Dolly Parton musical names Broadway cast for December previews
Katie Rose Clarke will lead DOLLY: A True Original Musical on Broadway in the title role. The production begins previews on Dec. 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York and is slated to open on Jan. 19, 2027. Billboard reported the dates and casting on Oct. 2.
Clarke is not the only actor playing Parton. Carrie St. Louis will play the part billed as "Dolly," while 11-year-old newcomer Norah Nunes will play "Little Dolly." Three performers sharing one life story is common in stage biographies. It lets the show move across different ages without changing the lead.
The supporting cast covers two central figures from Parton's life and career. Gabriel Ebert will play Porter Wagoner, the singer and television host whose show Parton joined in 1967 before the pair parted in 1974. John Behlmann will play Carl Dean, Parton's husband.
The book, the spoken story that holds the songs together, is by Parton and Maria S. Schlatter. Bartlett Sher directs. Clarke already knows the material. She played the role in the musical's Nashville production.
Nunes arrives through an open search. She was one of the finalists in the "Search For Dolly" online open casting call. The producers cast her as the youngest version of the singer.
Producers also confirmed a large access plan. They will provide 30,000 free tickets to New York City public school middle and high school students during the show's first year on Broadway. The initiative is run in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, Billboard reported.
Tickets for the St. James run are on sale now through the show's official site, dollymusical.com. The site carries the tagline "The rhinestones were never the whole story." The Jan. 19 opening date falls on Parton's birthday. She was born on Jan. 19, 1946, which makes the 2027 opening her 81st birthday.
The Broadway dates follow an earlier step. Parton had announced a four-week world premiere staging for the musical. Her office later billed the Broadway arrival as "DOLLY: A True Original Musical Comes to Broadway This Winter."
For general readers, the names map to a long public career. Parton was born in a one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children. She moved to Nashville in 1964, joined The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967 and later opened Dollywood in 1986.
What makes this stand out is the scale of the welcome. Thirty thousand free seats is a large number for a new Broadway show. It puts students in the room in year one.
