Review: Here You Come Again (Leeds Playhouse)

Friday, 17th May 2024 at Leeds Playhouse

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

New musical Here You Come Again is a fabulous, funny and full-hearted show which celebrates both the icon that is Dolly Parton and the importance of making hard choices to secure your own happiness.

Kevin (Steven Webb) is hunkering down in his parents’ attic following a break-up and in the midst of lockdown. Surrounded by his adolescent bedroom adorned in Dolly-everything and nostalgic junk found in most loft spaces (set design: Paul Wills), he tries to figure out how to handle this tragic set-up. He asks himself “What would Dolly do?” – and sure enough, Dolly Parton (Tricia Paoluccio) struts in to show the way.

Webb is endearing and very funny as Kevin, with his self-deprecating humour, mildly manic energy and snappy delivery. There’s also a more vulnerable side to Kevin (as there is to Dolly, briefly) which, while Webb’s performance certainly stands firm, doesn’t feel particularly developed within a show which is wisely much more focused on lightness and pace. Lizzi Gee’s choreography does get its moment to shine in a particularly entertaining surprise performance from Webb – a bit Kevin meets Pose.

Paoluccio offers an uncanny likeness to Parton, crafting that bold stage presence and unshakesable wit and self-assurance. From the catches in her speech to the distinctive giggling and wisecracking, Paoluccio is the heart and soul of this show – which was probably always going to happen when building a show around such a powerhouse star.

And Webb and Paoluccio are a fine pairing, bouncing off each other thanks to a comic blend of keen familiarity and quick wit – the sequence about Parton’s tearjerkers is particularly wonderful. Aidan Cutler and Charlotte Elisabeth Yorke join proceedings as peripheral characters (parents; distant boss; discarded lover) and back up vocals providing those beautiful harmonies characteristic of Parton’s back catalogue.

Writers Bruce Vilanch (who wrote for the real Dolly’s eponymous primetime TV show), Gabriel Barre (who also directs) and Tricia Pauluccio (who also stars) liken their creation to Mary Poppins in that this heightened character full of wisdom and confidence imparts valuable advice and then briskly departs. The likeness is fair, but it’s also worth noting the enjoyable likeness to other diva-worship stories like Little Voice and My Judy Garland Life which so beautifully tell of the influence stars have on those seeking escape from a difficult reality.

Additional material is also provided by Jonathan Harvey who adapts the original US script for U.K. audiences brilliantly, with reference points which provide warm familiarity and some lines very reminiscent of his fabulous writing for Gimme Gimme Gimme’s James Dreyfus (there are some golden crossovers between Tom and Kevin, for anyone who misses the patter of that hilarious character). The show is full of life and laughter, fully embracing the layers of camp comedy available to a story centring on a gay man meeting his idol while locked in his bedroom.

And what would a Dolly-themed musical be without the hits? The cornerstones are all here, including “9 to 5”, “Two Doors Down”, “Islands in the Stream” and “Jolene” – alongside the particularly fitting “Little Sparrow” and “Love is Like a Butterfly”. Paoluccio nails the vocal selections and by the time “Islands in the Stream” rolls around, accompanied by the final wig and costume change, I found myself fighting logic as to whether they’d somehow smuggled the real songstress on stage – it’s Paul Wills’ iconic wigs and costume designs which deliver on that final layer of convincing illusion.

What’s particularly lovely about this show – besides the nice messaging and giving Dolly Parton the fairy godmother platform she deserves – is that whether you’re a big fan or have a mild passing interest in the woman, this funny, uplifting show is so much fun and makes great use of fantastic music which really deserves to be celebrated.

Here You Come Again is at Leeds Playhouse until 8th June (tickets here) 2024 before touring until December 2024.