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Dolly Parton in DC and MD sang praises of TN and her two new musicals
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Dolly Parton came to DC and MD as an ambassador for TN
Dolly Parton came to Washington, DC and suburban Maryland to sing the praises of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park for its 75th anniversary.
She gave the first preview of her new musical and CD “Sha-Kon-O-Hey! Land of Blue Smoke” on February 10 at DC’s National Press Club -- that luncheon sold out right quick like -- and then at Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD just outside the nation’s capital. She appeared that night on CNN’s “Larry King Live”.
Parton, dressed in bronze sequined suit with gold-laced corset-style matching her long blonde hair, sang a few bars of "Sha-Kon-O-Hey", "Coat of Many Colors", and "I Will Always Love You" to the normally staid, newly-star-struck National Press Club luncheon audience.
She told them she'd been asked often during the Bush administration to run for President, but always replied, "We've got anough boobs in the White House." She added quickly that "President Obama isn't one of them. I think he's great. I'm very excited about the new energy" he brings.
Parton talked a bit more about political issues. "We're just screwing ourselves royally" regarding the environment. she said as ambassador for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Smokies got their name from the haze caused by vegetation, but now the haze comes also from factories, said the East Tennessee native who grew up in the foothills where she and her 11 siblings watched its bears and other wildlife.
Parton said she will donate all proceeds from sales of her eight-song “Sha-Kon-O-Hey!” CD to the nonprofit organization Friends of the Smokies. Now that's a whole lotta green for green.
When asked about the economy -- hey, it's wonky Washington and it's the economy, stupid -- the smart woman replied, "Lord, I ain't one to know about that." She did say that she's "being cautious." The savvy sexy businesswoman, whose Dollywood theme park in the Smokies is in its 24th season, said they're "holding off on new plans to see what happens with the economy. We'll try not to lose any jobs." As for plans to build a Dollywood in Europe, she said, "Don't put it past me."
Parton noted, "I make good money, but I need it. It takes a fortune to make someone look so cheap." The audience applauded. She said she had modeled herself after a woman who had "beautiful yellow hair, red lipstick and nails, and high heels, and walked up and down the town streets. "Women said, 'she ain't nothin' but trash.' And I said, 'That's what I wanna be when I grow up." (She acknowledged that "Being a woman serves me well. I look like a woman but think like a man.")
Parton at National Press Club. Photo by Skip KaltenheuserShe sings about her role model in "Country Girl's Idea of Glam" in her other new show, “9 to 5: The Musical” which begins on Broadway with previews April 7 and opens April 30 at the Marriott Marquis Theatre. She played Doralee in the 1980 film "9 to 5" -- tagline: "Getting even (with the boss) is a full-time job" -- and wrote the film score.
Within two weeks, she wrote "a whole buncha" songs and lyrics for the Broadway-bound musical. Parton has said, “It’s been a life long dream of mine to write the songs for a Broadway musical...It’s got tons of singing and dancing and lots of big ole sets flying all over. You name it and we’ve got it, honey.” The cast includes Allison Janney, four-time Emmy® and four-time SAG award winner for the long-running TV show “The West Wing”. Director of "9 to 5: The Musical" is Tony®-winner Joe Mantello (“Wicked” among others), and the choreographer is Tony®-winner Andy Blankenbuehler (“In the Heights”).
Her musical “Sha-Kon-O-Hey!” opens May 9 -- two new musicals in one month -- at Dollywood theme park’s Celebrity Theater in Pigeon Forge, TN. The musical journey depicts the settlers, Native Americans, and others who had been displaced when the spectacular national park was created.
Seems everything’s comin’ up Dolly. Oops, that’s Gypsy.
She said she has just recorded another love song with Kenny Rogers ("Islands in the Stream") for his next CD. Her latest children's book, "I Am A Rainbow", is due out in May. "I think like a child. I may spend my second childhood writing children's books."
Through the Dollywood Foundation, her Imagination Library sent about five million books last year to more than 460,000 children in 850 communities in DC and almost all 50 states, as well as in Canada and Britain. Imagination Library sends a book a month for a child’s first 5 years to every child registered for the program in participating communities.
The first book they receive is "The Little Engine That Could" -- "I'm a little engine that did," she told the press club.
Her father, who never went to school and never learned to read or write, was the inspiration for the imagination project. "Daddy was so smart, like a horse trader. And he worked like a dog to support his 12 children and wife. I got my work ethic from him and my creativity from my mom." Parton said she's written more than 3,000 songs ever since she was 7 years old.
Nine years ago at the National Press Club, Parton announced that she was expanding Imagination Library beyond her native Sevier County. She'd wanted to put her money where her mouth is, “and with such a big mouth, that’s a pretty large sum of money.”
Then as now, Parton completely charmed the normally tough press club audience -- mostly reporters sprinkled with fans like a man in skin-tight jeans hand-painted with Dolly's image and her name in rhinestones.
She heaped on the self-effacing quips -- some oft-told, others ad libbed; amusing yarns of being overlooked at a Dolly Parton look-alike contest for cross-dressers; poignant tales of transforming herself from poverty to mega-stardom while retaining her values; with sincere, intelligent actions to help others as well as herself. She wants her legacy to "show that dreams can come true. I did what I wanted to do. I enjoyed myself and helped others. I did care, and I did try."
As Parton sings in her 2008 “Backwoods Barbie” CD,
“I’m just a backwoods Barbie with too much makeup too much hair
Don’t be fooled by thinkin’ that the goods are not all there.
Don’t let these false eyelashes lead you to believe that I’m as shallow as I look ‘cause I run true and deep.'”
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