When Dolly Parton turns up as your fairy godmother...

The show is Here You Come Again, the new Dolly Parton musical, and it’s at Chichester Festival Theatre from Tuesday to Saturday, November 12-16.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers, lovely to

00:06speak to Stephen Webb. Really exciting news, the show coming to the Festival Theatre, Chichester

00:11Festival Theatre, before too long is here, you come again, billed as the new Dolly Parton musical,

00:17all the greatest hits, all the rights to them. And Stephen, you're playing in the publicity,

00:21it describes you as a has-been who never was, is that a bit harsh?

00:26Well, it's a has-been who never was comedian, that's the character. He's one of those people,

00:32he aspires to be a stand-up comedian and he tries that out on the audience on occasion,

00:39doesn't go brilliantly because he's one of those people, and I know these people in life, who

00:43when they try to be funny, it falls completely flat, but they don't realise naturally

00:48they are pretty hilarious, but he just can't make the two meet, unfortunately.

00:52And so, yeah, he's a has-been who never was, he had one go at being a stand-up,

00:58but in the show we mentioned that when he had his moment, it turns out Peter Kaye was in town and

01:04wanted to try out new material and he went on just before him, so he had to follow Peter Kaye and so

01:08it just was a disaster. And the poor chap is having a pretty awful time in other respects too,

01:13he's at a real low point and this is the context in which Dolly appears to him and helps him,

01:20yeah, he's at his rock bottom, he's just gone through a breakup, he's lost his job,

01:26he's having to isolate because it's during the first Covid lockdown, he's had to move back from

01:30London to Halifax to his parents' attic and he can't even mix with them downstairs, so he's

01:34completely on his own and isolated, cannot see a way out of it, and in his time of need, Dolly

01:40Parton herself literally bursts through a poster of Dolly Parton on the wall and picks him up by

01:47his bootstraps. And the great thing about Dolly, I always think, and her outlook on life is she's

01:51about tough love, she's not about handouts, she's the sort of person that's like, well, if you're

01:56sad about this, sort it out, do something, make a change in your life rather than going, oh, I'm so

02:01sorry. She's more like, well, if you're not happy with something, you know what to do. And so through

02:05that sort of tough love, she teaches him lessons and changes his outlook and where to focus and he

02:13sorts it out. And you're saying it doesn't matter how you are at the start of the show,

02:18you'll certainly be up on your feet and loving it and joyously uplifted by the end.

02:24Yeah, even when we had the husbands who have been dragged along, who don't want to go and

02:30see a Dolly Parton musical, they're the first up on their feet at the end, they always are,

02:35and they're singing out to nine to five because it's really a show for everyone and it doesn't

02:39follow the norm in terms of a quote unquote jukebox musical. It subverts that idea. So it's

02:48not about Dolly Parton and her story, although her stories are in there to help Kevin through,

02:52help him relate how she's overcome things, he can relate and overcome his own. But it's about Kevin

02:58and Dolly Parton is his guide, his almost fairy godmother, or this kind of oracle of light and

03:08love and positivity for him. You're selling it brilliantly. It sounds a fantastic show.

03:14After we've all done our own nine to five, we'll be there watching at the Festival Theatre

03:18in November. Yes, good. Lovely to speak to you. Thank you for your time. You too. Can't wait.