Dolly Parton is currently prepping a Broadway musical that will tell the story of her life and career, and she has a unique idea for how to cast the actresses who will play her.
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Parton chatted about the forthcoming show with People, calling the production a "biggie goal" that she's had for "many, many years."
"That'd be the one that I want to make certain I get done while I'm still kicking, while I'm around to stay involved in it," she says.
Parton is personally involved in the entire production, including casting, and she says she'd like to put on a bit of a contest to find the stars who will portray her on stage.
"We're going to be auditioning and trying to find them through different means," Parton says. "I think that'll be fun for people, too. You never know where you're going to find them. They may never have been on stage before, or maybe in some local theater somewhere, but we're going to look for them and that's going to be part of the fun, I think."
The singer notes that the show will require a total of three actresses to portray "young Dolly," "earlier years Dolly" and "older Dolly."
Parton shared news of the musical in 2016 while chatting with Variety about her TV movie, "Coat of Many Colors." She says the idea for the movie came about while she was working on the musical. She also shared what she imagines as the general format for the show.
"The whole first act is my early days before I went to Nashville," she says. "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."
In 2016, Parton estimated the musical would be ready in a few years, but her plans were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. She told USA Today in October of last year that the unexpected obstacle almost made her veer from her original idea.
"I was just about to have it ready when COVID hit and Broadway shut down," she said. "Then I thought, 'Well, maybe I'll do it as a biopic,' and wrote up a script for that. But then I was like, 'Nah, everybody's doing a biopic! I'm going back to Broadway now that it's open.'"
As of now, Parton expects yet-to-be-titled musical to hit the stage in the spring of 2025.
