate and amplify the life and music of Dolly Parton—which is still being written. The program will foster and inspire creativity, innovation and character development in a rising generation of entertainment and community leaders,” per Belmont. Dolly U’s first-ever projects will connect to Dolly: An Original Musical.

Tickets are now available for the musical’s debut at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Belmont University. Dolly: An Original Musical will premiere in Nashville from July 18 through August 17, 2025. The show will debut on Broadway in 2026.

Kathi Yeager