A strange throwback to the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a weak book and uninteresting plot make this so-called new musical one helluva’ car crash.
By Hamza Jahanzeb | 26 October 2024
Now, I don’t profess to being the biggest Dolly Parton fan. Far from it, but when 9 to 5 or Here You Come Again comes on shuffle, you bet I’ll be boogying. Therefore, when a friend suggested that I come to Woking (a place I’d never been and somewhat near to them), I was enthused for a long-awaited catch up for lunch (which was fantastic, at Beit Beirut) and proceed to going to see a show only billed as ‘the new Dolly Parton musical’. Right.
From the offset, it appears that Dolly Parton’s songs are to be used but the first error in this show is that the production begins with the protagonist (a gay man called Kevin who loves Dolly’s music) who enters the stage through a window with a facemask firmly on. WOAH. A throwback to COVID-19? Just why! No baby no! Adding to this that there is no set, bar the bedroom attic, and Dolly’s wig isn’t laid on properly, she simply warbles mimicking her accent (slipping into English here and there) and gestured to the crowd which gets a flat response. It felt like an impersonator had a wish to do their thing, and conned a group of theatre producers to come along to put on a show.
The storyline was bland, boring, unimaginative and ultimately cringe-inducing. There were times when the fourth wall was broken, but even I was embarrassed for the talent on stage who were let down by the material. The stage lights were better than anything else the production was bringing to the table. And the shocking nature of there being such a statis first half, audiences were rustling, bored out of their minds as to what they had been boked into. There was also an offensive co-opting of AAVE and Black queer club kid culture, which again made me cringe given there were no people of colour involved in this show.
Unfortunately the same person who played Dolly co-wrote this, and the direction was utterly reprehensible. There were times when the actor playing Kevin changed on stage and it looked really poorly rehearsed and very tragic. He dons a Dolly wig (again, not laid properly) and the sound that came out of the mouth was not pleasant. Whilst my fellow theatregoers were plying themselves with prosecco, this teetotal needed something to drink. My friend fell asleep, and we bailed at the interval. Enough is enough, I’m afraid.
It was unfortunate that we did not stay the whole show – luckily for me, I wasn’t reviewing in an official press capacity so didn’t need to – but I did want to do awrite up on this bizarre, awful experience (my first at the New Vic) in Woking. The production proudly claims that it had several successful runs across the United States, it comes to the UK for a tour and has a run set for London. I hope it had only stayed in that side of the Atlantic. Dreadful stuff.
Frankly, it’s offensive to Dolly’s legacy using her music but lessen her credit by bringing her as a departed soul vehicle to move this show along. Nothing about the premise particularly clicked. A show has to be particularly bad if it makes Dolly’s music majorly suck with a severe creative failure on so many accounts. I didn’t think the lighting was bad (hence the one and lone star), but the sound of the vocals was pitchy and were not delivering on the Saturday matinee performance I attended.
It was also a shame not to have the principal Stevie Webb performing as Kevin, meaning it felt like the understudy was on (which is normally fine) but this person seemed under rehearsed and genuinely like he could have been picked form the crowd thirty minutes before. Quite frankly, the energy on stage would have been surpassed by wallpaper that sang.
Overall, Here You Come Again was excruciatingly painful to watch and a show that I won’t be certainly not be seeing again. The best part, for me, was when my party left at the interval and instead went to a local pub.
https://hereyoucomeagain.co.uk/
** N.B. This is an honest review, and the reviewer has purchased the tickets themself. The reviewer has written this with their own editorial control, with no external influence on how to frame the production that was showcased. **