Dolly Parton at Work on New Children's Musical

According to the Chicago Sun Times, country music legend and 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL creator Dolly Parton is hard at work on a new and exciting project. The semi-autobiographical children's musical is about "a mountain girl who makes good." The show will take place in Tennessee, and will feature the gospel music that Parton grew up with.

On musical theatre Parton commented, "Sure, I saw some of the great movie musicals when I was young, but in 1964, when I went to New York for the first time with my high school class, I only got to the movies - it was to see 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,' and it was a real big deal for me. But I also remember the show 'Hello Dolly' was just coming out at the time, and there were signs for it all over the place, and I thought they were welcoming me to the city. Later I wanted to do a countrified version of that show -the same songs, but with a bluegrass flavor. It never happened, but I really am Dolly [Levi] in a way."

On writing the music for the Broadway hit she added, "A good song is a good song, with a strong beginning, middle and end. You've got to keep it interesting, and cover the territory. But what was most appealing to me, and most different, was that Broadway songs are not as structured as pop and country ones, and you can take them beyond the usual three minutes. It was fun to ramble a bit, and to bring more depth to the characters and subject."

To read the full article, visit: http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/3276854-421/parton-dolly-musical-though-broadway.html