Here You Come Again: Review

Queen of Country, Dolly Parton certainly has the magic touch when it comes to connecting with audiences. Here You Come Again takes that Dolly sparkle, casting a warm Tennessee spell to bring Dolly to life as a no-nonsense, straight-talking, roof-raising fairy godmother.

Her task is to lift self-pitying, 40-something, Kevin out of his cheesy-puff eating wallowing and help him recognise beauty in himself and the world again.

Yes, it’s schmaltzy, but with a self-aware comedic tone that lets the audience know from the start that they are here for escapist fun.

The show opens as it means to go on, warming the audience with Baby I’m Burning as a PPE-masked Kevin climbs the ladder into his attic room and sprays antiseptic on his shopping while dancing away. Tricia Paoluccio’s vocals are so close to the real thing, it’s hard to believe Kevin’s not playing a track.

But we soon discover that all is not as glowing as it seems. It’s the summer of 2020. Kevin has been dumped by his boyfriend and his living back with his parents, isolated in his teenage bedroom surrounded by old toys and Dolly posters. As Kevin describes it, he is in one big ‘P-hole’.

Kevin breaks the third wall to pour his heart out to the audience. In the first act this feels a bit odd. There are a lot of lockdown gags about hand washing and toilet rolls. At one point the script even acknowledges the literally ‘crappy’ jokes. But at times the comedy feels laboured, and it seems a big ask for actor Steven Webb to hold the audience with this material. By the interval I admit to thinking just give me Tricia Paoluccio as a Dolly tribute act, which is phenomenal, and forget the story.

Perhaps before the show opens in the West End, the comedy in the first act can be tightened because in the second act it fizzes. It is full of genuinely laugh-out-loud moments that energise, along with Dolly’s brilliant back-catalogue.

There are all the hits you’d expect – Jolene, 9 to 5, I Will Always Love You, Here You Come Again and more. Without spoiling the surprise, the performance of Islands in the Stream is worth the ticket price alone.

By the end, the comedy casts its spell on the child in everyone. After all, who would say no to a sing-a-long with a Dolly Parton fairy godmother? And if the real one isn’t available Tricia Paoluccio will make you believe she is.

Here You Come Again is at Lowry, Salford from 29 October to 2 November 2024. Age Guidance 11+

Read our interview with Tricia Paoluccio on writing and starring in Here You Come Again.