The Dolly Parton New Christmas Musical Comes To London Tonight

As you may glean from the title, the new musical is an adapted version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with the same premise but set in Tennessee, and with Dolly Parton songs, which pretty much sells itself. In this incarnation, Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly owner of a mining company in the Smoky Mountains, who is visited by three ghosts in the middle of a huge December blizzard to convince him to make amends for his cold-hearted ways. The adaptation is written by David H. Bell, Paul T. Couch and Curt Wollan, with songs by Dolly.

My songs weave the music of my beautiful Smoky Mountains into this timeless Christmas story. Bringing our reimagined Charles Dickens’ classic to London feels like a homecoming.

-Dolly Parton

The show won’t be purely frivolous, fun-filled songs – the musical tries to capture the troubles and difficulties of the era while retaining some of the original Dickens story’s more somber elements. Having said that, it’s billed as “heartwarming”, so you can still expect some of that Dolly Parton spirit. There’s nothing announced in the way of casting yet, so keep your eyes peeled as the show’s opening night approaches.

The show’s set to open over here at Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre on December 8th, running for a month until January 8th. Having previously had a few small try-out runs in the US, this will be the musical’s first proper, full-on stage show.

Speaking on the musical’s London arrival, Parton commented: “Bringing our reimagined Charles Dickens’ classic to London feels like a homecoming. My songs weave the music of my beautiful Smoky Mountains into this timeless Christmas story, and I can’t wait for London audiences to hear them as we tell that story, set in a place that is truly special to me.”